Verdict
Summary
Boone is a character Hennigan was born to play and deserves to find an audience as it’s one of the most entertaining action movies this year.
Plot: Boone the Bounty Hunter follows Boone (John Hennigan), America’s favorite reality-show bounty hunter and his crew, Kat (Spencer Grammer), Denny (Osric Chau) and Jackson (Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson), as they ‘Boone’ the crap out of delinquent celebutantes. Although Boone is a talented parkour practitioner, he’s a bit naïve as to how his skills translate in the real world. No matter. If you’re a celebrity and you break the law, you’re gonna get Boone’d!
After the threat of his reality TV show getting cancelled, Boone looks for a case that will be ratings gold. A friend that works at the DEA (Corbin Bernsen) owes Boone a favor, and gives him a tip of a mysterious drug that can’t be traced. Boone and his crew think that capturing the perpetrator could save their show and they begin investigating. It’s only when they come toe-to-toe with a dangerous Mexican drug cartel do they realize they’re in over the heads and are trying to save their own lives instead. In an epic battle royale, Boone and his crew learn what sacrifice, honor and trust really mean.
Review: Every once and a while a new action star/film comes around that provokes a ‘wow’ moment. Jackie Chan in Rumble In The Bronx, Jeff Speakman in The Perfect Weapon, Tony Jaa in Ong-Bak, Scott Adkins in Undisputed 2, Iko Uwais in The Raid (just to name a few). You can now add John Hennigan in Boone: The Bounty Hunter to that list.
Hennigan’s combination of wresting moves, parkour, gymnastics and MMA make him a one man whirling dervish of action and in Boone, he delivers in spades.
The film is very much a passion project for Hennigan, who created the character, co-wrote the script and even sold his house to finance the film, not to mention the numerous injuries he suffered during filming, including a fractured patella and a nearly broken wrist in addition to the bumps and bruises encountered along the way.
As Boone he gets to play a hero who is driven by fame and only when his back is against the wall and other lives are on the line, does he truly learn what being a hero is all about. The film is a great throw back to the 80’s/90’s style action films with tons of one liners (‘I’m the trash collector…you’re the trash’) and smart use of tropes and cliches. As well as featuring some fantastic stunt work and fights, the final battle being against T.J. Storm and Lateef Crowder, the film delivers some genuinely funny lines and has a lot more heart than other films of it’s ilk. Plus any movie that has the good sense to have the Snake Eater himself Lorenzo Lamas, has to be doing something right.
Grammer and Chau have their fair share of action and comedy scenes and work well in their roles. Jackson, though limited in his screen time, plays a crucial part of the team when push comes to punch.
Ultimately though, this is Hennigan’s film and Boone is a character he was born to play. We can only hope others take notice and support this film so us Boone-atics can look forward to more of his inventive and wise cracking ass-kickery.