‘The Workout’ is a new action thriller from writer/director James Cullen Bressack (‘Murder, Anyone?‘). 

The film stars Peter Jae (Darkness of Man), Josh Kelly (General Hospital) and UFC fighter Ashlee Evans-Smith with other cast members including Kristos Andrews (Survive the Game), Augie Duke (Mayans M.C.), Galadriel Stineman (Murder, Anyone?), David Josh Lawrence (Darkness of Man), and BJ Hendricks (Darkness of Man).

The film follows two army rangers set out to create a workout video, but their plans are abruptly halted when a mob hit interrupts their filming. Tragically, one of the rangers loses his wife in the attack, sending him on a relentless mission to take down the mob and anyone who stands in his way.

The films premise provides an easy setup for a found-footage aesthetic that is used throughout the film as the story is mostly told through youtube videos, mobile phone videos, body cams and hidden surveillance cameras, this proves most creative and effective when we get to the films action and fight sequences which are probably the highlight here, the plot mostly plods along as a fairly standard revenge story and serves mostly to set up a few action set pieces through the film. The film does manage a few more emotional and poignant scenes as it explores how grief can quickly turn to anger and revenge and examining how far people will go when in this situation.

All credit goes to Peter Jae who despite the limited material puts in an admirable performance as he has to show a wide range of emotions however overall there is limited charecter development and the end product is not that compelling apart from a few key scenes and action sequences.

3/5

Review: ‘Murder, Anyone?’ Whodunnit spoof, from the the mind of Gordon Bressack