The ‘80s was the decade of the action star. Muscles, mumbling and machine guns dominated a huge market which saw the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone become major movie stars. However, arguably the greatest action film from the decade was Die Hard. Bruce Willis played an average guy who just happens to be a cop. In Security, the new film from Alain Desrochers, the action moves to a mall, but Antonio Banderas’ character has more than a passing similarity to John McClane.
When former special-ops veteran and estranged father Eduardo “Eddie” Deacon (Banderas) finally manages to land a minimum wage security guard job in a rural mall, he’s relieved. As he’s shown the ropes by the enthusiastic leader of the security team (Liam McIntyre), he figures it will be uneventful. However, when a fleeing girl (Katherine de la Rocha) arrives at the door, he must team up with his hapless (Chad Lindberg), hungover (Gabriella Wright) and nerdy (Jiro Wang) colleagues to thwart the henchmen of a psychopathic killer (Ben Kingsley).
First and foremost, Security is great fun. However, it’s much more than that. It’s thrilling to watch. The action feels real and threatening. The decisions seem (mainly) logical and the supporting cast is well-balanced. Banderas is every inch an action hero, fitting the criteria on both a physical and emotional scale. Kinglsey really hams it up, and goes the full Richard Burton, as the theatrical villain. Security is precisely what this world needs. Old school action fun without any of the nonsense.
Security is released on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download by Arrow Films on Monday 3 July.
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