The British actioner I Am Vengeance: Retaliation, a sequel to 2018’s I Am Vengeance, starts with a prologue in a strip club that’s meant to reacquaint viewers -- or introduce them for the first time -- to John Gold, played by former WWE star Stu Bennett (known in the ring as Wade Barrett). As soon as Gold walks into the club, he wordlessly brawls with several goons to get to the table of three men who demand to know what he wants. He explains a young woman who was recently found dead was last seen there during a night out with friends (because strip clubs are the number one destination of young women out for a night on the town). Gold knows these men are responsible for her murder, and when they don’t agree to turn themselves in, he kills them and leaves without a scratch on him. Yep, John Gold is very good at killing people, but he does it for justice so he’s the good guy -- and that is most of what you need to know about him.
This is followed by a quick set-up in which Gold agrees to lead a team to bring in his former colleague, Sean Teague (Vinnie Jones), who turned on his Special Forces unit during their final mission in Eastern Europe. After that, the rest of the film is about getting Teague from Point A to Point B, so he can face the justice he deserves. But really this isn’t a film that worries about pesky things like plot or character development. The bare-bones story is simply an excuse for a whole lot of action.
After Gold and his teammates, Lynch (Phoebe Robinson-Galvin) and Shapiro (Sam Benjamin), apprehend Teague, they find they’re being pursued by an assassin, Jen Quaid (Katrina Durden), who wants Teague very dead, as well as a team of Teague’s mercenaries and his bosomy fiancée, who want to retrieve him. This gives Gold and his team plenty of bodies to punch, kick and shoot at as they attempt to make their way to the rendezvous point with Teague.
If you like action, I Am Vengeance: Retaliation doesn’t disappoint. While the fight sequences in the first film weren’t bad, they’re even better here -- and there are even more of them. Especially impressive are the fights featuring Robinson-Galvin and Durden, whose balletic martial-arts fighting style is both elegant and brutal.
You don't have to see the first I Am Vengeance to enjoy the second. Gold remains a cipher who, outside of his attachment to his military colleagues, has few defining personality traits. Bennett is a workman-like action star, and is competent as the center of this film, but lacks the playful charisma of other wrestlers-turned-actors like Dwayne Johnson or John Cena.
For some reason, the movie makes Bennett’s Gold strangely committed to bringing Teague in alive, despite the fact that he’s willing to kill any number of others to make it happen. But the movie doesn’t want viewers to think too hard about things like that. Periodically there are hints there might be more to the story. Teague indicates there were reasons for his betrayal of his and Gold’s team years ago, but Gold doesn’t ask him for more information. Instead, the pair let their fists do the talking, as do the rest of the characters.
The other thing the movie contains an impressive amount of in addition to action sequences is cheesy dialogue, including an exchange between Gold and one of Teague’s henchmen who literally gets caught with his pants down while declaring urinating is better than sex. These aren't the most clever lines, but at least they’re good for a laugh or two and keep the tone light even as the bodies drop.
Outside of the action sequences, however, there’s not much to recommend in I Am Vengeance: Retaliation. Without an interesting plot or characters to emotionally invest in, the movie is unlikely to draw in anyone other than hard-core action buffs. Those who like a little more going on in their action movies will need to look elsewhere.
I Am Vengeance: Retaliation was written and directed by Ross Boyask and stars Stu Bennett, Vinnie Jones, Katrina Durden, Phoebe Robinson-Galvin and Sam Benjamin. It is available on digital and on demand Friday, June 19.