Review: Legacy of Lies

Film: Legacy of Lies
Directed by- Adrian Bol
Cast- Scott Adkins, Anna Butkevich, Martin McDougall, Andrea Vasiliou
Music – Arkadiusz Reikowski
Camera- Simon Rowling
Rating: Two and a half stars

Director Adrian Bol’s Legacy of Lies is a reasonably exciting action thriller, despite having a run-of-the-mill kind of story at its heart.

Martin Baxter (played by Scott Adkins) keeps a low profile, moving from one place to another with his daughter, Lisa Baxter (Honor Kneafsey). The reason why he choses to lead a subdued life is because of his past. The man, we are told, is a former M16 agent, who has quit the force after losing his wife.

Life is peaceful for both dad and daughter. The smart kid that she is, Martin’s daughter wants to have a proper eduction. However, Martin is scared and believes in his strategy of moving from place to place is what is keeping them safe. It is evident he fears someone or something.

Then, one day he meets Sacha Stepanenko (Yuliia Sobol), an investigative
journalist who claims to have access to some secret files. The problem is the files, pertaining to chemical weapon facilities, is important to both the Russian Intelligence and the MI6, both of whom will go to any extent to get their hands on it.

It is not long before, the Russians kidnap Lisa and threaten Martin that he has to get them the files and the journalist, if he wants his daughter back…

The plot of the film is strikingly similar to several other movies of the past. An accomplished dad is threatened by an agency to perform an impossible task if he wants his daughter back alive. The fact that we have watched so many films with similar plots does dampen our excitement.

However, despite this setback, director Adrian Bol does manage to generate some exciting action sequences to keep us engaged.

Scott Adkins, who plays the lead, seems to relish the action sequences. After all, this man is a martial arts artiste known for his bone-splitting performances in action movies!

For those who do not know, Adkins has co-starred with Van Damme in four movies! He has worked in the Undisputed; Debt Collector series of movies besides the X-Men series, Bourne Ultimatum and Doctor Strange among others.

Thanks to his stunts, Legacy of Lies manages to just about make the cut.

The film is being released on April 2, 2021 by Hansa Pictures.