Legacy Of Lies (2020)

 

Legacy Of Lies (2020)- * *

Directed by: Adrian Bol 

Starring: Scott Adkins, Yuliia Sobol, and Honor Kneafsey

After an operation doesn't go as planned, Martin Baxter (Adkins) leaves MI6. Constantly on the run with his daughter Lisa (Kneafsey), he fears not just for her safety, but for his as well. After being approached by journalist Sacha (Sobol) while working as a bouncer in a Ukrainian nightclub, things go from bad to worse. The baddies are after "The Files", of course, and Lisa is kidnapped. Now trying to get to the bottom of the LEGACY OF LIES, Martin and Sacha must get to the truth and find out who is responsible for all the chaos. But can they do it in time?


Legacy of Lies, visually, looks quite good. It's shot and lit very well, with many scenes that capture the viewer's eye. But, over the course of 100 minutes, there are many slow and/or dull scenes, especially in the final third, when things should have ratcheted up. When action appears, it's good stuff, with Adkins doing what he does best, but there wasn't nearly enough of it. It's more of a spy drama, with the action thrown in almost as an afterthought. It's probably hard for foreign filmmakers to compete with TV shows like Homeland, but this is an earnest attempt to go down that same road. But fireworks were needed.

Like a lot of material from Eastern Europe, there is a certain bleakness on display. Let's just say that Legacy of Lies isn't exactly "LOL" material. Despite the film's self-seriousness, there are still some action movie staples included, such as a scene each of Punchfighting, Prerequisite Torture, and even a 'Fruit-Cart' car chase.


Honor Kneafsey was a standout as Lisa, and she definitely has a bright future as an actress. Same goes for Yuliia Sobol as Sacha, the Lisbeth Salander-like sidekick. It was also nice to see Matt Mitler of Bums (1993) and The Mutilator (1984) fame show up here as well. Of course, we remain staunch Adkins fans. He was probably happy to lean more on the acting side than the action side here, but Legacy of Lies should have been a more even mix of the two.


While not without its merits, especially on the technical side of the filmmaking, Legacy of Lies is unnecessarily dour and overlong. It needed more of a propulsive pace to satisfy what Adkins fans have come to expect.


Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty