Written And Directed by Jamie Childs
Jack: "It's not that easy. He's taken me brother."
I'm not a big action guy but I was looking for something to watch that wasn't overly Christmassy and I stumbled on this one during the day. Needless to say, it's a bit of a mixed but entertaining enough bag.
Our titular hero of the piece was former motocross champion/army guy, Jack Dawson (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). He's been hired to retrieve a mystery package for a guy named Silas (Joe Blakemore). Simple mission that ended up going wrong rather fast.
It also resulted in Jack's younger brother, Simon (Leon Harrop) going missing and Jack on a mission to get his younger brother back. This also meant Jack having to work with Craig (Thomas Turgoose) and former girlfriend, Bo (Jenna Coleman).
I'll admit that while Craig was the comedy foil for Jack, the latter's childhood sweetheart was more of a badass than Jack himself. As a would be action hero clearly in over his head, it almost felt like Jack survived this movie purely out of dumb luck. Bo on the other hand was able to take down thugs with little effort.
Jenna Coleman might not get a lot of screentime but she certainly made the most of an essential nothing burger role. There's a look into Jack and Bo's former romance but there's more friends chemistry than lingering exes chemistry between our moody hero and his sparky ex-girlfriend. A part of me wonders what this movie might have been like had the roles been reversed between Jack and Bo.
As for the final act, it went all Kill Bill Volume 2 (not a bad thing) with the introduction of Jack's piece of shit father, Armstrong (Rory McCann) and a half sister named Amy. Add a surprise redemption from Silas, a decent reveal from Craig and ultimately Jack got a bit of a happy ending but it's also a rushed one too with Jack being more passive in how things panned out.
- There's a reunion for The Sandman fans with not only the writer/director and Jenna Coleman but also Vivienne Acheampong as arms dealer, Eddy.
- Not only was there references to Titanic (I mean the title character's name made it unavoidable), but also Batman, Power Rangers and even Watchmen.
- Standout music: Robin S's Show Me Love and Sam Fender's Iris.
- Chronology: It's set around Christmas, though no one even mentions it in the movie.
Jackdaw was a solid, if not a spectacular British action flick. It's not too slick and overpolished, the humour's a bit hit and miss and while Jack's something of a bumbling action hero, Oliver Jackson-Cohen did give a good performance. Its a diverting 97 minutes.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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