The entertaining but suspenseful crime thriller "The Baker" adds nothing new to the genre of one guy against an army of killers. Indeed, "Padre" director Jonathan Sobol retreads all the usual cliches but delivers them with satisfying results. The relationship between an older man, Pippi (Ron Perlman of "Nightmare Alley"), and his young granddaughter Delphi (Emma Ho of "Code") harkens back to Luc Besson's top-notch French thriller "The Professional" about a veteran assassin and a young girl with a potted plant. Not surprisingly, Ron Perlman is superb as an elderly, tight-lipped, white-haired galoot who lives a peaceful life. Naturally, since Pippi is a baker, Sobol introduces him to audiences as he plies his trade before we're given a glimpse of his displays of devastating combat skills. As the plot thickens, Pippi sheds his image of a regular, 9 to 5 guy and emerges as an invincible but charismatic "John Wick" type protagonist. Before we're introduced to him, we meet a far younger fellow, Peter (Joel David Moore of "Avatar"), cruising around in a car with his adorable, little daughter, in her colorful school uniform. She saw her mom die in an unfortunate auto accident because mom neglected to wear her seat belt. Indeed, this movie has a useful message: buckle up. At the start of this yarn, Peter barges into her school, pulls her out of class, and drives her to visit his estranged father. Peter has some unfinished business to attend to and wants Pippi to babysit her. Turns out Peter witnessed a drug deal gone bad in an airport parking lot in an anonymous metropolis. Conveniently, the pugnacious ruffians slaughter each other and leave behind a bag of narcotics that one junkie refers to after the fact as "Nova." Later, Pippi fields a telephone call from Peter and hears what his training has taught him to recognize as a .38 caliber pistol being discharged.
When he cannot catch up with his son, Pippi contacts the police, specifically Detective Petra Weintrager (Samantha Kaine of "The Retirement Plan"), but gets no satisfaction from his interview with her. Of course, our diligent protagonist checks the morgue, but doesn't find Peter stretched out on a slab. Later, Pippi examines the small, pink packets of narcotics that Peter found and heads for the skid row section of town to learn more about it. A couple of ill-prepared hooligans attempt to tackle him, but our hero disposes of these two in short order. Making various inquiries, he tracks the drugs down to a nightclub run by a brawny Ukrainian character with facial tattoos. In the men's room, where an attendant stands by to assist customers, Pippi bribes the attendant for his jacket. He catches this vicious-looking Ukrainian off guard, and they tangle in a knockdown, drag out fistfight. Now, I have nothing against Ukrainians, and I wonder why the filmmakers identified this fellow as a Ukrainian. Nevertheless, they tear up all the toilet stalls and shatter the mirror. By now, the chief villain, The Merchant (Harvey Keitel of "Reservoir Dogs"), puts pressure on his top enforcer, Vic (Elias Koteas of "Shutter Island"), to recover his stolen narcotics. Everything focuses on the drugs that Peter appropriated from the dead henchmen. The accidental acquisition of narcotics in "The Baker" reminded me of Tony Scott's romantic thriller "True Romance," where the hero mistakenly identified a duffel bag of narcotics for his girlfriend's clothing. Pippi's search for his son plunges him down the mean streets of the underworld. If you've seen any of the scores of tough guy tales where the hero can self-medicate himself after he receiving several severe knife wounds, "The Baker" rises to the occasion and leaves a good taste in your mouth.
When he cannot catch up with his son, Pippi contacts the police, specifically Detective Petra Weintrager (Samantha Kaine of "The Retirement Plan"), but gets no satisfaction from his interview with her. Of course, our diligent protagonist checks the morgue, but doesn't find Peter stretched out on a slab. Later, Pippi examines the small, pink packets of narcotics that Peter found and heads for the skid row section of town to learn more about it. A couple of ill-prepared hooligans attempt to tackle him, but our hero disposes of these two in short order. Making various inquiries, he tracks the drugs down to a nightclub run by a brawny Ukrainian character with facial tattoos. In the men's room, where an attendant stands by to assist customers, Pippi bribes the attendant for his jacket. He catches this vicious-looking Ukrainian off guard, and they tangle in a knockdown, drag out fistfight. Now, I have nothing against Ukrainians, and I wonder why the filmmakers identified this fellow as a Ukrainian. Nevertheless, they tear up all the toilet stalls and shatter the mirror. By now, the chief villain, The Merchant (Harvey Keitel of "Reservoir Dogs"), puts pressure on his top enforcer, Vic (Elias Koteas of "Shutter Island"), to recover his stolen narcotics. Everything focuses on the drugs that Peter appropriated from the dead henchmen. The accidental acquisition of narcotics in "The Baker" reminded me of Tony Scott's romantic thriller "True Romance," where the hero mistakenly identified a duffel bag of narcotics for his girlfriend's clothing. Pippi's search for his son plunges him down the mean streets of the underworld. If you've seen any of the scores of tough guy tales where the hero can self-medicate himself after he receiving several severe knife wounds, "The Baker" rises to the occasion and leaves a good taste in your mouth.