Sometimes you’ve just got to go for the ride…

New to streaming today, Point Blank is an entertaining but fairly run of the mill action thriller that runs in the cheap and cheerful category but is hardly anything that is terribly memorable either.

When his pregnant wife is kidnapped and held as collateral, Paul (Anthony Mackie), an ER nurse, must team with the badly injured career criminal and murder suspect (Frank Grillo) under his charge in order to save the lives of his wife and unborn child. Pitted against rival gangs and a deadly ring of corrupt cops, the unlikely duo finds a way to survive together in the fight of their lives.

Ultimately, Point Blank is a low I.Q., high octane kind of a movie that you don’t necessarily have to think all that much about but you’ll ultimately enjoy when you put it on while cooking or vacuuming.  It holds fairly true to its original French version but that’s neither a good nor a bad thing.

Director Joe Lynch fits into this mold nicely and has a knack for making film that movie fast and don’t deal with too much nonsense like exposition and character development.  It’s got just enough of what it needs to set us on its ride.  The action is decent and it has a solid pace to it allowing us to get straight into the action.  Lynch lets it all feel crisp and genuine while working on an obvious budget while the script from Adam G Simon pulls pretty well from the original that was written and directed by Fred Cavayé.  It’s simply supposed to push us down the rails on a ride that we’ll get engrossed in and from that perspective it does its job fairly admirably.

Anthony Mackie is likable but also fairly non-descript as the male nurse Paul who is learning that he’ll do pretty much anything to protect his soon to be family.  He’s a solid leading man and he holds the frame well but ultimately isn’t given much to do here other then play the straight laced guy next to Frank Grillo’s crook with a heart of gold.  They have solid chemistry together but there really isn’t a single thing about this entire feature effort that is screaming “must see”.  Marcia Gay Harden as the crooked Lieutenant Lewis is decent enough and seemingly enjoying playing against type but is handcuffed by some pretty simplistic material.

There’s nobody really bad or not doing their job in Point Blank, as it’s a watchable and entertaining affair in the moment and while it would have never seen the light of day from a theatrical standpoint, it’s just fine for Netflix on a lazy Friday or Saturday night when you just can’t be bothered to go out.  It’s a fine little time waster; nothing more; nothing less.