Greetings again from the darkness. Well, it’s not exactly a ‘good cop/bad cop’ scenario, since only one of them is a cop – and he’s suspended and out of his territory. It’s also not a traditional ‘Buddy comedy’ since these aren’t buddies, but rather estranged, grudge-holding half-brothers. Still, the premise is admirable, and the casting choice of pairing Dave Bautista with Jason Mamoa is marketing brilliance. Jonathan Tropper (creator and writer of “Banshee”) wrote the screenplay and Angel Manuel Soto (BLUE BEETLE, 2023) directed.
An apparent hit and run takes the life of Walter, the father of brothers by different mothers, James (Dave Bautista) and Jonny (Jason Mamoa). James is a composed Navy SEAL officer who is married with two kids. Jonny is a party animal cop on a reservation in Oklahoma, whose girlfriend Valentina (Morena Baccarin) dumps him moments after he’s suspended from his job and learns his father has died. Of course, Jonny had no relationship with his dad and has been estranged from brother James for a decade. When he’s attacked and his house is trashed by Yakuza gang members, Jonny figures there more to his dad’s story and heads to Hawaii (where James lives) to investigate.
The film serves its purpose when James and Jonny are going at each other with verbal digs or physical punches. The personality differences of Bautista and Mamoa makes these exchanges kinda fun … and sometimes funny. It’s actually a let down that their exchanges aren’t a bit more clever – say, in the mold of 48 HOURS (with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy). Perhaps I’m asking too much. The most frustrating aspect here is the villain. Claes Bang plays Robichaux, the leader of Yakuza, and he is severely underutilized here … other than a crack about him as the Vampire Lestat (Bang was terrific in the TV series “Dracula” ).
Morena Baccarin plays Valentina as a bank manager with extraordinary driving skills. Other supporting work comes from Jacob Batalon as Pica, more comedy relief as Walter’s assistant and referred to as ‘fat Jackie Chan’; Stephen Root as a frustrated Police Captain; and Temuera Morrison as the Governor. There are some stunning shots of Hawaii, and more of the impressive tattooed physiques of Bautista and Mamoa as they constantly fight – either each other or bad guys. They even get to look cool riding motorcycles. I feel obligated to make note of one particular action sequence that bothered me. It’s the biggest action set piece in the film … an incredible air and road chase scene featuring an incredible amount of gunfire and vehicle carnage. What bothered me was a stunning number of innocents who were harmed and probably killed … all with no care or attention from our heroes – James and Jonny (the former more concerned about his own wrecked vehicle). For me, this put a damper on what otherwise was played as a comical, over-the-top action film.
Streaming on Amazon Prime as of January 28, 2026
Movie Reviews from the Dark 