He Who Dares

Billed by distributor Studiocanal as “The Raid meets Die Hard”, this British indie’s low budget may make those claims slightly more aspirational than realistic, but it’s clear that the filmmakers are aiming high and hitting right notes more often than not.

A masked terrorist gang led by the ruthless but funny Holt (Simon Phillips, channelling Hans Gruber and Tommy DeVito in an excellent performance) kidnaps the Prime Minister’s daughter on Christmas Eve and holes up at the bottom of a fifteen storey underground car park. What follows is essentially The Raid but downwards rather than upwards as an SAS team led by action man Chris Lowe (Kick Ass 2’s Tom Knight) ignores the protests of the police and storms the building, taking it one level at a time.

From this point, its shootouts and martial arts fighting galore as the two sides go head to head. UK martial arts champion Zara Phythian both looks sexy and kicks serious arse as the bad guys honey trap and London to Brighton’s Lorraine Stanley appears in an all too short cameo as a harassed office worker.

Respect to director for working within the limits of his budget – a fight to the death inside a car reminded me of Bourne and then using that car as a battering ram against several bad guys was a nice touch. The action rattles along nicely and the many comedic moments means it not a total assault of the senses, though the composed score could have been turned down slightly as it was a little overpowering at times.

Considering the lack of quality British action films on the shelf or on the horizon, this is a welcome and surprisingly quality effort from guys whose previous specialities were hooligan and gangster films. A sequel is due later in the year and will no doubt be worth checking out.