Boss Level

This inventive and surprisingly enjoyable action-comedy takes the time-loop concept and mixes it with videogame aesthetics to produce a film that is already arguably one of the best in the time-loop sub-genre.

Premise: Ex-Delta Force soldier Roy Pulver (Frank Grillo) has been stuck in a time-loop for over a month, re-living the same day over and over as a small army of assassins repeatedly murder him in a variety of ways. Unable to survive passed 12:47pm, he begins to suspect that his predicament is connected to his ex-wife Jemma (Naomi Watts) and her work on a secret project for a defence contractor.

Review:

Although there have been countless movies and TV shows that have dabbled in the time-loop sub-genre, there are arguably only a handful that have really made a lasting impression – starting with Groundhog Day, and then more recently with Edge of Tomorrow, Happy Death Day, and Palm Springs. Boss Level now joins their ranks, combining the action of Edge of Tomorrow, with the comedic genre-subversion that made Happy Death Day so much fun.

Just as Happy Death Day asked the question “what if a horror movie victim was trapped in a time-loop”, and then took a darkly humorous approach to the answer, Boss Level applies the same wryly comical lens to the question “what if an action hero was trapped in a time-loop on the day that he faces an unwinnable battle?” Cue countless deaths for poor Roy Pulver (Frank Grillo) – although crucially, these are largely played for laughs, and the more brutal and merciless they are, the funnier they become.

“…Frank Grillo’s darkly comic narration is what really makes the movie special…”

Key to the film’s success is Frank Grillo’s voiceover narration as the weary Roy. When we first join him, he’s already been trapped in the time loop for over a month, and so the shock of finding himself murdered over and over again has passed, and been replaced with a combination of irritation (“I forgot about the bus…”) and resignation over the fact that whatever he does, he never survives passed 12:47pm. Frank Grillo demonstrates that he has leading man charisma to spare in this role, but his darkly comic narration is what really makes the movie special, putting the audience right there in Roy’s shoes.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the premise of the movie, Frank Grillo carries this film almost entirely on his shoulders, but he’s more than up to the task. Naomi Watts doesn’t have a great deal to do in what is essentially the exposition role, and the casting of Mel Gibson as the main antagonist is problematic for obvious reasons. But the rest of the assassins are an amusing bunch, particular Selina Lo as Guan Yin, and the film has several great cameos from the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Ken Jeong, Mathilde Ollivier and Annabelle Wallis. Frank Grillo’s actual son also plays his onscreen son, and their scenes together are genuinely quite emotional, thanks in large part to Frank Grillo’s excellent narration/inner monologue.

“…packed full of inventive, well-choreographed action scenes that never feel repetitive…”

Director Joe Carnahan (who also co-wrote the film) packs the film full of inventive, well-choreographed action scenes that never feel repetitive or overly-familiar, and the darkly comic tone to the action also allows everyone to have a lot of fun with the material.  There are a couple of minor pacing issues, and as I mentioned, the problematic casting of Mel Gibson did take me out of the movie whenever he’s on screen, but by and large, the only major issue I had with this film is its ending.  Without straying into spoiler territory, the film felt to me like it ended rather abruptly, without much sense of closure and catharsis – and I’ve learned since that the US-released version of the film did have a slightly different, slightly more definitive ending.  I have no idea why the UK-released version is different, or which version is Joe Carnahan’s preferred ending, but I can’t help but feel that the ending in the US version would have provided the audience with a bit more emotional closure.

The sci-fi elements of the film strike the perfect balance between making enough sense to justify the plot, but without over complicating matters, and the storyline contains some genuinely unexpected twists and turns along the way, in between the outlandishly over-the-top death scenes. Overall, despite the fact that the ending may feel a little underwhelming, Boss Level is a lot of fun, and well-worth your time (loop).