Zero Tolerance was originally a movie called Angel that was recut with additional scenes. It stars Nguyen as a former CIA operative whose former CIA operative buddy, Sahajak Boonthanakit, let's him know when his daughter, Angel, is found dead. Nguyen, in looking for his daughter's killer, discovers she worked as a call girl, so he delves into Thailand's seedy underbelly, killing anyone who gets in his way on his search for the truth. Adkins and Gary Daniels have smaller supporting parts.
I don't know where to go with this one. I'm not saying it was horrible, but I don't know how well it worked either. It's kind of a search for vengeance with a twist, and there are elements of that that really work, especially when he's taking out a bunch of baddies. When he's just shooting guys who are doing nothing beyond sitting at a table in a gentleman's club, it's not so much. That's one issue with the recut nature of the film, while it's done really well so cinematically we don't know it happened, the film feels as if it's of split minds, not sure if it wants to be a tense revenge thriller, or a high octane actioner. Combine that with the idea that it's packaged like the latter only with tons of Scott Adkins, and I think people will come expecting at least Triple Threat, and will be left wanting.
In watching this, I feel like Dustin Nguyen could carry a DTV actioner. The one thing I didn't realize is he's going to be 58 this year. I have this image of him as a pure Gen Xer in 21 Jumpstreet, but he was a bit older than that then, and the fact that he's older may explain why the movie is more Gun Fu than hand to hand martial arts. The thing is, this movie wasn't really a straight ahead actioner, so it's hard to judge Nguyen based off of that. It would be good to see him as a cop on the edge in a Seattle shot in Vancouver, maybe with a partner like Ian Ziering who isn't as crazy but has his back, and a police chief like Pam Grier who tries to rein him in but knows his being on the edge also gets results. I like Dustin Nguyen in that role and think it could work.
Gary Daniels is the film's one Hall of Famer, and this marks his 48th film, putting him that much closer to the vaunted 50 Club; but this is another one out of his 40-plus films that doesn't feature him much. I think we'd hold this kind of thing against him more if he didn't have so many classics, but he does, so seeing him for a small role is more of a novelty when it happens. Just the same, this is another on his tally as he's making his way to being only the second ever person at the DTVC with 50 movies reviewed. He may pass Dolph for most all time, and these kinds of parts will definitely help him get there.
It's a rarity that it takes us this long to get to Scott Adkins in a movie, but like Daniels, he isn't in this much--more than Daniels, but still not the star or co-star the picture on the tin would have you believe. I think with so much great new Adkins out there, no one really has time for an Adkins bait-and-switch, even if this was after the fact in an attempt to save the movie after it didn't do so well. If you're going to have Adkins save your movie, it needs to be 100% Adkins. He needs to be Nguyen's new partner and needs three or four good fight scenes. That didn't really happen here unfortunately, and though what we had of him of his was good, it wasn't satisfying when you're coming into this expecting him to have a bigger role.
For this last paragraph, I wanted to spotlight Sahajak Boonthanakit, who plays Nguyen's partner in this--I know, I just said when Scott Adkins was grafted in to save the film he should have been Nguyen's partner, and now I want to spotlight Boonthanakit--though to be fair, does that cover at the top look like they wanted Boonthanakit as Nguyen's partner either? Anyway, the point is, Boonthanakit is someone we've seen on the DTVC before, in particular as Seagal's bad henchmen in Asian Connection, and I thought he was good here. The problem is, in the attempt to save the film, Adkins and Daniels were grafted in, and then we're like "who is this other guy they're spending so much time on?" Maybe we need to give Boonthanakit his own cop on the edge movie and see how he does with it?
Before I start handing out cop on the edge movies to everyone, it's time I wrapped this up. Don't fall for the old bait and switch like I did. Yes, Adkins is on the cover, yes it lists Gary Daniels in the cast, but ultimately this is a Dustin Nguyen/Sahajak Boonthanakit action thriller that was refurbished from a previous Dustin Nguyen/Sahajak Boonthanakit suspense thriller, and with all the great new Adkins out there, this should be further down your list.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3727690
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