All the Devil’s Men (2018)

Directed by: Matthew Hope | 96 minutes | action | Actors: Sylvia Hoeks, William Fichtner, Milo Gibson, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Elliot Cowan, Joseph Millson, Yavor Baharov

Former Navy SEAL Jack Collins is addicted to war. A quality that comes in handy when tracking down terrorists, work he does for a private company that carries out assignments for the CIA. But the bounty hunter also struggles with the necessary personal demons, often relics of past missions. From above, it is therefore seen by some people as a potential risk. His CIA contact Leigh gives Collins the opportunity to remain active on the front lines: with a three-man team in London he has to track down and eliminate the defected CIA agent McKnight who is now operating as a terrorist. But McKnight is backed by a strong private militia that rivals Collins and his associates.

With an exciting-sounding title, the action hitchhiker ‘All the Devil’s Men’ is one of the first films in which Milo Gibson – son of the acclaimed Hollywood veteran Mel – plays a prominent role. Moreover, an important part is also reserved for Sylvia Hoeks, one of the rising stars of the Netherlands. Purely as an action movie, ‘All the Devil’s Men’ isn’t that bad. The bullets fly around freely, while many action scenes are portrayed quite nicely. It’s just a shame that they often take place in anonymous and rather unattractive locations within London (abandoned factories, industrial estates, back alleys, empty sheds and warehouses) instead of in more characterful and recognizable places such as well-known cityscapes. Perhaps that choice is due to budgetary constraints, as we are not dealing with a major cinema production. In addition, over time, the firefights become a bit monotonous and interchangeable.

But the main problem is that ‘All the Devil’s Men’ overplays its hand a bit in terms of thematic slant and scope. As an unpretentious action film, the print would have been okay, but the makers clearly had more in mind. This is apparent from the various espionage elements and plot twists in the story. For example, at various moments the film navigates uncomfortably between an action-packed no-nonsense film with a high testosterone level and a espionage counter-espionage thriller à la ‘Three Days of the Condor’. The problem is that the often machismo (I’m not a bounty hunter, I’m a shadow warrior) and ludicrous patriotism (‘protecting the homeland’) infused dialogue and characters aren’t strong enough to fulfill that second ambition. to make. Milo Gibson is very reminiscent of his father in both appearance and style, but lacks (still) the charisma and finer acting talent of Mel. As a fighter he does very well at times, but in imagining the PTSD symptoms that his character Collins suffers from, for example, he doesn’t get much further than gulping down large amounts of tranquilizers. Nowhere do you really get the impression that we are dealing with a person who has been severely tormented by war trauma. The rest of the cast is solid, but certainly doesn’t steal the show either.

How good or bad ‘All the Devil’s Men’ is depends in part on the viewer’s expectations. As an energetic and simple action film, the print is reasonably enjoyable, but unfortunately it has less content than the plot suggests.