Final Score (2018)

'I'd rather dad was a coward and still be here than a hero and dead.' – Danni

Before I started watching Final Score, I expected a typical action film and that’s exactly I got.

In Final Score former American soldier Mike Knox travels to London to take his niece to a West Ham game but ends up being caught up in the reemergence of a Russian revolution.

This film is a part of Sky’s plan to create original films that their customers can watch on demand and at the cinema at the same time. Although the company has produced some interesting film projects with star studded casts, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile springing to mind first, Final Score is one their least innovative.

For the most part Dave Bautista gives a typical portrayal of a macho military man but there are moments that an emotional side is shown such as when Knox becomes visibly upset at his downfalls as an uncle to his former comrades daughter in his quest to protect the stadium. 

Slow motion is used to convince us of Knox’s high level of military skill as he notices the shifty individuals in the stadium. However, it is hard to be convinced of this due to the amount of times he is outsmarted by a 15-year-old.

His skill as a fighter is much more convincing as he disposes of revolutionaries in a rather entertaining way, the long sequence in the kitchen being one that I found most enjoyable.

On his quest to protect hie niece Danni, Knox works with awkward stadium guard Faisal Khan whose role as the comedic sidekick allows me to ignore some his over the top performances.  

As Knox continues to foil the plans of the Russian revolutionaries, they get so upset that they resort to speaking English? The way in which the villains in films transition seamlessly from speak their mother tongue into English is something that we have seemed to just have accepted from the entertainment industry. It seems almost wasteful to have foreign characters; whose hometown are so strongly linked their actions and not use every aspect of this to add more to their character. The contrasts between British and Americans are important to the way Chief Commander Steed and Agent Cho interact with each other. Faisal’s ethnic background also has a part in the film from the onset, so character backgrounds are important in this film just not always full explored.

With Final Score, Sky is has been able to show that they can make big productions to rival the best of them but they’re still working on the stories.