Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: James Nunn, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
Action sequences are working overtime with a lot of ammunition in One Shot. Intrinsic in what appears to be a single, continuous shot is the real time battle between Navy SEALs and insurgents on a U.S.-controlled, Guantanamo-style island detention facility.
An elite squad of Navy SEALs, led by Lt. Jake Harris (Scott Adkins) and junior CIA analyst Zoe Anderson (Ashley Greene) set out on a mission to retrieve a detainee from a CIA black site on a remote island. This is in an effort to prevent a terrorist attack on Washington DC.
Tensions flare as site manager Jack Yorke (Ryan Phillippe) refuses to release the suspected terrorist based solely on Anderson’s intel, but when the base comes under attack by waves of insurgents, they must band together to complete the mission. They are out to rescue captive terrorist Amin Mansur (Waleed Elgadi).
Here’s a standard story in which Phillippe plays second fiddle to Adkins. Anderson and Yorke argue over the ethics of releasing the terrorist, while the background of gunfire is noticeable.
One Shot (out on Blu-ray) manages to avoid looking superficial, and while there is a certain edge to the action, the mayhem isn’t always plausible. Austin Wintory’s original score is effective, and takes care not to intrude over the exploits. Everyone carries themselves well with their performances, though Elgadi does deliver densities taken on board by co-screenwriters Nunn and Jamie Russell.
