Sweet Girl (2021)

Sweet Girl (2021)

A basic action film! Well… I’ll admit it: I still don’t like action films! I might have liked them when I was a teenager and back in the 80s and 90s. I’ve continued to enjoy superhero films, mind you, but I’ve eventually grown a bit tired of them too.

Yet die-hard action fans will find there’s hardly any action here at all – you can count the scenes on the fingers of one hand! Poor things! How I pity them!!!

Someone wrote: ‘I really like Jason Momoa, who’s a bit of a cross between Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to make this film any good.” I’m not at all convinced by that comparison.

But, admittedly, it was mainly for Jason Momoa that I watched it. It’s always a pleasure to see him again. An actor, a model, but also an excellent rock bassist – and we don’t talk about that enough! This talented man gives a marvellous performance in this film. He plays a father who has lost his wife to cancer, but also because of pharmaceutical companies that did nothing to help people like her. He soon finds himself with only his daughter left in his life and decides to fight for her.

His daughter is played by Isabela Merced, who is also excellent in this role. Very natural, very convincing – I’d love to see her in another film. In any case, you can’t fault this duo. I thought they were both spot on. As father and daughter, they work very well together.

On the other hand, when it comes to the film’s credibility, that’s another matter entirely! The girl is surely barely 14 years old, weighing just 45 kg, yet she’s fighting men weighing 90 kg and getting the better of them?? There are loads of inconsistencies, and you get tired of the long fight scenes. The story is actually quite thought-provoking: bribery, the power of the powerful, manipulation. But I didn’t really get into it. The female police officer’s role is great… and Momoa is always a pleasure to watch with his incredible charisma. But that’s it! A shame.

It’s crazy: I didn’t recognise Amy Brenneman, even though I used to love her in the 90s! So I can’t say it was a pleasure to see her again, but rather a relief to know she’s still around now that I’m aware of it.

Not much to say about this sort of Taken-style film (2008, 2012 and 2015). It was an enjoyable enough watch – not amazing, mind you – but I must admit the action wore me out quickly. It almost put me to sleep, which is a bit of a let-down! An action film doesn’t show much imagination. Just a lot of effort and crew involved in the violence and stunts, as well as the chases and explosions, of course.

It runs for nearly two hours, whereas, in my view, it could have been the usual hour and a half. So, ultimately, it’s rather tedious over the long haul.

The ending tries to be subtle and even reminded me a bit of that masterpiece, The Sixth Sense (1999). But you can’t pull off a stunt like that twice without regretting it or getting your fingers burnt. It plays a bit on nostalgia by attempting a similar trick, but the enjoyment doesn’t last more than two minutes. I thought to myself that it was a bit far-fetched and I didn’t buy it. Yet it took time to create a whole series of images that also bring to mind the ending of Joker (2019). You know? That sequence of images shows reality, not what the protagonist had in mind or was mistakenly perceiving.

Anyway, I’ve said enough and I’ve probably even given away a bit too much, but unless you’re absolutely mad about this sort of film, fans of great cinema will probably give this one a miss.

I still can’t get over the fact that some people think thrillers are low-budget action films. It’s actually the action films that try to be thrillers, but without any imagination.