Castle Falls (2021)

This is one we were all excited for. Dolph, Adkins, directed by Dolph, it had to be good. Then the pandemic hit and production was delayed. Once we finally got it, I was looking to rent it, when suddenly it appeared on Pluto for free! With that, I decided to do a mini Adkins fest, watching this, The Eliminators, Hard Target 2, and One Shot, and talked about all of them in a solo podcast episode a few months back. In addition to us, this doesn't have as many critic reviews as you'd think, but our friend Todd Gaines at Bulletproof has done this too.

Castle Falls has Adkins as a down-on-his-luck MMA fighter who is living out of his truck in Birmingham, AL, and takes a construction job destroying an old hospital pre-demolition. Dolph plays a prison guard whose daughter's cancer treatments aren't covered by their insurance. When he hears that a baddie hid millions in drug money in the building, he goes to seek it out, the problem is, Adkins already stumbled upon it. Things get worse when the baddies also come to get their money, and now Adkins and Lundgren have to team up to take these guys down, and get out with the money alive.

The last 45 minutes of this is exactly what I came for. Dolph and Adkins getting after it, fighting each other, fighting baddies, interacting with the unique environment, Marx Brothers-style "who's got the bag?" intrigue, it all worked. The problem is, getting to that last 45 minutes we have 45 minutes of padding that felt long. I don't know how you mitigate that though, and maybe it's just a necessary evil to a film like this--though we recently reviewed Nemesis, a home invasion movie that mitigated the same issue really well, so who knows. Ultimately we get the payoff we wanted at the end of the film, so maybe when you've got Dolph and Adkins, that's enough--especially considering we have one like Legendary out there.

We're now at 63 films for Dolph on the site. He'll be 66 years old in November, so I don't know if we'll get three more up by then, but definitely over the next year, which will make him the first star who has as many films reviewed as he's had years on the planet. One of many distinctions Dolph's had as the Babe Ruth of DTV films. (If you're wondering, Gary Daniels is 59 and has 55 films on the site, so he's the next closest to that distinction.) The other list Dolph is slowly creeping up on is the directors list, with this being his seventh directed film on the site. Obviously Albert Pyun doesn't have to worry about him catching him, and he probably won't get near guys like Fred Olen Ray, Jesse V. Johnson, or Isaac Florentine--or maybe even a Keoni Waxman--but he could be a part of another exclusive club, the 20-10 Club for people who have 20+ acting credits and 10+ directing credits on the site. Right now no one's in that club, but Fred Williamson is poised to get there, as he has 9 director credits on the site so far. Another reason why this is important, is Dolph's directed movies, especially his recent ones, tend to be better films from him. The next one on the docket is Wanted Man, which is listed in post production, so hopefully we'll get that soon and it'll be another good one. Beyond that, the question is, can Dolph make 70 movies on the site? By my count, we have Kindergarten Cop 2 and 4Got10 in the can and ready to review, plus Pups Alone now available on the Roku Channel to stream. Beyond that, we could always do Expendables 3, Sharknado 5, Seal Team, and Small Apartments, plus we have a bunch of stuff, including Wanted Man, in post production coming out next year, so it's more a matter of when not if for the 70 Club, which he'll be in by himself like he is now in the 60 Club.

Scott Adkins has a ways to go to catch Dolph, but not for a lack of work. This is now 22 for him here, but I have another 5 watched that I need to review, plus he has a bunch out there that I need to watch--one of which is a Netflix movie he did with Jamie Foxx that's almost 2 hours long, so I probably won't be doing that one anytime soon. There are a few things going on here that really work for Adkins: one, he's a Brit, and while he has a good American accent, he's better as a Brit, and I like when movies allow him to do that; two, it's the same great action we came for from him, even if we have to wait 45 minutes for it to really happen; and three, he and Dolph have great chemistry, but that's not saying a lot because he has great chemistry with Michael Jai White, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Louis Mandylor, Stu Bennett--essentially everyone he works with. The fact that he can work well with so many other stars means the sky's the limit for what he can do, it's really a matter of what the film is able to give him. At the very least, this movie delivers on the promise of he and Dolph on the tin. As we near the 30 Club and Hall of Fame consideration for him, it'll be interesting to see how he grows as an action star, and see him rise up the list of best all time.

For people living outside the US, the idea that Dolph needed money for a cancer treatment that wasn't covered by his health insurance may sound far fetched, but here in the US it's pretty common. We often see real life situations where communities need to raise money to cover the costs insurance companies won't bother with--and news organizations help carry water for the insurance companies by spinning these stories as "heart-warming" instead of horrible that the greatest economic power in the world can't care for its own citizens and is beholden to a massive private health insurance lobby that treats humans as bottom lines and dividends for stock holders as opposed to actual human beings. Yes, it makes for a great plot device in an action movie, but the reality of it here in the US is much more tragic, as many households--mine included--have to wrestle with large healthcare bills on top of what we already pay in premiums every month. If you're outside the US, you're probably wondering why Americans put up with this, why many Americans even vote against universal healthcare? It's because too many of us are afraid of being called "socialists," and most of those that are afraid of being called "socialists" don't even understand what the term means, but it means they'd rather be denied health coverage or have to pay out the nose for it, and as a result, we all suffer. But hey, at least it works as a plot device in an action movie, so there's that.

Speaking of that plot device, Dolph's daughter was played by his actual daughter, Ida. This is actually the second time we've seen her here, the other being Dolph's Command Performance. In terms of DTV stars using their children, we've seen this the most with Jean-Claude Van Damme, whose son Kris has been in like 8 or 9 films of Van Damme's we've covered here. Another one that comes to mind is Seagal and his daughter Ayako who were in The Patriot together; and recently we saw Val Kilmer in Paydirt do some scenes with his daughter Mercedes. It's a cool thing to see these names we grew up with who are now older being able to do these films with adult children--though with Seagal, his daughter is the same age as me, and that film was made in the 90s, so maybe that doesn't fit like the rest do. The best out of all of them is Van Damme with his son Kris, because they have fight scenes; but with Dolph, I can only imagine what it's like doing scenes where he has to imagine his daughter has terminal cancer. I think that element helped the movie though, as his ability to lean into those scenes gave the character that much more depth to make us root for him and want this all to work out for him--though when do we not ever root for Dolph?

And with that, let's wrap this up. As of this writing, this is available on Tubi, Pluto, and Shout! Factory TV on Prime here in the States. Streaming as part of your subscription package or free with ads is probably the way to go, though if you're looking for a Saturday night movie and can only rent it on demand, it might be worth it. The last 45 minutes is the great Dolph and Adkins action we came for.

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11377298

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