Mark Reviews Movies: SECTION 8

Section 8, RLJE Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 22, 2022

The plot of Section 8 exists for two reasons: as an excuse for action sequences and to lead to an ending that sets up a sequel (The last two words of the movie even tell us what the filmmakers anticipate the title will be). As such, it almost feels unnecessary to criticize Chad Law and Josh Ridgway's cliché-ridden screenplay, which gives us a wife and child who exist solely to be killed off by the end of the first act, a super-duper-secret government agency that acts without any oversight, and a lot of conspiracy and backstabbing and double- or triple-crosses that ultimately don't mean much of anything.

The predictability of the plotting, though, points to the biggest issue here: This is a movie that constantly reminds us of its lazy and cynical goals. The protagonist is a generic bore—a badass with a good heart, basically—who just finds himself a series of action setpieces. Those action scenes provide little sense of the stakes, seem like hastily staged bits of shooting or fighting, and only possess occasional flashes of effective choreography. Its ambitions are so minimal that, again, it almost feels useless to explain them further. The movie shows up and does its job, but there are too many times that the filmmakers come across as if they simply showed up and hoped the work would take care of itself.

The bland hero is Jake Atherton (Ryan Kwanten), a military veteran whose wife (played by Kimi Alexander) and young son (played by Noah Alexander Sosnowki) are murdered by a local gang, looking to collect a debt from Jake's uncle Earl (Mickey Rourke). Some later flashbacks try to establish the family relationships with which the first act doesn't bother, but there's no avoiding that the characters are disposable plot devices (That doesn't prevent a gratuitous and tonally awkward sex scene to fit into those flashbacks, which adds a tinge of sexism to the existence of the wife character, as well).

Several months later, Jake is in prison for killing the gang members, and he's approached by Ramsey (Dermot Mulroney), the head of the off-the-books agency of the title. They'll get him out of prison, give him a new identity, and get him some work, and all he has to do is a series of missions without any hesitation or asking any questions. The team consists of a couple of broad types—Liza (Tracy Perez), a tough woman who's assigned to keep an eye on the newbie, and Ajax (Justin Furstenfeld), the tough guy who desperately wants to fight Jake—and multiple nameless goons who can figure into the action.

Quickly, Jake does start asking questions and hesitating when he learns Section 8 is basically an assassination squad. Obviously, that gets him in the crosshairs of the agency and overseas hitman Locke (Scott Adkins), who has no regard for human life and kills without a second thought (except when it comes to Jake, apparently, because that characteristic would put a sudden end to the story a couple of times here).

Basically, the structure is a repetitive back-and-forth between scenes heavy with exposition—well, as heavy as this lightweight material can muster—and those actions sequences. There's little communication of geography or logic to those scenes, as staged and shot by director Christian Sesma. A standoff between warring gangs is a mess of gunfire in which Jake doesn't even partake, and another mission has Jake and the team targeting an elected official—a move that seems both politically provocative and, since said politician is a confused amalgamation of beliefs and catchphrases, half-hearted. The rest of them are too busy trying to communicate plot while the action unfolds, although a late-stage car chase is at least somewhat amusing for how the participants start shooting allegedly at each other but logistically in no particular direction.

The highlight of Section 8 is a knock-down, drag-out brawl between Kwanten and Adkins' characters, with the two actors putting a lot of energy into the lengthy and brutal bout. The scene, though, comes well after the plot has resolved during the seemingly unending third act, which just keeps adding twist after twist until everything ends up in the most predictable straight line of a plot. The movie doesn't want to do much, and it struggles to do even that.

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