Recently the majority of Mel Gibson’s movies have been going the DTV route. Like his contemporary Bruce Willis, these films all feature him heavily in the trailers and promotional material to only have him appear fleetingly in a supporting role. The likes of Force of Nature (2020), Dangerous (2021) and Last Looks (2021) all did this, with only the enjoyably crazy Fatman (2020) featuring him in the lead. The one thing Gibson has over Willis with these DTV efforts is that he always brings his A game.
With this in mind I did come to his latest movie Havana (2022) with some trepidation. However unlike his last few movies this one appeared to be a step in the right direction. Upon viewing the trailer it appeared that Gibson would be playing a substantial role. Sure, I understood that he wouldn’t be the lead, but going by the trailer and the following poster it did look like this would be a considerable step up from his other DTV fare.
Not only this, Havana found him working with a notable director in the form of Mark Neveldine who years before created cult hit Crank (2006). Now I know his track record since then hasn’t exactly been golden but even his subsequent films have mostly been enjoyable with the sheer insanity of Crank 2:High Voltage (2009) and Gamer (2009) making them worthwhile. Even something like The Vatican Tapes (2015) had its good points even if they didn’t all come together to make a satisfying hole.
Released on VOD stateside, for us that live in the UK, we had the benefit of a physical DVD release. So it was with this I put the DVD into my player and eagerly hoped to be wowed by what had the potential to be one of the better DTV actioners of the year.
And the big question you may be asking is, was it one of the best actioners of the year? Now most of you probably know the answer to that question. Of course it wasn’t. It wasn’t even close to being the best DTV action film of the year. In fact, Panama may just be the worst film of the year. I honestly can’t see it being surpassed.
Taking place in 1989, James Becker (Cole Hauser) is an ex-marine who is suffering after the death of his wife. Visiting his wife’s grave on a daily basis he is finally raised out of his stupor by his former commander Stark (Mel Gibson) who wants him to carry out a mission in the danger zone of Panama.
Becker’s mission is to purchase a helicopter from Eduardo Noriega which will be used to assist the Contras battle the Sandinistas. Becker has to build a series of connections to carry this off, with him unable to trust anyone, even those who are on his own side. Confusing matters further is Becker's involvement with the beautiful Camilla (Kiara Liz) who may not be completely trustworthy.
As expected, Gibson’s part is only a supporting role, with him ultimately having around 15 minutes of screen time at best, although he does contribute an unnecessary voiceover which pops up every now and again. The lack of screen time for Gibson was extremely disappointing as he lights up the screen whenever he garces it.
Personally I felt the film would have been more interesting if it focused on him rather than Cole Hauser’s lead. No offence to Hauser but his character is extremely bland and I found it difficult to care what happened to him during the film.
I can understand the reasoning behind Hauser’s casting as recently he has been growing in popularity due to his role in the show Yellowstone (2018), with his character becoming a fan favourite. Previously Hauser had proven to be a competent supporting player with roles in Good Will Hunting (1997), Pitch Black (2000 and Tigerland (2000) all being standouts.
However, when it comes to leading roles he hasn’t been so lucky with films like Paparazzi (2004) and The Cave (2005) not exactly setting the world on fire. Coincidentally Paparazzi previously had him working alongside Gibson, with him producing as well as featuring as himself in a small cameo role.
With the right script I think Hauser has what it takes to be an action lead. He certainly has the look for it, with his hulking frame making him appear imposing. Other than that though, Hauser is wasted in the role. Other than getting to act in some gratuitous sex scenes with the absoultely stunning Kiara Liz, there isn’t much I can see that would have attracted him to the role.
Additionally, considering they keep saying Becker is the best, he really is hopeless at his job. In only his 15 minutes of screen time, Mel Gibson is 100% more a badass than Hauser manages during the entirety of the film.
The villains don't fare any better than the leads, hardly managing to make an impression. Mauricio Hénao does manage to inject some life into his pathetic drug dealer Enrique but he is let down with the material.
Regarding the female members of the cast, they are mostly there for titillation. As mentioned Kiara Liz livens proceedings up with some unnecessary sex scenes (although I wasn’t complaining). There is also Jackie Cruz who plays a C.I.A. agent stationed in Havana, but she really adds nothing to the plot.
The only other female character is Kate Katzman’s Tatyana, Becker’s sister in law. She appears in the opening and disappears for the majority of the running time only reappearing when the plot has to inject some personal stakes for Becker.
It is actually hard to believe that Panama is from the same crazy mind behind Crank, well one of them at least. Neveldine shows none of the energy or skill for action he showed in his previous work. Of course Panama is a much lower budget feature than any of his previous films but lesser directors have done more with less. There are some parts of Panama that are painful to watch.
Neveldine does try to inject some energy into scenes with the use of handheld cameras, something he has done continuously throughout his career. The issue with this is that it adds absolutely nothing to proceedings. Normally this type of camera work would be used to give the film a sense of urgency but all they do here is give the viewer a headache.
This style is even used in simple dialogue exchanges, notably an early scene where Gibson meets Hauser at his wife’s grave. There seems to be a juddering effect added to the scene that if anything adds an essence of cheapness.
This would at least be forgivable if Neveldine included some memorable action, but none of the action scenes in Panama ever seem to come alive. Even when the film appears to be building to an action packed finale it goes out with a damp squib. One memorable scene (not in a good way) has Becker accompanying a team of guerilla fighters into the jungle, where the leader of the team presses play on a boom box and exclaims “welcome to the jungle”, only for the soundtrack to blare out some unheard of before rock music. Clearly the production costs couldn’t stretch to a bit of Guns and Roses.
I could have forgiven this scene if the action that accompanied it was of value, but it was so poorly choreographed I would have rather Neveldine didn’t bother. Where is the bravura camera work that audiences have come to expect from his work.
The only time Neveldine seems to harken back to his earlier work is during a dirt bike chase between Becker and Enrique, where Neveldine includes some interesting camera shots. Even then the sequence is overlong and ultimately pointless, adding nothing to the plot.
Considering the film is set in the 1980’s, there is no real sense of the period with Panama looking like any other modern day DTV movie. It becomes more obvious as the film proceeds you begin to realise the number of scenes that are set indoors, showing none of the style or decor of the era. This is probably more to do with the fact Neveldine shot the film in Puerto Rico and had to do his hardest to cover for this.
Setting the film around the U.S. invasion of Panama really should set the film apart from typical DTV fare, but Daniel Adams and William Barber’s script clearly isn’t interested in the actual historical aspect of their tale. They could have created something truly interesting rather than what is ultimately a cliche ridden action thriller that doesn’t even have the budget to carry out the scale a film about this era deserves.
This review may seem overly critical but I was truly hoping for the best for Panama. I have enjoyed Neveldine’s past work and even though he isn’t as popular as he once was, Mel Gibson remains one of my favourite actors.
Hopefully the upcoming John Wick spin off series The Continental (2022) where Gibson features will give him a vehicle more worthy of his talents. Also, fingers crossed that Lethal Weapon 5 still happens, if only to save him from films like Panama.
Rating: 1.5/5
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