Castle Falls Movie Review

Die Hard in a Building Scheduled for Demolition

by Casimir Harlow
Movies & TV Shows Review

2

Castle Falls Movie Review

Dolph Lundgren returns to directing for the first time in over a decade, teaming up with Scott Adkins for some thrills in an old hospital block scheduled for demolition.

Whilst Bruce Willis continues to tweet in his performances with less effort than a TikTok clip, some of the lower tier 80's and 90's action heroes, who also peddle their wares on the DTV front, actually still turn up. Van Damme's had a decent run of surprisingly engaging low budget fair (The Bouncer is worth hunting down), and his Universal Soldier co-star Lundgren - who arguably peaked early with his defining role opposite Stallone in the fourth film, recently recut as Rocky vs. Drago - has continued to deliver the goods, even if nobody is watching. Indeed, his commitment and professionalism is likely the reason why we still get to see him cameo in Big Screen fare, like Aquaman or Creed II, and continue to be one of the best contributors to The Expendables series. Despite likely not even scratching the heights of A-listing, he's been feverishly busy on the DTV front, electing indeed to take the reins of directing his productions some 20 years ago, resulting in a few somewhat cult classic actioners like 2007's Missionary Man. He directed half a dozen features in a few short years, taking a decade hiatus, but returning with Castle Falls, a low budget Die Hard-esque effort that likely attracted the attention of the likes of Van Damme and Seagal in its early production history, eventually seeing the value-for-money Scott Adkins partner up with an ageing Lundgren, who puts in a decent performance in front of and behind the camera.

... Lundgren puts in a decent performance in front of and behind the camera

With the Castle Heights Hospital scheduled for demolition, a trio of disparate parties converge on the site thanks to a stash of blood money secreted in the location: a down on his luck former MMA fighter who gets a job working the demolition crew, a prison guard whose daughter needs costly cancer treatment, and a group of ruthless ex-military mercenaries, with the clock counting down to the whole block coming down.

Castle Falls

Castle Falls is the kind of film that is really quite hard to assess alongside mainstream work. It's desperately low budget in setting and production values, eschewing anything you might regard as 'effects' and really only driven by its two lead performances (even if the villains are vaguely colourful, and the supporting cast certainly don't come across as amateur). It was shot for $1.5 million - a nothing of a budget really - and the fact that they use that to fashion a film that's a hell of a lot more enjoyable, and more Die Hard, than the last Die Hard film, is something impressive by any metric.

... Castle Falls is a pleasant surprise amidst a sea of throwaway DTV fare

Possibly the same people who got a kick out of the recent Sky Cinema Die Hard riff, Run, Hide, Fight, will appreciate the intentions behind this, with Lundgren putting in solid work behind the camera as he runs a tight ship, editing in a 89 minute flick which still finds the time to develop its two leads, and give them a reason to be where they are, attempting perhaps to go that extra mile in that department so as to make up for the fact that the final staged 'setpiece' is still framed within the inherent limitations of a nothing budget.

Lundgren - mid-sixties - still has some undeniable presence, and whilst he's hardly as fast as he used to be, his size more than makes up for that, whilst Adkins has always enjoyed a measure of star charisma even if he's never really been given a Big Screen reason to show it off, and he certainly boasts that natural martial arts talent that leads to some impressive fight sequences. Castle Falls finds a reason to have the two going toe-to-toe, and that's a fun confrontation, but Adkins has more fun by himself, with a few nicely shot and suitably raw fights peppered across the duration. There is no escaping the budget, but considering Willis doesn't normally even pick up the phone (his preferred form of delivering lines) for the ENTIRE budget of this film, and turns in dozens of bottom-of-the-barrel films a year, which don't even have any unintentionally amusing value to them, Castle Falls is a pleasant surprise amidst a sea of throwaway DTV fare, and a nice return to directing for Lundgren.

Dazzler Media presents Castle Falls on Digital Download from 20th December and Blu-ray & DVD 10th January 2022.

Scores

Verdict

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6

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