Friends, last Friday saw the release of Boss Level on Hulu, the latest film from Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team) which stars the likes of Frank Grillo (The Grey), Naomi Watts (Twin Peaks), and features Michelle Yeoh (Star Trek: Discovery) as well as Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon) to name just a few of the talented cast that are featured in the movie. Last evening I had the chance to watch it for myself and was incredibly impressed by this science fiction/action film that successfully delivers laughs in addition to a surprisingly moving story. While naturally it shares the basic premise of such films as 1993’s Groundhog Day and 2017’s Happy Death Day – I can assure you that Boss Level stands firmly on it’s own and is quite entertaining to boot. I will start my non-spoiler review after the trailer – although be warned that the preview does contain a moment of SALTY LANGUAGE.
The synopsis for Boss Level on first glance is rather simple, Roy Pulver (Grillo) who is a former Delta Force soldier, is forced to relive the exact same day over and over and over again. Although from the first few seconds he opens his eyes, his life is in jeopardy from a motley collection of assassins who are dead set on killing him by shooting, stabbing, decapitating, and blowing Roy up, which hits the reset button and he has to try and survive all over again. As Roy explains in the action packed opening moments of the film, there are sometimes minor differences in how things play out – no matter what though the day will end with his violent death.
Learning from his deaths over and over allows Roy to most of the time keep ahead of the gang of assassins that have been hired to take him out. Although in particular it seems like the sword-wielding Guan Yin (Selina Lo) humorously has the ability to catch Pulver off guard. While the prospect of getting the chance to redo a very bad day might sound slightly tempting, the film does a great job of showing just how much pain Roy has to go through in his attempt to just live as long as he possibly can. A result of which has left him jaded and resigned to his bizarre and violent reoccurring fate – that is until he realizes that he has perhaps been given an extraordinary gift and opportunity. One involving Jemma Wells (Watts), his estranged wife and head scientist at Dynow Labs, which is headed up by Colonel Clive Ventor (Gibson). Although before Pulver attempts to tackle the ‘boss level’ he is going to need to learn a few more specialized skills, say like studying with master swordsman Dai Feng (Yeoh). Which certainly makes having all the time in the World a useful ability to possess to learn and better oneself , right?
Boss Level handles the majority of the violence in a humorous and over-the-top manner, one that definitely manages to deliver an exciting thrill ride of a film. But as I mentioned at the beginning of this article, it also provides a moving story, in addition to possessing a few surprising shout outs to some classic video games like Street Fighter II, Galaga, Pac-Man, and Robotron: 2084 to name a few.
In closing out this article, if you have Hulu and are looking for a fun film to watch – why not check out Joe Carnahan’s Boss Level tonight?
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