Adam Stephen Kelly made his directorial debut with "Kill Kane," a brutal British crime thriller about revenge. Andrew Jones, Christian Sellers, and Adam Stephen Kelly penned the hardboiled screenplay that synthesizes elements of the Charles Bronson movie "Death Wish" and the Steven Seagal movie "Hard to Kill." Clocking in at 74-minutes, this grim bit of business doesn't beat about the bush.
Our resilient hero gets lost while driving around on a family outing and pulls over to fish a map out of the trunk of his car. He witnesses--through a hole in a fence--the execution slaying of a low-life criminal, Tommy (Mitchell Fisher), in a backlot. Poor Tommy—it seems—suffered from loose lips, talking too much about his own gang. Before Noonan (Dan Richardson of "Retribution") pulls the trigger on a kneeling Tommy, he comments "But sometimes a potter has got to know that the clay he's working with is just no good." Unfortunately, the villains spotted the van that our father figure, a gym teacher Ray Brookes (Vinnie Jones of "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels") who has been teaching for fifteen years. Miraculously, Ray survived a fatal gunshot wound and spent three months in a coma. This is where "Kill Kane" opens as Ray recovers in the high dependency unit of a local hospital. Of course, Ray refuses to cooperate with the authorities because he believes that they cannot offer him adequate protection from the gangsters. British Detective Inspector Shelby (Sebastian Street of "Vehemence") questions Ray about the criminals, but Ray keeps his mouth shut. After he recovers from his coma, Ray has to contend with Shelby again, who wants him to testify against the criminal. Ray turns him down. Ray hunts down Billy Malone (newcomer Benjamin Way) and stabs him to death. Afterward, he catches up with the dastard, Conner O'Brien (Conor Boru of "Spiked"), who capped his daughter Victoria Brookes (Sarah Alexandra Marks of "Illegal Activity") at point blank range in the head. Ray tangles with the ringleader of the ruffians, Kill Keegan (creepy looking Sean Cronin of "The World Is Not Enough"), but Shelby intervenes in their standoff showdown. He tries to convince Ray to stand down, but our protagonist guns Kane down while Shelby watches. Shelby advises Kane to clear out of town. Predictably, Kane ignores Shelby and shows up the next day at Frank Noonan's bar where he confronts Noonan (Dan Richardson of "Retribution") and blows his head off.
Mind you, "Kill Kane" is not a lighthearted lark. Murderers with no qualms about killing shoot harmless innocents at close range and appear to enjoy their acts of mayhem. Adam Stephen Kelly never lets the action loiter. Jones is his usual brawny self, but he elicits sympathy as the father left without a family. Meantime, Cronin makes a terrific villain. Shelby is good as a sympathetic cop who lets our hero off the hook. Reminiscent of the Michael Caine gangster movie "Get Carter," except Vinnie survives the fracas. This no-nonsense crime thriller isn't as awful as some of the user critics claim. Although he covers familiar ground, director Adam Stephen Kelly doesn't bore us with a lot of meaningless details. He goes for the gut, and "Kill Kane" never wears out its welcome.
Our resilient hero gets lost while driving around on a family outing and pulls over to fish a map out of the trunk of his car. He witnesses--through a hole in a fence--the execution slaying of a low-life criminal, Tommy (Mitchell Fisher), in a backlot. Poor Tommy—it seems—suffered from loose lips, talking too much about his own gang. Before Noonan (Dan Richardson of "Retribution") pulls the trigger on a kneeling Tommy, he comments "But sometimes a potter has got to know that the clay he's working with is just no good." Unfortunately, the villains spotted the van that our father figure, a gym teacher Ray Brookes (Vinnie Jones of "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels") who has been teaching for fifteen years. Miraculously, Ray survived a fatal gunshot wound and spent three months in a coma. This is where "Kill Kane" opens as Ray recovers in the high dependency unit of a local hospital. Of course, Ray refuses to cooperate with the authorities because he believes that they cannot offer him adequate protection from the gangsters. British Detective Inspector Shelby (Sebastian Street of "Vehemence") questions Ray about the criminals, but Ray keeps his mouth shut. After he recovers from his coma, Ray has to contend with Shelby again, who wants him to testify against the criminal. Ray turns him down. Ray hunts down Billy Malone (newcomer Benjamin Way) and stabs him to death. Afterward, he catches up with the dastard, Conner O'Brien (Conor Boru of "Spiked"), who capped his daughter Victoria Brookes (Sarah Alexandra Marks of "Illegal Activity") at point blank range in the head. Ray tangles with the ringleader of the ruffians, Kill Keegan (creepy looking Sean Cronin of "The World Is Not Enough"), but Shelby intervenes in their standoff showdown. He tries to convince Ray to stand down, but our protagonist guns Kane down while Shelby watches. Shelby advises Kane to clear out of town. Predictably, Kane ignores Shelby and shows up the next day at Frank Noonan's bar where he confronts Noonan (Dan Richardson of "Retribution") and blows his head off.
Mind you, "Kill Kane" is not a lighthearted lark. Murderers with no qualms about killing shoot harmless innocents at close range and appear to enjoy their acts of mayhem. Adam Stephen Kelly never lets the action loiter. Jones is his usual brawny self, but he elicits sympathy as the father left without a family. Meantime, Cronin makes a terrific villain. Shelby is good as a sympathetic cop who lets our hero off the hook. Reminiscent of the Michael Caine gangster movie "Get Carter," except Vinnie survives the fracas. This no-nonsense crime thriller isn't as awful as some of the user critics claim. Although he covers familiar ground, director Adam Stephen Kelly doesn't bore us with a lot of meaningless details. He goes for the gut, and "Kill Kane" never wears out its welcome.