Dermot Mulroney goes unleashed like never before in this predictable yet very enjoyable action thriller from director Art Camacho. 

High school wrestling coach Harry Sumner’s life was turned upside down four years ago when his daughter Jennifer was found raped and murdered with the one responsible being sentenced to life. Despite still reeling from the anguish, Harry tries to make the most out of his situation when he begins coaching a young woman, Catia Malone, who is going through a rough time at home when she is abused by her mother’s boyfriend Tom.

When Harry has had enough, he confronts the man and breaks his arm. When Harry is arrested for actions, Catia’s threat to expose Tom leads to her being kidnapped by Sergio, who offers Tom 10 grand in cash. When Harry meets with the detective who helped him with Jennifer and learns what happened to Catia, he decides to seek the means to rescue her. Harry soon learns something very shocking in the process. 

Taken set a new subgenre for the action film genre with the “hero with special skills stopping a human trafficking ring” theme. However, in the usual circumstances, the hero would be some sort of military specialist or assassin-like character. What if the hero is a regular joe who uses the skills he has to his advantage to do the job? The answer lies in this by the numbers action thriller that is predictable, but is still an enjoyable romp thanks to the action set pieces by director Art Camacho and the performance of lead Dermot Mulroney.

A staple of 90’s and early millennium action, Art Camacho has been quite on a resurgence as of late, with handling the action on this year’s Best Western Film, Gunfight at Rio Bravo (and is returning with the sequel Taken from Rio Bravo) and co-wrote this film with Due Justice writer and director Javier Reyna (along with Koji Steven Sakai and James Dean Symington). Along with Miguel Peralta, Camacho crafts some pretty nifty close quarter combat scenes to allow Mulroney to be the latest in the “aged action hero” status. 

Last seen in Scream VI, Mulroney is excellent as a high school wrestling coach whose expertise involves joint locking and the ability to use those grappling skills to disarm and dismember his opponents when they attack him. We see him take on a would-be attacker after he notices the guy’s date telling him no and seeing him persistent. However, he would soon be shattered with the death of his daughter, the victim of a vicious assault. 

What’s great here is that Mulroney’s Harry knows he is an old man, aged 57. When he’s not coaching, still angered by what happened to his daughter, he spends his evenings at the gym where he pays a man, Martin, played by Dragonball Evolution’s high school bully Texas Battle, to train him by delivering pain using boxing and judo throws. He sees his student Catia, played by a very good Melissa Diaz, as a means of redemption for being unable to save his daughter. 

There are quite a few villains of the film that are noteworthy, including Mauricio Mendoza’s Tom, Catia’s mother’s abusive boyfriend and the legendary Jeff Fahey as Dale Remington, a hotel owner who uses his business as a cover for the trafficking ring. We see Mulroney also have an ally in Detective Monaghan, played by Niko Foster. The detective is the one who had helped Harry in his first ordeal and offers to help again. However, while the film does have quite a lot of predictability, there is a twist at the end that did make my jaw drop because it came out of nowhere and helps change the outcome of the film in a positive way.

Ruthless may suffer from some predictability, but it still proves to be a good popcorn action film. Dermot Mulroney’s performance and Art Camacho’s action make this one worth watching. 

WFG RATING: B

Saban Films and Premiere Entertainment presents an Al Bravo Films/AXI-ON LLC/BondIt Media Capital film. Director: Art Camacho. Producers: Al Bravo, Art Camacho, Elias Axume, and HemDee Kiwanuka. Writers: Javier Reyna, Koji Steven Sakai, Art Camacho, and James Dean Symington. Cinematography: Brandon Ruiz. Editing: Rylan Rafferty.

Cast: Dermot Mulroney, Jeff Fahey, Melissa Diaz, Niko Foster, Mauricio Mendoza, Manu Intiraymi, Rafael Cabrera, Kesia Elwin, Tonantzin Esparza, Tamas Nadas, Texas Battle, Hani Al Naimi, Joe Palubinski.