Directed and co-written by Michael Winnick (Guns, Girls and Gambling), Dark Asset has a sci-fi conceit to lead to some well-choreographed fight sequences.
John (Byron Mann) approaches a beautiful woman, Jane (Helena Mattsson) in a bar. Despite the fact she’s waiting for someone, he offers her a Lambourghini if she’ll listen to him. He tells her that they’ll be in her room by the end of the night but also reveals that he is a superagent fitted with a chip that gives him enhanced abilities.
At this point of the film we’ve already seen John fight his way out of a secure establishment overseen by Robert Patrick, who fills us in on what the chip does. The fight scenes are well-handled, with plenty of bone-crunching moments and high-kicking action. Once we get to the hotel bar and the conversation between John and Jane, it becomes almost an anthology, with various confrontations John’s been through shown. Things get more interesting when it becomes clear why he’s so fixated on talking to Jane.
While fast paced action scenes will forever now be compared to John Wick and the like, here they feel a tad muted. Whether it’s the film’s grading, which betrays the digital format, or the somewhat flat dialogue, but Dark Asset falls a little short of the mark. It’s a great idea but it doesn’t quite reach its potential. There’s very little spark between Mann and Mattsson, with the former much more adept in the fight scenes than with monologues.
Despite these issues, it’s a fun high concept action flick that doesn’t task the viewer too much.
Dark Asset is out now on digital.
