Recoil is a throwback to those Cannon-produced Charles Bronson vigilante flicks from the 80s; at one point, the (anti)hero — described as “the strong, silent type,” presumably because ‘generic action cliché’ would have been a little too on the nose — is even asked whether he has “a death wish.” I don’t know about him, but I certainly developed one while watching this dumbass movie.
Tough guy Ryan Varrett (Stone Cold Steve Austin) stops at a diner on his way to Hope (“The friendliest little town in the mountains!”). The waitress must be a mind reader, because she provides him with unsolicited directions: “Straight on the highway, exit 26. You’ll know it when you see it.” If she means the not inconspicuous sign that says “Welcome to Hope” then yes, I guess anyone who isn’t blind or illiterate will know it when they see it.
No sooner has Ryan arrived in Hope than he runs afoul of the local motorcycle club, getting into a scuffle with The Prospect (really, that’s how he’s identified in the credits). The Prospect pulls out a gun; Ryan quickly snatches it away and promptly returns it. The Prospect points it at Ryan’s head and pulls the trigger, producing nothing but a ‘click;’ as it turns out, Ryan had surreptitiously taken the magazine out. That was a really fucking stupid thing to do nonetheless; what if there was a one in the chamber? For one thing, the movie would have been over a lot sooner (no such luck, though).
Later on, Ryan kidnaps the club’s vice-president Ryan Salgado (Noel Gugliemi) — a reputed rapist and murderer known as “The Highway Man” —, straps him to the hood of his own car (Rex’s car, that is, even though the guy’s supposed to be a biker), and sends him crashing into a building that must have been full of CGI fireworks, judging from the instantaneous, computer-generated explosion that follows.
Speaking of which, the movie features the obligatory Unflinching Walk as Ryan turns his back to a truck he has just blowed up real good. It’s not as impressive, however, when the explosion, the fire, and even the smoke have all been crudely added digitally in post-production.
Anyway, Rex’s immolation draws the FBI’s attention, what with it being “Our guy [i.e., Ryan]’s M.O. Same as Burrows.” Burrows is some random evildoer that Ryan throws down a ravine or something in the opening sequence; here’s the state in which his body is found: “Somebody just turned Dale Burrows into abstract art … He’s a goddamn pretzel … Crushed trachea, broken ribs, back, skull, legs.” In other words, he wasn’t strapped to the hood of a car and sent crashing into a fiery death, so how exactly is that the same M.O.?
The idiocy doesn’t end there, though. Consider this: a bunch of bikers ambush Ryan in the lobby of the motel where he’s staying. Ryan and motel manager Darcy (Serinda Swan) hide behind the front desk. “When I give you the signal, turn the lights off,” Ryan instructs Darcy. She does, and Ryan makes short work of the bad guys — but how? I mean, he can’t see in the dark any better than the goons (or any normal person for that matter), so doesn’t that put him at a disadvantage as well? Or is he by any chance wearing some sort of night vision contacts? Incidentally, the script in general also seems to have been written in pitch black darkness.
To make a dumb story short, Ryan wipes out the entire motorcycle club with a little help from federal agent Frank Sutton (Lochlyn Munro), who decides not to arrest Ryan; “I got no evidence,” the fed says (never mind that Ryan’s fingerprints should be practically tattooed around Burrows’s neck; then again, human skin is admittedly not the most reliable source of latent fingerprints), adding — as if it somehow justified his decision — that “It seems the folks of Hope have taken a liking to you.”
Pray tell, what folks? Other than the main characters, two of whom don’t even live there, Hope appears to be a veritable ghost town. There’s the owner of the motel that only has one guest, the mechanic/convenience store clerk, the Sheriff and his deputy, the bikers, and some fat dude that gets beat up by MC President Drayke Salgado (Danny Trejo because of course) in lieu of paying back “About a grand and a half” he owes the club. Welcome to Hope – Population: this movie’s cast.
90% of Everything is Crap 