"Section 8 2022" After serving his sentence for the family's murder, a former soldier gets hired by an unidentified government agency after being released from jail. There is a substantial number of contemporary films that start out with a purposefully troublesome protagonist only to later lessen the blow by showing that the atrocities they did were justified and that, deep inside, they are oozing empathy.
It's a common bait-and-switch, indicating that moviemakers are hesitant to take genuine risks when creating contentious antiheroes. The film Section 8 Flixtor (directed by Christian Sesma, and based on a screenplay by Chad Law and Josh Ridgway) makes an effort to address these issues, at least by depicting the earliest atrocities in gruesome detail.
Working in an auto repair shop with his uncle Earl (Mickey Rourke), who also happens to owe criminals money, Jake Atherton, played by Ryan Kwanten, struggles to make ends meet while supporting his wife and child (Kimi Alexander and Justin Furstenfeld). From the prelude set during World War II to the present day when a crew of stereotypically tattooed Mexican thugs comes into the shop and makes demands, Section 8 is an uncomfortably racist film (at least before the rest of it descends into an onslaught of generic action sequences).
Jake's mother and son are killed as a result, which prompts him to lose control and kill everyone involved at a local nightclub hangout. Naturally, Jake gets sent behind bars. In contrast to its competitors who favor a more sanitized, protagonist-friendly style, Section 8 would have been off to a frighteningly promising start if the premise had been carried out methodically and logically.
To get to the strangely sleazy Sam Ramsey (Dermot Mulroney) recruiting Jake for the titular program, an unofficial government division that deals with the worst of the worst, especially those selling state secrets, the script sloppily phones it all in. The story offers no intriguing concepts to refresh the notion aside from being the most cliche storyline structure to use in 2022 (many of us suffered through The Gray Man two months ago).
Jake displays too much compassion and heart when he is told to be a useless killing machine in the film's last generic missions. This demonstrates his weakness, and I'm sure you can all guess what follows next.
There isn't a single unique idea in this sequence, so another deadly contractor (Scott Adkins) is sent in to kill Jake. Despite his physical prowess, Section 8 still goes through the motions. There are also puzzlingly meaningless episodes along the road, such as when Jake imagines having sex while grieving for his deceased wife. As Jake's previous military superior, Dolph Lundgren also makes an appearance, fitting into the story with anticipated ulterior purposes.
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