“Boss Level” is a cheesy, B movie killfest, and that’s the best thing I can say about it.
Being stuck repeating the same day over and over is a wild thing to imagine, and the movie genre pumps out a new offering each year. But unlike time loop movies like “Groundhog Day,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” and last year’s surprise hit “Palm Springs,” there’s little to enjoy in Hulu’s “Boss Level.”
Joe Carnahan directs an action-packed movie in which none of the characters are developed enough to care about. The action itself is overdone and repetitive (pun intended). And not even a time loop can make the story interesting.
It’s a basic and unoriginal premise. A former special forces soldier named Roy Culver (Frank Grillo) is stuck repeating the day of his death. A diverse group of assassins are hunting him for unknown reasons, and he is brutally killed hundreds of times while trying to figure out a way to break the loop. Mel Gibson plays Col. Clive Ventor, and though it feels like he’s barely on camera, he’s the bad guy sending the guns (and swords) for confusing reasons.
The film attempts to incorporate a love story with Culver’s ex, played by Naomi Watts, as well as their son. The delivery of this element is sloppy. It all seems like something they felt like the story was supposed to have, but nobody really wanted it in there. Because at its core, this is an over-the-top action movie, with a muscled-up Grillo killing and being killed for 94 minutes.
For his part, Grillo does what he is supposed to. For most of his career, he has been the background tough guy character. He was in “The Grey,” “Warrior,” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” but he is most recognizable from his battles against Captain America and company in a few Marvel movies. In “Boss Level,” the 55-year-old shows the physicality and charisma to catapult himself into more leading roles in the future.
What he doesn’t show is any chemistry with Watts, his supposed love interest. Yes, there are a few familiar names in the cast, but don’t get it twisted — this is a B movie in every way. It’s the only kind of movie that Frank Grillo could take the lead in. It’s also the only kind of movie that Mel Gibson is allowed to do these days.
Perhaps the cruelest loop is that which Gibson is in. We are decades removed from the days of Gibson starring in hits like “Braveheart” or “Lethal Weapon.” He shined as a director recently with 2016s “Hacksaw Ridge,” but as an actor it seems he’s stuck in a loop in which nobody wants to see him on camera anymore. Anti-Semitic craziness isn’t good for anyone’s movie career.
Watts has still been in some big projects in recent years, so it’s confusing to see her take this role, one of the worst of her career.
This is not a good movie. Anybody could have been cast for it, and it would feel the same. The scientific explanation of the loop is confusing, and it just feels silly. If the goal of the production was to make a violent video game into a mind-numbing movie you can have on in the background while you do something else, then job well done. But for a movie about time, I feel like I wasted mine by watching it.
2/5
“Boss Level” is available on Hulu.
Scott McDaniel is a journalist who lives with his wife and three kids in Bargersville.
