Legacy of Lies is the latest S.A.M.P.L.E. movie. S.A.M.P.L.E., of course, is short for Scott Adkins Must Punch Literally Everyone. It’s not a great sample of a S.A.M.P.L.E. movie to be sure, but there are flashes of inspiration here to showcase what makes S.A.M.P.L.E. movies one of my favorite genres.
Adkins stars as a former spy whose final mission went south and ended with him not only losing some vital files, but his wife as well. Ten years later, he’s living off the grid with his young daughter (Honor Kneafsey) in tow, making his living by participating in underground kickboxing matches. He’s perfectly happy, but his kid is feeling restless. She wants a normal life, which is something he’s incapable of providing.
This table-setter is rather strong. The first act feels like it we’re gonna get a “Family on the Run” drama mixed with “Kickboxing Tournaments” and “Hero with a Shady Past” subplots. The scenes of Adkins teaching his kid how to shoot are also promising as they are a bit reminiscent of The Professional. These little moments also give Adkins an adequate opportunity to flex his acting muscles and show his growing range as a dramatic actor.
After a solid half-hour or so, it all goes out the window as Legacy of Lies changes gears and turns into another routine “I’ve Got to Get My Hands on a MacGuffin Before My Double-Crossing Former Boss Does” movie. It’s not exactly a bad one. It’s just that it fails to deliver on its early promise. The film gets increasingly tired as it goes along. By the end, it feels more like an assemblage of clichés and recycled subplots in search of a screenplay. If you’re skilled enough, you can string along this sort of thing and make a sturdy tapestry. Most of the time though (as is the case here), you wind up with a patchwork quilt. There are a handful of competent fight sequences sprinkled about, although they’re not strong enough to bump this up to a marginal recommendation.
Legacy of Lies is overlong and overstuffed, and the climax is a bit of a washout. I did like the scenes between Kneafsey and Anna Butkevich, who plays the villainess who kidnaps her. In most of these movies, the bad guys keep the kid locked up in a room somewhere. The villainess in this one actually takes her out for a pedicure! I just wish the rest of the movie had more of these little touches.
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