Take Cover 2024 Movie Review
Scott Adkins enjoys another small scale, high concept action romp that delivers the goods.
Adkins is impossible to dislike. The guy grew up idolising 80s action heroes and turned himself into the closest thing to one that we have in the modern age. A phenomenal martial artist, he’s never really had his A-list moment (c.f. Snipes’ Blade, Seagal’s Under Siege, Van Damme’s Hard Target…), despite making some outstanding DTV gems – his fans will never stop rightly raving about the Undisputed franchise, whilst he was a ferocious force of nature in the underrated Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, pretty fun in the Debt Collector films, and found an unexpectedly decent Sky Originals niche with his One Shot films. In the mainstream, he wore a fat suit for a fabulously over-the-top role in John Wick 4, but pushing 50 he feels like he’s missed the boat for front-lining theatrical releases, which is an absolute travesty.
Take Cover is hardly game-changing, but it’s a very solid concept-driven single-location affair that makes the most of Adkins’ prowess without exceeding the reach of its stylish-but-minimalist budget-driven approach. It’s a pretty impressively slick directorial debut from stuntman Nick McKinless, who clearly knows how to stage action and whilst Adkins might be ageing out in real-world terms, there’s absolutely no sign of that here, making it a choice addition for fans of the Brit action star.
The familiar story beats of a burnt-out sniper looking to hang up his scope after one last gig are pleasantly couched by a genuine sense of chemistry and camaraderie that’s established between Adkins’ sniper and his best friend and spotter, the more loud-mouthed Jack Parr (reuniting after they did the first One Shot together). After the action-packed opening setpiece, the film settles in for a single location setting for the duration, as Adkins and Parr find themselves under attack from a sniper on a nearby rooftop, with no cover from their glass-walled penthouse, and the clock ticking on when more bad guys turn up to finish them off.
a pretty impressively slick directorial debut Shot in the UK, it’s one of those films where you’d rarely be able to tell (and certainly can’t hold against it), dishing out action in bursts that take a moment to get used to, but prove effective when you consider the budget and DTV arena they are playing in. Adkins’ early underground car park fight is fabulously staged, showing all those delicious, insanely fast and boundlessly agile moves fans have come to expect from the martial artist, and whilst the production slows right down as it settles into its penthouse location, the buzzing camaraderie is affectionately delivered, heightening the tension pretty nicely as you wait for things to kick off.
The rounds of aggressors come seemingly relentlessly, and are well placed to keep momentum going once things kick off, and if there’s only one jarring element it’s the presence of Star Trek: Into Darkness’ Alice Eve emblazoned on the front cover as if she’s a co-star, when she’s actually relegated to a can’t-see-her-face phone position for 99% of the time, kind of position. Still, this is another low-key gem for Adkins, who continues to pick small-scale winners, or at least turn them into winners by game participation and sheer action skills. Unsuspecting mainstream action fans will probably raise their eyebrows and wonder whether this is what has become of the genre, but Adkins fans will be pleased to see that he’s still got it.
