‘Those who chase her will pay the price’
Double Threat is a 2022 American action crime thriller about a young woman who is on the run from the police and mobsters she stole from. She becomes entangled with a young man who is on a pilgrimage across the country to scatter his brother’s ashes.
Directed and co-produced by Shane Stanley from a screenplay written by co-producer CJ Walley. Also produced by Neil Chisholm, Kurt Patino, Danielle C. Ryan.
The Rolling Thunder Films-Aesthetic Entertainment-Rebelle Rouser co-production stars Dawn Olivieri (Darc; Traffik; Den of Thieves; The Last Witch Hunter; The Vampire Diaries series; Hydra), Matthew Lawrence, Danielle C. Ryan, Kevin Joy, Andrea Logan and Mo Gallini.
Plot:
After skimming money from the mob, a feisty young woman named Nat/Natasha (Danielle C. Ryan) finds herself on the run with a mild-mannered accountant named Jimmy (Matthew Lawrence) on a pilgrimage across the country to scatter his brother’s ashes. In the heat of the moment, it becomes clear that her split personality comes in handy as the ruthless, dynamic side of her is unstoppable…
Review:
After a promising start, Double Threat soon manages to distance its intended audience by the inexplicable use of way too much green screen during the car escape scenes. Quite why this cost-cutting is necessary is baffling because the actors are often seen on location anyway. It simply takes the viewer out of the film immediately.
Meanwhile, in a real-life reflection of Nat/Natasha’s “associative identity disorder” (split personality), Double Threat veers tonally from witty dialogue to wince-inducing banality, sometimes in the same scene. And it isn’t just Danielle C. Ryan’s silly Jekyll and Hyde split personality that becomes irksome. Matthew Lawrence’s initially mild-mannered character Jimmy goes (unbelievably) from being freaked out during the opening bloodshed to smirking when goons are taken out. Elsewhere, during a supposedly tense scene involving two life-threatening goons, there’s an extended (comedy?) diversion with Jimmy trying repeatedly to load a gun magazine. It’s truly eye-rolling stuff.
Meanwhile, the rite of passage sub-plot for would-be gangster Ellis (Kevin Joy) is dafter than the central hot/cold relationship shenanigans. Thankfully, Dawn Olivieri’s sassy fixer character Ask singlehandedly saves the film from descending entirely into a violent “Hallmark movie” (her words) with some great one-liners and put-downs.
Unfortunately, when scripter CJ Walley’d notion of rebellion is for its leads to both boldly assert that they’re proud to like dull rock band Nickelback (this reviewer has experienced them as a support act many, many moons ago and yep they were blander than bland) then you know that Double Threat is as much hooey as Nat/Natasha wearing a Total Chaos Mohican punk band t-shirt – yep the movie is that subtle.
Double Threat has some entertaining moments, for sure, and some of the fight scenes are decently choreographed but it’s really way too action lite and off-kilter to be anything more than a mildly amusing diversion.
Adrian J Smith, MOVIES and MANIA
Other reviews:
“Ryan and Lawrence are appealing here, and Olivieri steals the film with her confident turn as an irritable enforcer, but the cast is stuck with the mushy tonality of the endeavor, which spends part of the run time cracking skulls, and the rest dealing with tiresome characters and banal personal problems.” 2.5/5 Blu-ray.com
“It wants to be subversive and flip the “incognito killer and innocent bystander” routine, but it devolves into a meaningless mess that starts so far from where their characters began, and not in a good character growth kind of way. Sure, the fights are good to look at, especially for the film’s budget, but what gets placed in between amounts to nothing special, nothing memorable… nothing.” 1.5/5 DC Filmdom
” …sure, the film’s depiction of a split personality would probably not stand purely scientific probing, plus sometimes the movie gives into genre tropes a bit too easily – but really that hardly matters, as the whole thing’s deliciously fast-paced without ever just overtaxing the viewer, it’s dialogue’s almost invariably on-point and witty, and the action scenes are just incredibly well-executed…” Search My Trash
Release:
In the US, VMI Worldwide will release Double Threat On-Demand (VOD) and on Digital platforms on June 3, 2022.
Choice dialogue:
Jimmy [Matthew Lawrence]: “Are you on drugs? Cos you run hot and cold more than a cheap motel shower.”
Ask [Dawn Olivieri]: “Do you think your dad will mind if I bring him home a girl instead of a boy?”
Cast and characters:
Dawn Olivieri … Ask
Matthew Lawrence … Jimmy
Danielle C. Ryan … Nat/Natasha
Kevin Joy … Ellis Lombardo
Andrea Logan … Roxanne
Mo Gallini … Tommy Lombardo
David Castro … Rancher
Val Barri … Server
Aimey Beer … Second Knight
Larry Krask … Barman
Dmitriy Karas … Third Knight
Darth Rimmer … First Knight
Heath Hammond … English Archer
Hannah Jeyarajah … Larper
Colton Alfred … Warehouse Goon
Christopher Riordan … Airport Goon
Jordan Mercer … Warehouse Goon
Technical details:
1 hour 32 minutes
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
Trailer:
