Plot: Charles Knight, an infamous former spy catcher, must work with his estranged daughter to avert a homeland security bloodbath and survive a terrifying home invasion.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Knightfall for some time, as I’ve been curious to see what Roger Moore’s son Geoffrey would be like in it. I also really enjoy what Shogun Films has been doing, as they continue to produce British action and horror movies, which frankly we really don’t get enough of these days.
First off, Geoffrey Moore is at times the absolute spitting image of his father, especially whenever we see him in profile. Knightfall isn’t his first picture, as he previously appeared in movies like Fit to Kill and Hard Hunted, but it’s been many years since we’ve seen him on screen.
Knightfall is a welcome return for Moore and arguably gives him his best role to date, even if he isn’t the main character. He has that natural charm you would probably expect considering who his father was, but he never feels like he’s simply trying to imitate him. I’d certainly like to see him doing more movies after this.
The main star of the film is Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, who plays Ros Knight, a woman everyone seems to underestimate until they discover that was a terrible idea. She finds herself forced to protect a mysterious device from falling into the wrong hands, teaming up with her estranged father (Ian Ogilvy) and boyfriend Hugh (Geoffrey Moore) while fending off various goons along the way.
Jeanine Sothcott gets plenty to do here and this is easily her best role to date. Ros isn’t portrayed as some invincible superhero either; she gets hurt, takes punishment and has to fight for survival, which makes the action feel more grounded.
Ian Ogilvy is another welcome presence and brings some old-school class to proceedings as Ros’ father. The strained relationship between the two also gives the story a little more emotional weight between all the treachery and violence.
Knightfall clearly doesn’t have a Hollywood blockbuster budget, but rather than trying to be something it isn’t, the film generally plays to its strengths. We get plenty of close-quarters action, some satisfying (but never graphic) violence and epic kills involving knives in throats and other wholesome family entertainment.
The action highlight for me is a hand-to-hand fight between Ros and a villain who shall remain nameless for spoiler reasons. It’s nicely done, with the camera allowing us to actually see every punch and kick rather than cutting everything into oblivion. More importantly, the fight has a genuine feeling of desperation to it. It isn’t overly flashy or choreographed to look cool; it feels like two people desperately trying to survive, which makes it far more effective.
There are several other bursts of action throughout, and the violence has enough impact to keep action fans satisfied.
The music can be a little overdramatic at times and occasionally becomes distracting when a scene probably didn’t need quite so much emphasis, but for the most part the score works well in ratcheting up the tension.
At just over 80 minutes, Knightfall also doesn’t outstay its welcome. It generally moves along at a decent pace, although there are a few moments that linger longer than necessary and slow things down somewhat. Thankfully, it never takes too long before someone is getting punched, stabbed or exploded.
Overall, Knightfall is an entertaining British action thriller that makes the most of its modest budget with some close-quarters action and memorable kills. Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott gets her best role to date, Ian Ogilvy brings plenty of gravitas, and it’s great to see Geoffrey Moore back on screen after such a long absence. It may not reinvent the genre, but with a brisk runtime, likable cast and enough violence to keep things interesting, Knightfall is well worth checking out.