Monday 21 November 2022

The Debt Collector (4 Stars)



If I called "The Debt Collector" a good film I'd be lying. It has a cheesy plot and under-developed characters, but I like it. It makes no pretentions to be anything more than an action packed B-Movie. I can imagine that when the director saw the finished product he said, "Yes, that's just what I wanted".

Scott Adkins plays French, the owner of a small martial arts club. It's doing badly, supposedly because it's old-fashioned and doesn't give away many black belts. Isn't that normal? He's in debt, and he fears he'll have to close his club. He says he'll do anything to save his club. His friend makes a suggestion. He could work as a debt collector for a loan shark called Tommy.

As is to be expected, "collecting debts" means beating up anyone who owes money. Any sympathy I had for French flew out of the window when he started his job. He has no qualms about hitting anyone. It's just business. He accompanies Sue (short for Sulanski), an ex-boxer, on his collection rounds. At first French things Sue is too brutal, but they're soon on the same level. The only difference is that French won't hit women. Sue calls him a weakling and shows him how it's done.

I like the action. The fights look realistic, not as artificial as many Chinese martial arts films. It's a fun film to sit and watch once. There's a sequel, which I'm looking forward to watching.

The film was released direct-to-streaming in Britain and America, but it's available on disc in Germany and some other European countries.

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