Ryan Teller played by Paul O`Brien, is a retired assassin trying to escape his past and the nickname he was given. He is leading a quiet life, but when his boat breaks down off the island Pulau Seribu, Indonesia. He goes ashore to get the part fixed. While in the village he befriends Doni (Aji Santosa) who is trying to take care of his mother Jenti (Agni Irwinsyah) and sister Dewi (Zahira Aleka Ashari). Doni, offers his services as a translator and to help Ryan carry his supplies back to his boat. Ryan is drawn to Doni and his family and a strong bond is formed. A lot can happen in the 3 days that it`ll take to fix the part for the boat. When pirates raid the village Doni`s life is threatened, this sets off a chain off events, that leads to Ryan`s past most definitely catching up with him. He will fight the pirate’s evil slavery ring plus an old nemesis Lee sleazily played by Verdi Solaiman. Who is out for his own revenge against our hero...?
Not much happens in the first half hour of the film, lots of nice shots of the island, building up slowly the relationship between our hero Ryan Teller, Doni and his family. Paul`Obrien is superb in this role of Ryan Teller. He plays it quiet and subdued in the first act of the film, until Doni is hurt. Then he takes on the three thugs, that did it. Our first introduction to the violent assassin that is The Message Man. I have never seen Paul O`Brien in anything before. According to IMDB, he did four years on Home and Away because of this, he has fans worldwide. He gets to flex his knife and fighting skills, as well as stretching his acting, with the more dramatic and very touching scenes played between himself and young actor Aji Santosa. Doni. These scenes are very much the heart of the film, which is played right through, even during the more violent 2nd and 3rd act The Message Man fights his way to rescue Doni, his mum and his sister. During the last act, it gets a little bit like Michael Mann`s Collateral, with the introduction off one of the best actors and characters in the film. Adi the taxi driver played by Mario Irwinsyan. Costa Prasoulas plays Lee`s bodyguard, he also serves as the fight choreographer. There are some inventive action set pieces throughout. The stand out scene for me takes plays in a night club, tense build up, to The Message Man coming in with guns blazing, hands, knifes and swords, my jaw hit the ground with the intensity off this scene...
For me, some B Movies are far better than the so called bigger budgeted A Movies. I find that most blockbusters, tend to lack the imagination and heart that goes into lower budgeted films. Corey Pearson and his team have done an impressive job with making this and it will rival a few films, in the action and choreography departments. Only niggle for me was the CGI blood – especially during the first fight, after that one it settled. The film is very much a mixture of a few films, it reminded me a lot off John Wick, Rambo: last Blood to The Raid films. Our villains and what they`re capable off. Is very hard to take hard to watch in a few scenes, so when Ryan deals out justice, you are routing for him all the way. Writer Director Corey Pearson obviously had a lot of films in his mind while writing this, he does make it his own though. With this enjoyable action film, that throws back to the days of the B Movie and the straight to video classics of the 80s.