REPRISAL (2018) **

Frank Grillo stars as a bank manager who is held at gunpoint and forced to participate in a robbery.  Since the thief wiped all the security footage, it seems that the Feds have reason to believe Frank was somehow involved.  With his job and credibility on the line, he teams up with his ex-cop neighbor (Bruce Willis) to stop the thief’s next robbery and clear his name.  

Reprisal is another EFO production directed by Brian A. Miller and starring Bruce.  He doesn’t do a bad job with his minimal role and seemingly short shooting schedule.  Some of his briefing scenes with Grillo get a tad repetitive (he says, “Walk me through it” a lot), but at least he puts forth some effort.  

Grillo makes for an ideal lead.  He is always invested and carries the film with a modicum of swagger.  Although it’s low budget and relatively light on action (there’s a motorcycle chase that’s shoddily put together), it still keeps your interest for the most part.

Would it surprise you that Johnathon Schaech is in this?  Probably not.  He makes for a fine villain though and gets a little bit of a backstory that helps give him a shading of a personality.  

You have to give Miller credit for keeping things moving at a healthy clip.  Unfortunately, you’ve got to suffer through the gratuitous daughter with diabetes subplot that eats up a lot of screen time.  (Try to keep track of all the times Grillo reminds her about properly dieting.)

With Reprisal, Bruce Willis is at a point in his career where he can be a direct to video action hero...’s neighbor.  A solid set-up notwithstanding, the third act is kind of a joke.  It seems more like the set up to an action-packed finale than an actual action-packed finale.  The scene where Bruce awkwardly swoops in to save Frank’s daughter (not to mention stop the bad guy) is just plain weird, especially considering he’s… you know… the hero’s neighbor.  So why is Grillo even there?  Mostly so Bruce doesn’t have to run around?  So that way all Bruce has to do is stay in the basement talking to him on the phone while Frank does all the heavy lifting?  Your guess is as good as mine.