Hey gang, Valkor here. It’s been awhile since I’ve done an action film review. So when the latest Dolph Lundgren film, Hard Night Falling, scooted across my desk, I was more than thrilled to check it out. And then I watched it... and now I wish I could unsee it. It’s not as sluggish as Shark Lake, but it could use some of that action and fun found in Altitude.
Hard Night Falling centers on Michael Anderson (Lundgren), an agent of Interpol who is taking the night off to hang with his wife and daughter at the daughter’s company dinner. Suddenly, the place is overrun with terrorist types in search of a cache of gold hidden somewhere on the property. Unfortunately for them, they’ve no idea Michael has the skills and a team to take them down and to keep his family safe. Do Michael and his crew walk away with a win? Hell yeah! But was the ride worth it?
The last Lundgren film I reviewed was a pair up with Jean-Claude Van Damme in Black Water, which was another film that I really wanted to like. However, that ended up being a so-so actioner and not much of anything else remotely fun. However, I had high hopes for Hard Night Falling going in. But this one was too much of a mess to be enjoyable. And I’ll tell you all about it in the TOV Breakdown.
The Good:
While I didn’t care too much for Hard Night Falling, it has a few positive qualities about it. First up, it’s a straightforward actioner, without adding in any crazy plot twists and other such complexities. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of twists! But they’re predictable and not as jarring as I would have liked. And yet this is the type of film you’d want to lay back and chill with for its 85-minute run. The action isn’t terrible, but I’ve sat through better. This one, much like Black Water, is just so-so. It’s watchable, but I wasn’t blown away. In the end, while Hard Night Falling has some shiny areas, it was ultimately a dull experience that I wouldn’t recommend.
The Bad:
First up, the story of a gang of thieves attempting to steal some gold only to be thwarted by an Interpol agent and his crew sounds about right. But it doesn’t play out how I would have expected. The action is clunky with a lot of missed spots. For instance, right at the jump, the bad guys don’t fire a single shot. All of them are armed, but only the good guys do the shooting. And I would have liked that back and forth between the two groups. Next, the choreography on the fights was mad lame; there was some obvious swing/miss moments that could have, should have been fixed in editing. And speaking of editing, this is a film that’s badly pieced together; like someone that was trying to fit puzzle pieces into places where they don’t fit. The whole thing just comes across as messy. I’d give a lot of the negatives a pass if the action was better. But it isn’t. I mean, it’s watchable, but it’s not that exciting. I’ll take an over-the-top actioner like Altitude any day of the week over this one!
The Funny:
I thought it was funny how the bad guy, Goro, says he doesn’t want women dying during his operation. Yet, he kills the one woman, who was a part of his plan! Granted, it took her a while to die, but she still died, which went against his beliefs.
Hard Night Falling is available now on DVD and Digital formats. But I’d suggest giving his one a "hard" pass should it come across your path. I’m a huge Dolph Lundgren fan, but this one isn’t one of his better films. And there are better films out there that he’s done! So, out of TOV 5 stars, I’m giving Hard Night Falling a 1.
