My Cultural Diet

William Bang is the best hitman around, which means the local mob boss keeps him constantly busy. (Of course, with a name like William Bang, would you expect anything less?) When he’s gunned down and left for dead, though, and barely survives thanks to an emergency heart transplant, Bang starts to reassess his current life choices. But one doesn’t leave the underworld that easily, and Bang’s desire for a new life is obviously going to require more than a little bloodshed, not to mention some major suspension of disbelief on the viewer’s part as Bang’s plan starts to unfold. I went into Bang hoping for something along the lines of a Scott Adkins film like Avengement, something low-budget but also gritty and intense. Bang is certainly low-budget, as evidenced by the horrible CGI, laughable visual effects, and continuity errors, but it’s also the very opposite of “gritty and intense.” Lead actor Jack Kesy (Hellboy: The Crooked Man, The Killer) is woefully miscast; his attempts at making Bang seem introspective come off as empty and wooden, and the same holds true for his action scenes. Ironically, the film’s best action scene doesn’t even feature Kesy, but rather, Kane Kosugi, but even that scene is underwhelming thanks to the editing and camerawork. Meanwhile, Peter Weller’s efforts at scenery-chewing as the cruel mob boss are just awkward. (Sidenote: Bang never pauses to wonder why a gangster named Morgan Cutter might occasionally lapse into a bad Italian accent.)

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