To paraphrase the Bard, a generic actioner by any other name is still, unfortunately, a generic actioner.
Stunt choreographer turned writer-director James Mark's (Fight Another Day, Control, Enhanced) latest film, Infiltrate, is nothing if not a generic actioner. Except for a handful of scenes, all dependent on the stellar work of Mark's stunt crew, there’s next to nothing in Infiltrate that could be described as memorable, let alone worth recommending to anyone except action diehards.
Produced on a modest budget with an assist from Mark's brother Chris as second-unit director and action choreographer, Infiltrate centers on Lily Chen (Orphée Ladouceur-Nguyen), a field operative for a shadowy, unnamed government agency. When she’s not infiltrating a mid-level gang boss’s operation, eliminating said mid-level gang boss, Guy (Jason Cavalier), and his disposable henchmen with extreme prejudice, Lily faces a different, possibly unsolvable problem at home: Her somewhat needy husband, John (Tim Rozon), doesn’t care for Lily’s late nights out or unpredictable schedule.
John wants a more stable, safer life in the countryside. He also doesn’t know who Lily really is or what she does for a living. Presumably, though John doesn’t seem to notice the bumps, bruises, and bloody clothes she brings back home after a hard day’s night. That push-pull in Lily and John’s relationship takes a turn when, upset about Lily’s unwillingness to relocate to suburban environs, John goes for a walk to clear his head and decide on proverbial next steps. He never returns.
Instead, Lily receives a call from a mysterious voice (Jonathan Goad) who claims that (a) he’s kidnapped John, (b) he’s more than willing to torture and/or kill John if Lily doesn’t follow his orders to the strictest letter, and (c) orders Lily to eliminate several crime bosses, including the aforementioned Guy (a flashback, apparently), Tuan (Jeff Yung), a money launderer to the unnamed city’s criminal kingpins, Nikolai (Paul Braunstein), an information broker being held in government detention, and finally, the “Big Boss” himself, Marcel LaFleur (Alain Moussi), a colorful, French-speaking sadist and part-time painter with a bllod-as-ink kink.
Infiltrate’s barely there plot hinges on Lily moving from one location to another, using his very special combat skills to defeat any number of henchmen, satisfying the caller’s demands in the process, and eventually working her way up through Marcel’s sadomasochistic bodyguards, Romeo (Finn McCager Higgins) and Juliette (Mitra Suri), before taking Marcel on directly at the latter's semi-fortified compound. Throughout, Lily generally gives as good as she gets, but she’s not invulnerable. She’s subject to all manner of semi-debilitating, bloody injuries, though she’s rarely down and out for long.
Generic plotting, dialogue, and characters aside, Infiltrate crosses over into watchable territory only when Ladouceur-Nguyen has more to do than emote sadly in her car or engage in shadow-heavy gunplay. Once she’s in brightly lit environs, especially during the last two extended fight scenes, Ladouceur-Nguyen proves herself worthy of leading Infiltrate.
While undercut with laughably misguided eroticism, the scene with Higgins and Suri will leave even the most jaded of jaded action fans reasonably satisfied. Mark shoots for maximum visibility and impact, allowing the performers, individually and collectively, to showcase their abilities and training.
Similarly, the final face-to-face between a bloodied, if unbroken Lily and an overconfident Marcel almost justifies the price of admission or VOD rental. It’s a pity, though, that Mark, obviously influenced by the John Wick or The Raid franchises, didn’t just pare down the story to its barest essentials, instead refocusing Infiltrate into a non-stop action film worthy of his performers' talents and the genre itself.
Infiltrate is now available to rent on various Video On Demand (VOD) platforms via Quiver Distribution. Visit their official site for more information.