Hounds of War (2024)

Hounds-of-War-(2024)
Hounds of War (2024)

With the start of a new week, yet another film featuring Frank Grillo graces the screens. Grillo, with his active participation in the industry, is one of the busiest stars in Hollywood. It is projected that Grillo will once again cross geographic boundaries with his several films scheduled for release. He is anticipated to have a minimum of seven new films during the year 2023. He specifically has a number of projects ready but slated for upcoming movie rollout in 2024, it is predicted that he is likely not to be as booked as he usually is. Free Pay Per View Movie Streaming. 

One such film that should be released on Netflix is Hounds of War, featuring Grillo alongside Saints and military action specialist Isaac. In light of the recent news, it now appears that all action cinema enthusiasts will very likely rejoice after this set of stars is announced to be part of the film. Most of the DTV movies that Florentine directs are indeed the best, after all. You begin to age. But that is a good thing.

It seems as if the work of Florentine was one that has been thoroughly appreciated in Undisputed 2 (2005) and Ninja Shadow of a Tear (2013). With such a wonderful piece in mind, I went into Hounds of War with positive feelings and anticipation. Or would it be in the same line of appreciation as in the case of the later work of the man who directed the Undisputed films or maybe I should have kept my expectations low?

The short answer is perhaps I expected too much of it. However, Hounds of War is still exceptional in a few aspects. Firstly, this short film could claim that it’s the most ruthless and stunning work of Florentine. In my opinion, the camera work and Ericson Core’s efforts are good enough to say that the film Hounds of War is visually at least in one respect different from the other Florentine films. That is a priceless asset of Malta.

Core is a well-known name to those who enjoy the action film and its confident tone. The majority of his expertise and work focus seems to take him into the realm of the fierce circle of cinematography, however, he did work in television and on the fast and the furious script. Core also directed a cult classic’s remake, which fell under a very rough reception. In this aspect, it was pleasant to see his name in the credits, as well as in Hounds of War as it was granted with better production than is the average for a DTV film. 

As I understand, the cooperative project helps in making the action at the same time rough and sluggish, which is quite an effective means for a few cinematographers including Core. While the former covers most of the levels of action that can always be associated with Florentine, the latter remembers that most of the time it is he who does the directing of the action. The series of amplifying events includes fighting, shooting, and racing. Core was also able to maintain the presence of a coherent plot in the movie, so one is unable to think about what on earth is happening on screen.

I believe that the storyline in the film is rather simple and that is one of the weaknesses of the film in addition to the shallow characterization of the actors. Grillo does eventually manage to be the hero, and when he finally steps into the limelight, he does put on a good act, but there’s only so much distance this act can go in support of a character that weak. Even in this regard, however, he does achieve more in terms of significance than his fellow performers. The rest of his team are so vaguely introduced that their deaths later in the movie don’t elicit any feelings either. 

The other history is that the film begins much later in the part two, and then it continues to the part one. The shooting was done out of sequence and this particular tool there is, in this case, was, complete to the extent that it is an interesting start but it is known to the audience that he cannot die at this point of the narration every time he gets shot, it diminishes some of the excitement.

Martial Arts fans or fights are often on a willing edge watching able-bodied fighters perform, some of these fighters include Joey Ansah, Seydina Balde, and Mark Strange. While Ansah and Balde enable the fighters to perform wonderful moves, their playing time is controlled, however Strange does not. At least he does in Kung Fu Games (2024), where he is the leader fighting with complete loyalty to his martial arts. I hope the film helps Strange in getting even larger roles than what he has been offered so far.

In the movie’s second part, Oleg gets to work with other martial artists like Mike Moller and Lee Charles who he annoyed as always. Once more both of these characters are not really fleshed out but do manage to get into some action with Charles attempting to escape during the car chase that serves as the dramatic finale. Characterizations were quite sparse as well as Moller’s short scenes but he seems to be taking a more serious main role in the picture from most of his previous films where he was getting a lot of cameos if not all. But then again, I would want to see him in a greater role but in this one, he gets to showcase his skills easily.

With respect to the ending, three wheels and an engine have it all, it is a different form of hero rescue. This attempt to kidnap an ambulance that is stolen is one type of rescue. Moreover, it is strengthened by Malta’s narrow streets where the car scenes are in. Rhona Mitra performs the role of a secret service operative during the fight against a service ambulance while Lee Charles plays the role of an opponent who attempts to attack while being driven in an ambulance. This kind of action scene works really well since NGO has a multi-purpose use. Having a wide range and a close-quarter combat style works well for Mitra.

What is immediately puzzling regarding the final episode of the movie, however, is that Mark Grillo is quite strikingly missing from the screen but even though there are quite a few action sequences throughout the film, it is still surprising that the ending was solely focused on his co-stars. Grillo as always, is such a good-looking person that I rarely come across someone looking this good at his age or any other age for that matter. While he does have some help from his stuntman, he still tends to hurl himself from the hills but manages to get himself in a comfortable position when it comes to dealing with gunfights and hand-to-hand combat. Considering that he is the main character, it seems unreasonable to me that the final episode would be left for his co-actors, Hayek and Modine. I would deem this a minor concern given that the action in the first place is still enough to impress even though funny enough, it is completely the opposite of what I expected.

The fight scenes are great and I wish the pace which slows down in some parts of the show was maintained throughout. In fact, the non-fight segments of the film are somewhat slow in places. This seems to mean that the conflict has been rather worked out because of the professional camera skills and techniques of the directors. Be that as it may, I appreciate the willingness of the film to change from the classical storyline and to be quite disturbing on different levels. The action scene had the ever-reliable Robert Patrick in action although it was bloody, it was rather ironically a non-gory action. Even though the scene is bloody and gory in action, it is not the blood aspect that determines it, but rather the carelessness in which it is done.

In connection with Patrick, it appears that he is the remaining American actor in the cast alongside Grillo. During his performance, Patrick could be doing this sort of job in his slumbers but it doesn’t mean that he becomes passive. On the other hand, feeling anxious doesn’t prevent the actor from being eager to undertake the scene. Barring that he is a subordinate officer, who has a tough role, most of his responsibilities encompass providing his subordinates with commands as an aspect of the overall mission. And he was very well supported by James Elder and Matthew Marsh who acted in a much more ambiguous role of the US President.

Hounds of War might not be fully able to live up to my expectations, but it was still a good watch in my opinion. Those who are followers of Florentine’s works might want to lower their expectations a little because he was not able to surpass the action he directed last time. However, he may be able to direct Lee in his next film Hellfire. The film also stars Stephen Lang and Harvey Keitel both of whom acted with Dolph Lundgren in Bridges of Dragons that was released in 1999 which is some kind of fate. The actor Johnny Yong Bosch is also part of the film. But I hope he will be given a chance to use his martial arts skills.

Don’t worry Grillo fans, he will be back on the screen soon. Besides the fact that he appears in the second season of Tulsa King which was released in 2022, he has also starred in Long Gone Heroes 2024 which co-stars him with Hounds of War. Too much of Grillo’s! He is working for the fifth time with writer-director John Swab in Long Gone Heroes. I am curious to find out what is special about this movie, compared to the other movies they have already shot.

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