The Mercenary (2019) Review

The Mercenary (2019)

Directed By: Jesse V Johnson

Starring: Dominiquie Vandenberg & Louis Mandylor

Synopsis: Maxx (Vandenberg, Triple Threat, Gangs of New York) is a legionnaire turned mercenary. When a mission in South America goes wrong Maxx is left for dead, but he is nursed back to health and reborn with a new outlook on life. He tries to live tranquilly within the confines of his new beliefs surrounded by his new friends at a church. But his peaceful days are short-lived when mercenaries he used to work with cross his path again and he is forced to revisit and face his own demons. His brutal past, war and violence have come looking for him again. His path to redemption is interrupted and Maxx becomes an avenging warrior using the skills that were his trade.

Review: I found it refreshing to watch a Jesse V Johnson movie that doesn’t star Scott Adkins, while their partnership is great after a full year of releases you kind of wonder if they can make a decent effort without eachother. Well fear not!! Jesse V Johnson brings The Mercenary to our screens starring Dominiquie Vandenberg, a former paratrooper in the Legionnaire and a champion martial artist.

The movie has an old school feel to it, you can almost picture it being a Van Damme flick in the 90’s, it is packed with action throughout and never slows down. With it also being a Jesse V Johnson movie the action is on top form, the opening twenty minutes is a montage of combat scenes. A highlight of that being watching Vandenberg take out a group of terrorists with knives, guns and hand to hand. I think it has to be around thirteen people he takes on in this segment and it is brutal! The Mercenary doesn’t skimp on violence either it is quite brutal, which I am sure action fans will love.

Vandenberg brings his A game and I found the movie too be so much fun. Another enjoyable feature was Maxx had his own theme, while a small detail it was badass. I really hope we get too see a sequel as this movie was thoroughly enjoyable and the character of Maxx still has many stories to tell whether its prequels or sequels.

The character of Maxx is memorable and I hope too see more from Vandenberg next year. This movie is one not to be missed, hats off too Jesse and Dominiquie!!