Shepherd Code: Road Back picks up where the first one left off. Alex Lapierre (Delabie) is trying to move on and retire in Portugal. But as much as he's trying to get out, his old life keeps pulling him back in. First his mentor Lewis (Wilson) is kidnapped by evil, once thought dead former rival Dumont (Michael McKell). As Lapierre and his buddy Matt (Michael Morris, who also co-wrote and co-directed), try to track down Dumont, Dumont's hatchetman Sanders (Mark Strange) is out there killing anyone connected with Lapierre, making the situation that much direr. Fortunately he's not alone, as Matt has hooked him up with old pal Jessica (West), and with her skills, she can help Lapierre in his final showdown with Dumont and Sanders. Will he be victorious?
This one improved on the first one, and gave us a more polished film overall. Also the strength of the previous one, the fights, is even better here, especially with the talented names Delabie was able to add. Where we run into a problem is we don't get as many fight scenes as we'd want, and Delabie said that had to do with budgetary restraints, which I understand. On the other hand, what does that mean if you're going in expecting a lot of fight scenes and action scenes, and you have more dramatic scenes, how are you going to feel about that? For me, I think the decider is the fact that this is an indie film, and the people involved, Delabie and company, aren't just putting something out with some names on the tin that they hope will get some streams, they're really trying to make the best movie they can, and I not only respect that, that's filmmaking I want to support. And in the process of that support, we get some really inspired fight scenes, which is great to see as well.
As always, we need to start with our 40 Club member, Don "The Dragon" Wilson. This is 43 on the site for him, and he's in this more than the first film, which was good, including a boxing sparring scene that was a fun moment as a fan of his work. I was looking at his bio, and of the films that have actually been released, we've reviewed each of the last six, and then in between the earliest of those, Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece and Diamond Cartel and Scorpion King IV, the two he made in 2015, the year he came back from hiatus, there are about six movies that look like they were actually released that could potentially be reviewed, plus a couple before Bloodfist, which all total will get us to 50 for him. Whether we get to them all or not, no matter what, Wilson is one of the greatest to do it, and it was great to see him here in the role he had. He's slated to be in the next film in this series, which will be a prequel, and looks like a lot of fun, so I can't wait to see him there too.
Going from the old school to the new school, we have one of the top rising stars in the action/martial arts world, Shaina West. I'd seen her before this in Jade, which Ty and I covered on episode 232 of the pod, and even though I wasn't a fan of the editorial choices that were taken in the end product, with all the long takes and faux grindhouse-y things, I thought she was great in it, and couldn't wait to see what she did next. Here she comes in toward the end, and has one really great fight scene, which just furthers that desire to see her in more stuff. She has two other films out, one is The Last Gunfight, which is on Paramount+, and the other is The Killer's Game, which is currently in Starz Purgatory, so I may not be able to see it for a while. What her part in this film showed me is she needs a big moment with an Isaac Florentine, Jesse V. Johnson, or James Nunn. And I don't mean co-starring with a Scott Adkins either, center the thing around her. 90 minutes of her taking down a bunch of stunt performers. Former special forces or whatever, I don't care, just put her on a revenge trail and set the whole thing on fire. No more "who's the next big action star," we found her, it's time to start making the movies.
The star of this film, Alan Delabie, is no slouch when it comes to martial arts either, and while he gives the spotlight to his co-stars, in particular West and Mark Strange, he was able to show his stuff plenty as well. I'm excited to see what he has in store for us with the next installment of this franchise. He said it'll be more drama, but if we get a few nice fights here and there I'll be happy. You may have noticed that we tagged Mark Strange as well. We've seen him before, in Avengement, one of the best DTV films of the last 20 years or so. Here he only gets a fight scene or two more than West, but like West, they were fantastic. In particular, his one against Wayne Gordon where he whips his long coat around before he fights, was next level. Add him to the list of names we want to see more of. A couple other names to round things out, we had Lee Arenberg, who played Mike Moffitt in a couple Seinfeld episodes--among other things, but that's what I'll always remember him from; and Louis DeStefano, who shows up in a lot of Cinema Epoch/CineRidge Entertainment films, some of which we've covered here on the site, so it was cool to see him here too. Also, I didn't forget Natasha Killip, Rachel the Waitress from the previous film, and one of my favorite characters in that one. It was great to see her get a cameo in the sequel.
Finally, I wanted to get back to what Alan told me about how he needed to be heavier on the drama aspect than the action because the budget required it. In other cases, it's not a question of the budget, instead the filmmaker relies on more drama because that's the film they want to make. In either case, it gets back to a question that I've always been interested in: do you make art for your audience, or make it for yourself, or even for no audience at all, including yourself? There was an author who said in an interview that you should never write for an audience--even yourself--because that's not the point of creative writing. He said the electric company writes for an audience--if they send you a letter warning you about possible scams, their customer is the audience, and they have a specific purpose in their communication. Creative writing, he said, shouldn't have that same purpose. I can't find the article or remember the name of the author, but it is how I approach writing. For example, the trend now is for short chapters, that that's what audiences want, while my novel Don't House in the Mountains is over 150,000 words and has five chapters. Can the same thing be applied to movies? The audience is expecting a lot of action, and whether it's not there due to budgetary reasons, or the filmmakers wanted to focus on the story, is that okay? I don't have the answer, but for me, if you're earnest enough in what you're doing, and you're putting out good work, the audience should come to you.
And with that, let's wrap this up. You can currently get this on Tubi here in the States, or rent it on Amazon for $2.99. Either way, I think supporting indie creatives is a positive, and something worth doing, and in the process you get to see some really inspired fight scenes. Also, if you haven't yet, check out the podcast episode Ty and I did on this one, 237 in the archives.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32915549
And check out my newest novel, Mark in Sales, on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
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