Chase is an independent action drama starring Damien Puckler as our lead; Chase is a hitman who must prove his loyalty to his mentor and best friend, while his girlfriend wants to leave the business behind them.
It’s a pretty standard plot but as someone once said “every story has been told but not by you” so this is director Michael Matteo Rossi’s take on the genre.
Puckler makes for a believable lead as Chase clearing getting in shape for the role as he is jacked in this movie and the epic beard gives him more intensity. I would like to see him in more action-orientated roles in the future as he could be suitably badass.
Aries Spears from MADTV is Chase’s best friend and boss Miles who worries that Chase may be going soft with a woman and kid in his life so he decides it’s time for Chase to remember who he really is. Obviously Chase has a problem with this but in an interesting twist he doesn’t turn into a one man army and tries to reason with Miles who he has known since they escaped foster care together. Obviously things don’t go as planned resulting in a showdown.
This really is more of a character piece and there isn’t all that much in the way of action and what there is was pretty low key. One scene had a fight in a corridor but it was a little too darkly lit so I couldn’t see what was going on.
It was nice to see Devanny Pinn in a small but entertaining role as she has been in some great horror flicks over the past few years.
Chase is filled with a brooding atmosphere and gives the characters time to breathe with a star-making turn from Damien Puckler and an interesting villain in Miles. It is clearly influenced by Drive and some scenes have some wonderful neon style lighting.
Overall, Chase is deliberately paced and does the best it can with the limited budget and Damien Puckler proves an interesting lead but when you have movies like John Wick out there that raise the game and ooze style then it’s going to be a hard sell for audiences.