WFG RATING: B+

Insurgence and V Channels present a Sandaled Kid/Furst Class Productions in association with JCB Pictures and Robotic Donut. Directed by James Cullen Bressack. Produced by James Cullen Bressack, Jarrett Furst, and Ben Stobber. Written by James Cullen Bressack and David Josh Lawrence. Cinematography by Bryan Koss. Edited by R.J. Cooper.

Stars Peter Jae, Josh Kelly, Ashlee Evans-Smith, Augie Duke, Maurice LaMarche, Kristos Andrews, James Cullen Bressack, Jesse Kove, Anna Harr, and Galadriel Stineman. 

An ex-Army Ranger sets out for revenge against the mobsters responsible for his wife’s death in the latest action-packed thriller from director James Cullen Bressack.

Ex-Ranger Wyatt Park has been in the midst of making a workout video with his pregnant wife Becca and brother-in-law Levi. However, when they are ambushed by an ambitious hit from a mobster, Becca is killed and Wyatt is in a coma for a month. When he awakens, he learns that his daughter was born, and in the NICU and learns about Becca. However, Wyatt learns he has suffered a traumatic brain injury and CTE. In time, Wyatt will lose all memories and Levi helps him by recording so he will remember. 

Wyatt decides if he’s going to eventually go down, he’s taking those responsible down with him. Naming his daughter after his late wife, he asks Levi to help her understand why he’s about to do what he can. With help from some unlikely allies, Wyatt will go to great lengths to ensure he gets his revenge before he is taken down himself from his unsustainable injuries. 

James Cullen Bressack was one of the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of continuing to make films and churning out some great entertainment during the hard times we all endured. His latest film, this action-packed revenge thriller, does something very intriguing in terms of its camerawork. Using a combination of lenses from various points of view, from first person to security camera-style footage, this could be one of Bressack’s strongest and bravest efforts to date. 

Peter Jae is great as Wyatt, the ex-Ranger on the hunt to find those responsible for his wife’s death and traumatic brain injury. Actor and real-life ex-Ranger Josh Kelly joins in the fun as Levi, Wyatt’s brother-in-law, who offers to help Wyatt not just in the action but also record the events so that one day, Wyatt’s daughter (who survived the attack) will someday understand. This is why there are many points of view in the film with not just showing Wyatt and Levi’s POV, but those involving cameras put in places. 

The duo find some unlikely allies in their mission of revenge. One is Tank, the duo’s fellow Ranger, played by former UFC fighter Ashlee Evans-Smith. Another is the mysterious Glitch, who due to Levi respecting privacy concerns, is pixelated and is played by none other than the director himself. There is one more in a mob moll named Monroe, played by Augie Duke, who makes the most of her screen time offering to help in exchange for her safety and freedom from the hands of one of two local mob gangs who could be responsible. Luke LaFontaine’s fight choreography brings a grounded hand-to-hand combat style with boxing and at times, kickboxing like maneuvers when there’s not gunfire involved and there’s plenty of that as well.

The Workout is James Cullen Bressack’s bravest action film yet with its many POVs in both the story and the action. The action goes at a breakneck pace with a revenge story involving a very flawed protagonist who is forced to deal with an issue but will take those responsible down with him in the process. 

The film will debut on Digital on October 28.