‘Narco Sub’ Review
Stars: Tom Vera, Robert LaSardo, Tom Sizemore, Lee Majors, Johnny Ray Gibbs, Jim Jimenez, Jon Fiore, Jen Barbeito, Alexis Arnold, Sydney Ruddock, Nick W. Nicholson | Written by Shawn Welling, Derek H. Potts | Directed by Shawn Welling
Revenge thrillers have become increasingly popular in the last few years. John Wick seems to have been the most successful franchise in the genre but ever since Taken became a hit they have been made again and again. Any older actor, even if only with one or two hits on their IMDb page has given this small genre a go (Liam Neeson has made at least a dozen of what is essentially the same film). So it’s perhaps no surprise that smaller, indie films are having a go at this too. With that comes Narco Sub, the story about a guy who has to kill to save his family.
That very brief synopsis doesn’t describe quite how crazy this movie is. Well is, on paper at least. The Colombian Cartel gets caught delivering cocaine to America, while also holding two young female hostages. Hearing how a Navy Seal helped with this capture, the Cartel leader kidnaps this guy’s family, so he can use him for the next shipment of cocaine. But why would they need a Navy Seal for this you might ask? Well, the film has a good answer – because the shipment will be delivered by submarine! Now I am no expert on drug smuggling but I feel like there are a lot of ways to go about doing it that doesn’t involve a very expensive submarine! But like I say, I’m no expert.
Narco Sub is unfortunately not as thrilling as you would hope or probably expect. There’s just not much in the way of action but I think that’s a choice from the director because there are plenty of chances to make this thriller more thrilling. Instead there are lots of scenes with people talking and the script just isn’t strong enough for it. I actually thought the acting performances were decent enough on the whole. There’s a good mixture of experienced (including Lee Majors!) and inexperienced actors but everyone delivers their lines well and seems to understand their characters. But the dialogue is often very bad and even the best actors would struggle with it.
When we do get some action, there are a couple of gunfights but they feel very basic. Everything else is hand to hand combat, and again it just feels basic. The actors plodding through the motions with many of the punches and kicks landing in an unrealistic kind of way. Not only did it never feel real but it never looked like it hurt and never got very exciting. Some good action scenes would have really helped Narco Sub but there’s none to be seen.
Revenge-style action films really need to do something to stand out from the pack. There are so many of these films released every month that you need some kind of gimmick or at least to be very good. Narco Sub’s only point of interest is that it has a ridiculous submarine storyline! Unfortunately, there’s not much else to see here.
