Final Score

Direct-to-Video and On Demand movies, the ones that generally skip any major theatrical release, are more often than not rather terrible or at best bland. But a funny thing happens every so often, one tends to surprise. Final Score, albeit can get silly at times, was quite fun and entertaining.

Dave Bautista plays Michael Knox, a former soldier visiting his “brother’s” widowed wife and daughter, Danni (LARA PEAKE), whose father was killed during a mission led by Knox. He’s come to take Danni to a football (soccer) game.

Meanwhile, Arkady Belav (RAY STEVENSON) and his merry men of terrorists, infiltrate the stadium for the match. Belav learns that his brother, Dimitri (PIERCE BROSNAN), had faked his death 17 years earlier in order to stop the bloodshed during a revolution in the Russian state of Sakovya for independence. Arkady believes once the people see Dimitri alive, despite undergoing heavy plastic surgery to look a lot like Pierce Brosnan, will rise up and the revolution will be revitalized.

Arkady and his crew have not only jammed signals so people inside cannot get use their cell phones, they have also rigged columns in the stadium with C4 explosives. Once Knox gets wind of what’s going on, he goes into action first to protect Danni and then take down Arkady, with the help of stadium attendant Faisal (AMIT SHAH), who knows the lay of the land. Brutal violence ensues.

I don’t mind admitting, I genuinely enjoyed Final Score. It’s a movie that certainly had more than a few silly moments, most notably Knox riding a motorbike onto a heavy fabric roof along with some eye-rolling dialogue, one towards the end that reminded me of the “swing high” line in Signs. But even so, Dave Bautista has proven he does have enough charisma to carry a movie while Ray Stevenson, to no one’s surprise, does play an effective villain even when his character’s motives don’t seem to be well thought out. And finally Pierce Brosnan gets the prestigious “and” credit meaning he’...

Might not exactly be a masterpiece, but for real: Ray Stevenson and Craig Conway as Eurotrash terrorists taking on Dave Bautista at a Hammers game in a "Die-Hard-But" movie with a kickass soundtrack? This is thing is one neon lights sequence away from being literally made for me.

Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go.

A pretty subpar entry in the "I don't know what else to make, so I'm just going to make a dumb action movie filled with stereotypes and tropes" genre.