Dog’s Movie House: “Boss Level” Violent, Entertaining Take On “Groundhog Day.”

Grillo plays Roy Pulver, a special forces agent who finds himself being hunted by a group of killers over and over again. When he’s inevitably killed, he wakes up in his apartment and the whole cycle starts again. After over 140 cycles, Roy decides to take matters into his own hands to find out why he’s stuck in this continuously violent loop. As he dodges assassins and tries to investigate the truth Roy finds that his situation has to do with his ex-wife Gemma (Naomi Watts) a scientist working on a device that messes with time and space. Gemma’s boss, Colonel Ventor (an appropriately snarling Mel Gibson) sends his henchman (Will Sasso, playing effectively against type) to effectively end Pulver’s involvement.

It would be cheating for me to reveal any more of the plot so you just have to watch “Boss Level” for yourself. Most of the fun is found in Grillo’s offhand narration. Grillo manages to combine humorous exasperation, grizzled world-weariness, and a genuine concern for the well being of those he’s trying to protect into his delivery.

Gibson is always fun as the evil mastermind and it seems there’s a relationship between his impressive beard and his crazy eyes. It’s like Martin Riggs has become a crazy old hermit and I absolutely love it! Watts is decent in a somewhat thankless role. In many ways she’s the McGuffin of the piece so her presence is more felt than shown.

The action is well choreographed despite being somewhat repetitive due to the nature of the story. Carnahan is very good at setting up kinetic action shots (“Smoking Aces” comes to mind) and Grillo has taken cinematic fitness to a new level here (seriously, I didn’t think a fourteen-pack of abs was possible).

The twisty finale actually finds a measure of emotion as our hero desperately tries to reconnect with his son over and over again although the twist itself isn’t actually earth-shattering. That said, “Boss Level” is a lot of fun with some great action and a wonderful, multilayered performance by Frank Grillo. Check it out on Hulu if you want to get your action fix on! 4 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer! So Sayeth The Kendog!

Pages: 1 2