
In the review, I had the belief that Frank Grillo seems to have a different movie every week, which was my opinion about his acting in Hounds of War (2024). That belief was further compounded by the fact he had two films out on the same day, with both Hounds of War and Long Gone Heroes.
As a fan of action movies, I started with Hounds of War because it was associated with action legend Isaac Florentine. However, I should have switched on to Long Gone Heroes, a truly great action thriller that has Grillo’s best lead performance since Boss Level (2020).
Grillo’s fifth-time collaboration with writer and director John Swab, Long Gone Heroes is tailor-made for Grillo who plays stoic heroes. There are despicable villains and as always there is a lot of action to meet the expectations of his fans. The Venezuelan settings might be shot in the United States making them rather inauthentic, the accents might be unusual, but these are nitpicks that don’t really affect the enjoyment of the film. In the end, audiences of U.S films expressing discontent at their Scottish accents being destroyed is hardly a surprise, I could take offense to that but I have my maturity and can ignore such sources of irritation. Long Gone Heroes are not this badly off so do not be worried about these minor production problems.
Grillo is appropriately grizzled sorry I can’t resist the pun as ex-special forces soldier Gunner. After abandoning both his career and country, his niece (Eden Brolin) is kidnapped in Venezuela and Gunner is forced back into action. His niece is a young reporter who is in Venezuela as an act against her mother Olivia, a United States Governor played by Melissa Leo. The circumstances of her abduction suggest it could be because of some illegal operations that her mother was involved in with drug lord Roman (Andy Garcia).
Derek, in an attempt to encourage Gunner to join a terrorist unit in Venezuela, uses his passions to his advantage. Gunner, along with former operations Supervisor Matty, and younger mercenaries, West and David get deeper into hostile territory, with only Guapo, a shady figure from Gunner’s history, aiding them. It’s not long before this small team finds themselves in the thick of it, except this time it is not clear who survives.
It’s something that I have become used to in some of his previous works that Swab is quite rooted in the 70s aesthetics, which he makes no attempt to cover or stylishly present. Quite the opposite, he regards this so-called ‘no bullshit’ stylization approach to shooting action violence in the movie. He maintains, forever the same, simple and straightforward attitude.
Their concentration on the dialogue is equally seen to be underplayed in the picture. Characters, like in Walter Hill’s stories, come down to the essentials. Other than Grillo’s Gunner, the viewer is in the dark about his team members in the opening scenes. They are not introduced to us until much later when they fight viewing the battlefield as grotesque monsters. But when the time comes, they have a well-defined moral code. They may say terrible things they are prepared to die for the righteous cause.
This is poignantly captured by the film’s crazy heroes. As expected, Grillo is convincing as the leader of the team, Gunner, a tough character who has clearly seen better times. In the process of looking for his niece, he gradually turns back into his old self, yet this is while defeating what can only be described as a small platoon. In my earlier review of Hounds of War, I was worried about Grillo’s dwindling time on screen especially in the last part of the movie. Certainly, no worries that I can say here. He is engaged in multiple gunfights and fighting sequences, with the scenes featuring Grillo physically combatting Mekhi Phifer as the film heads into its final parts being particularly noteworthy.
Underrated, Beau Knapp is also impressive as West, the quieter member of the duo who is more of the feeling kind than the aggressive Shady. In this case, and much like Gunner, West is also jaded, but it is because of his love for his friends that he does not completely drop out. Knapp does a fantastic job of capturing nuances via minimal facial expressions and the body’s small movements, so much so that the viewers only watch his feelings develop in a serene manner.
I’ve always marked Knapp for success. Notably since his nosedive into prominence in The Signal (2014). It is however his spots in Southpaw (2015), The Finest Hours(2016), and Sand Castle (2017) that gave him versatility, even with such limited roles. This time, however, things are different, he is in the film from the beginning to the end.
Knapp for sure has a better role here than in the recently released Road House (2024) which was a poor representation of his skills. Long Gone Heroes is his second film with Swab after the crime thriller Ida Red which was released in 2021 and also starred his Long Gone Heroes co-stars Frank Grillo and Melissa Leo.
Another regular of Swab George Carroll famously known as Slaine gives a tremendous performance as one of Gunner’s teammates. In fact, Carroll is somewhat of a good luck charm for John Swab as he has even appeared in more of his movies than Grillo. While John may not be very polished compared to his fellow teammates, he adds a lot of character and depth to the role.
Also, Guapo, the sociopathic character in the show, is convincingly brought to life by Juan Pablo Raba, who, like all the other men in the field, proves his loyalty and allegiance to his comrades in the course of the movie. After a brief hiatus, we are happy to most Raba, who impressed us in ‘The Marksman’ or ‘Freelance’. However, this time he develops his capabilities unlike any of these past portrayals.
Then there’s Hutcherson a bit more familiar name among the actors. After his nasty villainous performance in The Beekeeper (2024), he now plays the role of David, a tech specialist who is good. In over his head, as he always is in action, he soon finds himself in a world of action and danger. Hutcherson plays the frazzled, twitchy tech in the audience whom David acts as portrayed an ordinary man who can’t make sense of the chaos happening around him.
Other than Melissa Leo, Eden Brolin is the only main female character. And even though she does wish to do the right thing clearly, her character somehow comes across as a bit of an asshole, more so in her and Hutcherson’s David exchange. With her mumbling about him being an idiot, she seems to disregard the fact that he has risked his life to save her. Luckily, she does come around, more so when she realizes the people around her are placing their own lives at risk to secure her safety.
On the opposite end, Melissa Leo does not have much screen time but exudes an air of authority in the film which is rooted in her character as a US governor. Due to her position, she is seen engaging in some really unethical stuff. I am not saying that I am a specialist in the field of politics or even claiming that the ideas the movie presents are realistic however, they do add a twist to the story and raise the bar for Long Gone Heroes from a sonly war action movie.
Andy Garcia is also featured in the movie, but in a smaller role; instead, henchman Mekhi Phifer acts as the movie’s main villain. There is a rather disgusting portrayal of humanity present in both of them, and they both clearly join the ranks of the most malevolent roles either of the actors has ever done.
It is evident Swab was not about to make a run-of-the-mill bullet actioner. This can be seen quite clearly in the first half of the movie as he slowly introduces us to the characters and of course the plot. Almost one hour has elapsed before the action segments begin in earnest, but prior to this moment, Swab turns up the heat. Once action does come, it rarely lets up. There are some obvious digital blood and gunfire effects that are used and which are rather commonplace in the industry these days, but it’s not too bad.
One more aspect that elevates Long Gone Heroes beyond the average production is some elegant camera work done by Brandon Cox. The jungle-based scenes are impressive, with Cox’s night shots being rather notable. To be honest, I thought Cox would have graduated from the DTV/VOD scene a long time ago given his impressive shot-making for one of my favorite directors Steven C. Miller. And I am not dissing DTV as a lot of my favorite movies have been made this way but Cox’s work easily matches a lot of more established D.O.P.s.
Long Gone Heroes for me was an unexpected delight, truth be told. I wouldn’t even mention some minor faults as they don’t distract from what is a brilliant action suspense that puts character development on par with the action itself.
John Swab already has another film in work, King Ivory, yet another drama concerning crime and criminal organizations. It is definitely a topical project focusing on the Fentanyl trade. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be returning for this one either, but I imagine he isn’t concerned with the fact that he has several others waiting to come out or beginning to shoot.
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