Accident Man (2018) - A Review

 

Accident Man is a fun ride with lots of action!

Accident Man is an action/thriller/comedy movie released in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2018. It stars Scott Adkins, Ray Stevenson, David Paymer, Michael Jai White, Ray Park, Amy Johnston, Perry Benson, Ross O'Hennessy, and Ashley Greene. Accident Man was co-written and produced by Scott Adkins, with Jesse V. Johnson directing and Tim Man choreographing the action. Accident Man is based on the comic strip by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner. 

Scott Adkins as Mike Fallon, the Accident Man.

In Accident Man, Scott Adkins plays Mike Fallon, an assassin who makes the targets of his kills look like they died in an accident. He frequents a pub called the Oasis, where other assassins hang out and they receive their assignments. The Oasis is run by Big Ray, a retired assassin and all of the assassins' mentor. The other assassins who come here are Carnage Cliff (played by Ross O'Hennessy) a big brute of a guy who kills his targets with an axe; Poison Pete (played by Stephen Donald), whose method of killing is self explanatory; Mac (played by Ray Park) and Mick (played by Michael Jai White) military special Ops assassins who make their targets' deaths look like they were victims of street crime; Finicky Fred (played by Perry Benson) who comes up with weird ways and weapons to kill his targets; and Jane The Ripper (played by Amy Johnston), an assassin who seduces her targets before killing them with her sword (it is rumored she has a collection of her victims' 'manhood' but the other assassins are too afraid to find out if it is true). They all get along, for the most part, until...

Mike finds out his ex-girlfriend has been murdered, and when he looks into it, the way she died seems very familiar (let's just say, he is friendly with the killers). With the help of the girlfriend of his ex, Charlie (played by Ashley Greene), Mike goes after who he knows is responsible. With each battle, he gets more information that leads to the person who ordered the hit, and he is determined to make that person pay!

Mike Fallon can more than handle any opponent that comes his way.

It has taken a while, but I finally watched Accident Man! I didn't really have any expectations for this movie; I thought it could end up great or it could disappoint me. Lucky for me, it ended up great! Accident Man is full of interesting characters, some dark comedy, and awesome fight scenes! What more could you want in an action movie? The story moves at a rapid pace, and it is never boring. The dialogue is good, too. Being shady people, most everyone in Accident Man uses very salty language. Scott Adkins is great in his role as Mike Fallon; he is an antihero, but even he has his limits. He just wants to find and kill the person who ordered the hit on the love of his life. How can you not root for him? Of course, Michael Jai White kills it in his role, but more on the acting side of things. He just performs his lines so naturally. He really should be a bigger star. It was great to see David Paymer in this movie. I would never expect to see him in a movie like this! He is pretty funny in this, too.

The fight scenes in Accident Man are so good!

But what about the action? Well, the action in Accident Man rocks! Scott Adkins has exciting fights with most everyone in this movie. Scott throws some awesome kicks in this! In the first fight scene, Mike Fallon fights some guys in a bar who are harassing a woman. Here we learn how brutally ruthless he is as a fighter, because he beats them up bad, breaking their bones in the process. I liked the fight scene where an assassin on a motorcycle attempts to kill Mike. This scene was full of Hong Kong cinema homages, from the assassin wearing yellow and black (like Bruce Lee in Game Of Death, 1978), to Mike Fallon using Richard Norton's famous quote ("Painful?"), to Mike Fallon doing an absolutely wild kick that Jackie Chan did in Wheels On Meals (1984). Great stuff! Scott Adkins takes on Ray Park (Darth Maul and Toad himself) and Michael Jai White (Spawn and Black Dynamite himself) at the same time. Great fight scene, and Ray Park does some awesome moves in this one. Scott takes on Amy Johnston in a hard-hitting fight, that is full of sexual tension. Amy Johnston is an awesome fighter, and she holds her own against Scott in their fight. Hopefully we see more of her on the big screen! The fight scenes are fast, hard-hitting, and exciting. Very Hong Kong-style, which I appreciate. Scott Adkins is the man in this movie.

As you can guess, I highly recommend watching Accident Man. If you are looking for a fun, action-packed movie, this is it! Mike Fallon is such an interesting character, that I hope Accident Man continues as a film series. There is so much they can do with this world. Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday was released in 2022, so it has continued so far (and I've read that it is really good). Scott Adkins is such an underrated action star. He should be proud of what he, Tim Man, and Jesse V. Johnson accomplished with Accident Man. Watch it! Now!

Reviewed by David Williams