Today’s quick review: The Debt Collector. Too broke to keep his gym and unwilling to sell it, French (Scott Adkins), a martial arts instructor, goes to work as a debt collector for Big Tommy (Vladimir Kulich), a man with an imposing reputation. Tommy pairs him with Sue (Louis Mandylor), a washed-up veteran of the business, for his first weekend on the job. But between the beatings and the grey morality, Tommy begins to have second thoughts.
The Debt Collector is a budget action movie about a martial artist who puts his skills to work as muscle for an underworld collection agency. The Debt Collector features a fair amount of martial arts action and a decent pair of leads in Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor. However, its bare-bones stunts, lackluster story, and inexpertly handled drama don’t leave it with much to work with. The result is a budget action flick without much meat on its bones.
The Debt Collector is at its best when French and Sue are simply doing their jobs. The variety of shady clients they have to collect from, plus the musclebound bodyguards French has to beat his way through, give the movie a nice rhythm. French and Sue have a fun dynamic, with French as the rookie struggling with the violence of the job and Sue as his easygoing mentor. Touches of comedy and a dash of moral drama give the film some potential.
The Debt Collector doesn’t have the skill or vision to make good on this potential. The middle portion of the story works welle nough, as French is learning the ropes of the job, but it is undermined by a bland opening and an unsatsifying finale. French and Sue aren’t interesting or funny enough to carry the movie by themselves. The stunts are a competent display of martial arts and street brawling, but they never go beyond the basics.
The Debt Collector is only worth a shot for budget action fans who are interested in hand-to-hand combat seasoned with a touch of buddy comedy. The movie has a better dynamic between its leads than many entries in the genre, but its mediocre execution and limited amount of spectacle leave it outclassed by both bigger-budget action movies and low-budget movies with more ambition. Most viewers would be better off looking elsewhere.
For a budget action movie with more comedy and better characters, try War on Everyone. For a weightier crime drama with a similar setup, try Training Day.
5.6 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 5.5 for decent leads and stuntwork, without much else to offer.