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Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror are two of the best big screen martial artists working today. They’ve frequently worked together on films such as “Undisputed III: Redemption,” “Savage Dog,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “The Killer’s Game.” Their latest team-up “Diablo” (available in select theaters and on VOD beginning Friday, June 13) is narratively thin, but an impressive showcase for their particular sets of skills.
Kris Chaney (Adkins) is a recently released ex-con who’s looking to make good on a promise he made to the dearly departed Alex (Diana Hoyos). She asked him to kidnap her teenage daughter Elisa (Alanna De La Rossa) and get her away from the clutches of her Colombian gangster father Vicente (Lucho Velasco).
Kris is successful at his aim, but not without some difficulty. He and Elisa immediately begin butting heads and are being fervently pursued by Vicente’s men. Worse yet, Vicente’s second in command Large (Juan Camilo Castillo) sics the balding, bespectacled, demented, one-handed (he’s got a detachable, metal appendage revealing a knife underneath) serial killer El Corvo (Zaror) on the duo in hopes of bringing the girl home. Calamity, carnage and chaos ensue via fisticuffs, footicuffs and guns, guns, guns.
“Diablo” is directed by frequent Zaror collaborator and fellow Chilean Ernesto Díaz Espinoza (this is their sixth film together after “Mirageman,” “Kiltro,” “Mandrill,” “Redeemer” and “The Fist of the Condor”) and scripted by Mat Sansom from a story by Sansom, Adkins, Zaror and Espinoza. Adkins slams, Zaror hams and it’s all capably captured by DTV DP Niccolo De La Fere (he lensed recent creature features “The Flood” and “Into the Deep” as well as Adkins’ upcoming “Prisoner of War”) and pristinely presented through Espinoza’s editing. The fights are cleanly choreographed by Zaror and the concluding action sequence successfully employs a conveyor belt as a ticking clock.
The eventual chemistry between Adkins and De La Rossa serves as the picture’s heart, but it’s Zaror letting his freak flag fly that’ll best be remembered.
“Diablo” doesn’t reinvent the action wheel, but it’s a capable throwback to the canon established by Cannon Films back in the 1980s.
I always enjoy watching any movie with Adkins his movies may be formulaic but that does not make them any less enjoyable. Perfect weekend recliner fodder. For those of you not familiar with his movies, Accident Man, Debt Collectors and Avengement are among his best.