Plot: An amnesiac awakens from a coma in 2020. With the world on the brink, and old enemies baring down on him, his search for the truth may cost him his life.
Lost Phoenix is the latest indie actioner from filmmaker James Couche; he has mostly done short films and mini-series previously with this being his feature debut.
Set during the 2020 pandemic the world is in chaos and our protagonist Isaac (Wan Dral) wakes up in a hospital with no memories of who he is. It doesn’t take long for assassins to show up with Isaac forced to fight his way out and try to discover his true identity.
This is essentially The Bourne Identity with an amnesiac badass who doesn’t understand why he has a particular set of skills. This being low budget fare it obviously doesn’t have the scale of the Bourne films, but the ambition is there and it still manages to have impressive fight scenes; it’s around 84 minutes long, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome. It is a little dialogue heavy at times with occasional long gaps between the action and there is CG muzzle flare and blood, but that’s to be expected with indie fare like this.
I thought Wan Dral was sympathetic giving us someone to genuinely root for and I found the film was at its best during his interactions with the sniper, Layla. David Norton was suitably hateful as the villain Richard Talbott, but I would also keep an eye out for Marcus Lawrence who has the look of a future action star; there is even an Expendables reference at one point which I enjoyed.
I’ve seen blockbusters with worse fight scenes as what we get here are nicely choreographed where you can see everything that’s happening without anything going too shaky. Couche himself not only directs but has a role as Jensen and also wrote the script, so this is clearly a labour of love.
The music score had hints of The Dark Knight and was one of my favourite aspects of the film really adding to the action scenes.
Overall, Lost Phoenix is an impressive feature debut showcasing James Couche’s many talents as a filmmaker and I look forward to seeing what he does next.