Final Score is a 2018 action thriller about terrorists who abduct a man’s niece at a soccer match, leaving him to wage a one-man war to save her and prevent mass destruction.
Back to the well we go, with yet another clone of the long-running formula laid out decades before by the genre’s perennial favorite, Die Hard, the conceit that only one man can fill-in-the-blank so over wrought now that it’s to the point of hilarity. But we do crave action, and we do adore a hero, and as such, there’s a sort of undeniably pleasure in knowing films like these exist, even if most don’t come nearly as close to the bone as the originator. Now comes Scott Mann‘s hyperkinetic Final Score, the latest in the heap of everyman heroes in a film that certainly knows the recipe well and delivers what’s expected while nothing much more.
Former soldier Michael Knox (Dave Bautista) is battle worn and haunted by his past, struggling in England to raise his family, including Danni (Lara Peake), the troubled daughter of a fallen friend, whom she calls Michael ‘Uncle.’ One day, Michael takes Danni to the nearby stadium to see a soccer match with the home team against the Russians, where a series of events, including him noticing some strange men in attendance and the arrival of Danni’s boyfriend leaving the two separated. Not long after, things go very bad as into the fray comes Arkady (Ray Stevenson), a former Russian revolutionary on the hunt for his missing brother Dimitri (Pierce Brosnan), whom he has discovered faked his death and took to hiding in the U.K. He’s rigged the stadium to explode so in swoops Michael to try and save the thousands in attendance and get Danni back.
Right away a lot feels familiar as this is stuff we’ve seen in various iterations dozens of times before with only the setting given a facelift. Naturally, Mann and the screenwriter’s know this and so populate the film with all the expected landmarks, surely understanding that their audience is on board just for such. Batista, who is making the most of his current successes, is a surprisingly good fit for the role, despite his brawn, no doubt the impact of his good-natured and fallible work as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy films lending him a vulnerability fans can identify with. The film tries to give that edge some tweaking with a few shots at some emotional impact, though this is not the place for all that and it ultimately comes up a little dry, even if Michael’s efforts to save Danni feel authentic.
As you can guess already, the real weak link is how the movie never really gets over the cartoony potential of the bad guy, something that so few films in the genre get right. Stevenson gives it gusto but the plot and script just doesn’t give characters like this any real value or weight beyond their immediate needs. Bronson does make an appearance but he’s mostly peripheral, cast to the wait it out until the latter moments. As an action flick, there is surely enough here to keep fans satiated, and those longing to see more of Batista run amok with fistacuffs, then this will be worth a look, but it’s superficial in its message and politics and offers nothing new to give it any significance.