Starring: Martin Kemp, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran

Genre: Action/ Thriller

Former black ops sniper Sam Blake (Kemp) finds himself at the command of a relentless terrorist who has kidnapped his daughter and orders him to kill six seemingly random targets in the space of six hours to prevent a major terrorist attack in London.

There are generally two types of action thriller; the expensive ones and the cheap ones. Though if you strip them down they fundamentally at their very core have essentially the same plots, this actually means the cheap straight to DVD ones simply cannot compete with the expensive ones as often the only redeeming feature of the expensive ones is some great set pieces.

Of course the ancient art of a great action thriller is to have a believable protagonist worth routing for, and if we have this we can usually forgive whatever random nonsense the plot throws at them. This is the main reason as to why Die Hard still stands strong in best film of all time lists, and deservedly so. So therefore in theory, no matter how cheap an action thriller is to make, a good script and a memorable protagonist can make up for a lack of funds to deliver big action sequences. Indeed, a vast majority of the expensive action films that come out these days try to throw as much expensive action at the screen as they can physically afford in some attempt to detract the viewer’s attention from the horrendous script.

Well, not only does Age of Kill have a horrendous title, but its abysmal script is as bland, generic and lazy as they come, making for a truly dull and forgettable film that is best left on the straight-to-DVD shelves it came from. Of course in some attempt to make the film feel cinematic, director Neil Jones feels the need to give us constant aerial shots of London.

In mentioning 21^st century terrorism and the rise of far right political activism, screenwriter Simon Cluett may well think he is tackling some topical and thought provoking issues, but though they most certainly can be exactly that, the dialogue is so awful it is almost quite insulting to the viewer in just how casually it deals with them. In fact the dialogue is so bad that it often ventures into being unintentionally funny.

Likewise there are so many plot holes that are just casually ignored, and not only is the revelation of who the antagonist is not surprising in the slightest, their motivations are never explained very well at all. As the film’s protagonist, Martin Kemp gives as a committed performance as his limited range will allow and makes sure to remind us that he spent plenty of time at the gym preparing for this role. Even if Age of Kill had Denzel or Neeson in the lead role, with such a horrendous script as it does it would still be at the very dullest end of the action thriller spectrum.

Yet another dull, generic and incredibly lazy b-movie cockney action thriller; there is no doubting Martin Kemp’s commitment, but this film’s only redeeming feature is its unintentional comedy.

2/10