Action movies are a dime a dozen, with there being a countless amount released either in theaters or straight to DVD. What differentiates the great action movie from the most forgettable is style and personality. As John Wick 2 showed, the best action movies can be some of the most entertaining expiereneces.
Trying to become the next good action film is Collide, which is hitting theaters after being delayed nearly two years. The film follows an American backpacker who must complete a near impossible mission in order to save his girlfriend’s life.
Despite featuring a solid cast, Collide is about as forgettable and slight as a run-of-the-mill action film can get. Why this film was released nationwide in theaters is still shocking to me.
For an action movie’s standards, the cast here is quite good. Nicholas Hoult makes for a solid lead, with his natural charm resonating despite the lack of material. Felicity Jones is overqualified to be simple love interest, but does a fine job. Both Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley give this material some much-needed credibility.
Collide has more ambition than your average actioner. The first twenty minutes or so is focused on the relationship between Hoult and Jones, which is admirable and semi-effective. By establishing an interesting romance, there at least is something to root for in the film.
Aside from that, this film falls shorts in most measures. The action in this film is very bland. A lot of action films have used their lower budgets effectively, but this film delivers the most routine sequences possible. Director Eran Creevy fails to give these sequences any sort of jolt, lacking the style to differentiate them.
Continuing the bland streak is the narrative, which is derivative to its core. Action movies don’t need a complicated story, but nothing that happens in this film is interesting in the slightest. Scribe F. Scott Fraizer tries to takes some risks with different plot twists, but the audience can see it all coming from a mile away.
Collide never is able to succeed at being engaging. Most of the film feels like its on auto-pilot, drifting from scene to scene without much purpose. The film never removes the stink of a generic action movie during its running time, being incredibly predictable and generic to the core.
Collide is the type of movie audiences have seen dozens of times before, doing very little to differentiate itself from other actioners.