Final Score (2018) – a review

A career military man Michael Knox (Dave Bautista) has taken it upon himself to care for the wife and daughter of a fallen comrade. One day he takes the daughter to a soccer match in jolly old England only to find evil forces at play. These criminals want the head of one of the 80.000 visitors and it is up to Michael to stop them.

The closed space survival action movie originated in the 80’s with the unsurpassed Die Hard. Since then we’ve had all kinds of variations: a warship (Under Siege), a train (Under Siege 2) an airport (Die Harder), a hockey stadium (Sudden death) and many, many others.

And if there’s one thing all these variations have produced for a fact is a certain ‘blue print’ on how to write such a story.

I’ll come back to that. First I want to talk about the difference between the era that produced Die Hard and our current time which brought forth Final Score.

“Greed is Good”
“Greed is Good!” those were the words of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. The ultimate 80s movie that warned everybody about the dangers of uncontrolled financial moguls.

The actual quote is: "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good".

Did we listen to the warning of the movie? Of course not. But, one thing that does stick out as the main motive for any movie villain during the late 80s and early 90s was money. Money was the main motive for Die Hard. Money was the main motive for the villain in Sudden Death. It was always about the money one way or another (even in On deadly ground if you think about it).

An interesting graph you can make from this collection of similar movies made over those years is that the price gradually went up. It started with a measly few million dollars. By the end of Die Hard with a Vengeance the villain had completed a plan to get hold of several countries net worth.

Where do you go after that? When is the ‘price-tag’ too far out there to impress the audience? Around a billion dollars (Entrapment) movies stopped using money as a motive and searched for other things.

First they went for terrorism with movies like the Siege, the Peacemaker and (famously) Executive decision. But with all the true terror in the world political-free alternatives were sought (terrorism for hire in Face Off or a mad bomber in Speed, the Final Cut and Blown Away). Naturally, after 9-11 movie-going audiences found even these stories to hit a bit too close to home so the whole genre left the spotlight in favour of Elves and Troll-fare like The lord of the rings, or the Harry Potter-franchise (and the various young-adult follow-ups) or the international spy shenanigans of Ethan Hunt (Mission Impossible), James Bond and Jason Bourne.

Now, in 2018, almost two decades after 9-11, baby steps are taken to bring the ‘closed space survival action movie’-blueprint (conceived in the 80s) back to the table. But this time around moviemakers aren’t afraid to enter politics. White House down, Olympus has fallen (and its sequel London has fallen), Big Game all had the American President fighting for his life against a foreign country. And if the president of the US isn’t available than some former Soviet State is brought to the forefront as it was the case in The Hitman’s bodyguard.

And, as always, the aggressors find themselves justified in their actions. Final Score adds the next step by having the villain (a wonderfully thick-accented Ray Stephenson)  claiming  that his group aren’t terrorists –which I guess is true, terror isn’t their motive: killing everybody is.
So the balance in action movies have shifted from an a-policital money motive to a political reasoning. I guess the last banking crisis made us all realize that money isn’t the most important thing in the world today. That the real dangers are the ideas people are willing to die for.

“Sudden Death”
There is a blueprint to a closed space survival action movie. Let me just count off the most common tropes:

• First, you need a closed space and being able to lock it down. We’ve had almost every possible space over the years: From Airforce One, to an island (The Rock) to an entire neighbourhood (Marshal law). In Final Score the closed space is a football stadium.
• Then the hero needs somebody to save. It could be his sister, children, daughter, niece, wife (or if you are John Wick –his dog).
• Third you need a ruthless villain.
• One or two (sweet) innocents should die.
• The action should be harder and more gruesome than any movie similar movie previous (borderline horror).
• A hero who cares and is brave (preferably a professional fighter with some decorations under his belt).
• This hero should get hurt: a lot.
• A sidekick is possible but not necessary.

This is always tricky because one can easily go the Judge Dredd route.

• If there is a female villain she will always die by another woman or by accident (never directly by the male hero).
• Finally there is the optional element of a timescale. This works because it gives the movie a sense of urgency – ‘not a second to lose’. Especially if you set the movie at a sporting event than you can go all out with overtime and whatnot.

Final Score ticks all the boxes. It’s almost a direct remake to Sudden Death. The hockey match is changed in favour of an English football match. The guy getting cut in half by a meat grinder is changed for some fish and chips baking. It’s not the children but the niece who is in danger. The villain is borderline sociopathic, and so on and so on.

By the end of the movie you can sit back and marvel at how much you have seen done before. Final Score really is the formula at work. But, and here’s the catch, that’s exactly what I want in such a movie. I don’t want to listen through all kinds of mumbo-jumbo if all I want to see is our hero out of his depth fighting the odds.

So this is the script basically. It’s not very special –the character dialogue is definitely not remarkable- but solid enough to bring the viewer from one action scene to the next.

By the book but alright.
Dave Bautista is quickly cutting his place in the action wall of fame. He has the caring Stalone eyes, the Schwarzenegger bulk and the Seagal tone of voice. Unfortunately, in Final Score, he also showcased that he has the acting talent of the three.

He is a good actor, he showed this in his Marvel movies –and even James Bond (without lines mind you). But, he isn’t quite ready yet to pull the wagon all on his own. Give him a few more movies and he will, he just needs to find the place.

He is, however, perfect for the part. Bautista feels right at home at an English football match with all kinds of hooligans around him trying to be the king of the alpha males. He practically looks like one. Plus, the man is quite capable of showing off his kinder self if he has to which makes him movie-hero material.

I would like to add that Final Score continues the trend as a revival that The expendables started:

big action hero; bigger action hero...biggest.

Then there’s the villain. Any action movie is utterly dependable on the villain. The late Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons, even Michael Cain-earning a pay check. The villain and his dark motives are the backbone of any action movie. We want the villain to get his commuppance and the worse he is the more we want it.
Thankfully in Final Score Ray Stevenson is the right kind of villain for the job. Carrying a thick accent he is ruthless and insane. The perfect combination for a scene-stealing villain.
Now, to be honest, he is let down a bit by the script. He simply doesn’t get the ‘movie space’ to showcase his villainy. But he does what he can with the material handed and he is flawless.

Brosnan then, well he was just earning a ‘Michael Cain’. His overall screentime consists of three minutes. Far less than the dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park.

Directing will get there.

Direction wise the problems come to show. There just wasn’t enough budget to get a cool shot of Bautista on the motorbike without the obvious green-screen effect telling.
Still the up-close and personal battles are well shot and expertly edited. Just that scene in the kitchen is a pure showcase of potential talent.

Also the eye for detail is mentionable because the hulk Batista is (smartly - script) weakened early in the movie just to showcase that he is human. This detail never goes away – not even in the finale. He’s bloodied all over and hurting and the screen footage shows it.

Still this is a director in his early days. He still has to learn the different between showing a motorbike doing an amazing stunt (truly) and getting the right shots leading up to it. In Final Score it unfortunately shows that the two shots were shot separately (obviously) whilst the illusion demands that the two should be a continuous motion.

Still, given time the director will sort this out. More money for his next movie and it will evaporate –unless he’s become overly confident as many directors before him became.

Alright by my book.
In the end The final score brings what you want: a man of all men: Dave Bautista kicking the behinds of various villains intent on hurting many. Our hero is weakened but that doesn’t stop him – just as we like it. Alas the whole ordeal he goes through isn’t up to scratch, plus is harmed by some visual ailments of the picture. Still, this movie brings you what you want in 2018 villains out for blood instead of money and a kind-hearted hero to save us all.