Today’s quick review: Reprisal. Shaken by a robbery at his bank, bank manager Jacob (Frank Grillo) asks his neighbor James (Bruce Willis), a retired cop, to help him track down the culprit. Their investigation leads them to Gabriel (Johnathon Schaech), a criminal mastermind operating in the area. But when Jacob intervenes in Gabriel’s latest crime, he puts his wife Christina (Olivia Culpo) and daughter Sophia (Natlia Sophie Butler) at risk.
Reprisal is a budget action movie about a bank manager trying to catch the man who robbed his bank. Jacob becomes obsessed with his investigation, ignoring his wife’s concerns for his mental health as he searches for closure for the robbery he failed to stop. Reprisal has the skeleton of a decent plot, but its execution is lacking. Linear events, limited character development, and weak action all detract from what the movie is trying to do.
Reprisal suffers from issues of motivation. Jacob has no concrete reason to get involved in the hunt for Gabriel, just a vague sense of unease and the unrealistic belief that the police will blame him for the robbery. James exists as a plot device and a sounding board, egging Jacob on seemingly out of boredom. Gabriel’s motivations are fleshed out a little more, but not enough to make him a well-rounded or interesting character.
As a result, Reprisal always feels like it’s going through the motions. Jacob investigates because the movie wants him to, the clues he follows barely matter, and the movie has to bend over backwards to keep Jacob involved in the story rather than passing his information to the police. The tactics of Gabriel’s robberies are somewhat interesting, giving him a modest amount of menace, but the token action scenes they lead to undermine the effect.
Reprisal has potential but fails to live up to it. With better motivation for its characters, a greater emphasis on Jacob’s destructive obsession and its effect on his family, and sharper, more exciting shootouts and chases, Reprisal could shine. But as it stands, Reprisal is a bare-bones movie that does the minimum needed to play out its premise. Most viewers should steer clear.
For another budget action movie about a bank robbery, check out 211. For a budget action movie with some of the same feel to it, try Heist, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Dave Bautista. For a much more engaging crime thriller about a criminal tactician, check out Inside Man or Law Abiding Citizen. For more Frank Grillo, check out Wheelman or Point Blank.
[4.3 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6547170/). I give it a 4.5 for basic action and a lackluster plot.