Final Score Review - Dave Bautista Flourishes In Absurdly Fun British Action Revival

Big names Ray Stevenson and Pierce Brosnan are best described as "doing what's required". Without wishing to invite too many lazy sporting comparisons, their performances here are every inch the ageing but talented footballers being put into the team purely for their experience. The rest of the film's younger and hungrier cast are required to do the leg work for them, but both are steady enough presences when required. The accents, on the other hand, leave a lot to be desired.

Overall what Final Score is, more than an action film or a vehicle for its star, is a movie entirely at ease with itself. At times it wants to be Taken, at times it wants to be Die Hard, and for one brief moment it even flirts with the idea of being Green Street but, ultimately, it's a British action film unlike anything else that's ever sat in that category.

Make no mistake, this production required a lot of bravery on the part of Sky Cinema and, with an estimated $20,000,000, budget it financially pales in comparison to the films it'll ultimately be judged against this year. The Equalizer 2, for example, has 3x this, The Meg has 7x, Mission Impossible: Fallout has... well, a lot more than all of them, but in terms of sheer enjoyment it comes in on an equal footing.

So a British action film then, but one with the sort of American sensibilities that have kept people flooding to cinemas for decades now. Whether this is the first of many (for both the genre and Bautista) is refreshingly not the point, it's merely there to be enjoyed for what it is. Football, bloody hell.

Final Score is released in cinemas in the UK on September 7th, and in the US on September 14th. The full video interview will be available on WhatCulture next week.