‘One Shot’ Review: James Nunn’s Action Thriller Relies On A Filmmaking Gimmick To Mask A Dull Film

There are plenty of jokes that can be made when describing the premise and creation of James Nunn’s action thriller, “One Shot.” Perhaps a quip about how those behind the scenes had one shot to make a film of this nature and, sadly, completely blew it. But a trite, hack joke doesn’t given enough credit to what the filmmaker and his cast attempt. With the film’s core gimmick being the fact that the entirety of its runtime consists of one long, uninterrupted take, as anyone with a theatre background knows, there’s a high level of skill required to let the cameras roll without edits. This is especially the case when talking about an action film where the cast actually memorizes copious amounts of dialogue whilst presumably performing many of their own stunts, contributing to the realism the filmmakers clearly try in vain to achieve.  Unfortunately, once you take away the long take gimmick, the overwhelming average-ness of “One Shot“ can’t be denied.

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Truly, there isn’t much to be said, outside of the noteworthy filmmaking exercise, about “One Shot,“ with a formulaic story hardly needing to be told and a lack of notable actors save for Ryan Phillippe, who appears to have pulled his “MacGruber“ costume and character out of mothballs for this particular outing. Here, he’s cast as Jack Yorke, playing second fiddle to Scott Adkins’ Lt.  Jake Harris and CIA operative Zoe Anderson (Ashley Greene) as the latter two find themselves amongst a squad of Navy SEALs on a mission to seize a captive terrorist (Waleed Elgadi) from an isolated third-world island for reasons buried beneath an avalanche of background noise. What follows is the requisite level of bickering between Anderson and Yorke over the ethics of releasing said terrorist set against a backdrop of gunfire as they find themselves under attack by waves of insurgents; in a predictable turn as heartwarming as any number of late-‘80s ABC After School Specials, the two must find a way to overcome their differences, keep up with the constantly moving camera, and throw in a few ill-advised one liners before “One Shot“ takes a bow as forgettable as the 90 minutes preceding the credits. Again, strip away the endless shot trick and it’s an uninteresting story filled with a cast that may be trying their best but can’t help but fall victim to a cliché-ridden script and a tendency to overact their way through the scenes, even if this might just be a way to inject some sort of life into the by-the-numbers plot. 

One scene in particular finds our terrorist attempting to prove why he’s somewhat the victim in this mess, but what results is a bug-eyed display of character mania that brings to mind the gentleman who breaks the news to Art Malik that the video camera’s battery was dead in “True Lies.“ A commanding officer character also finds himself along for the ride, though his sole purpose seems to be dropping sarcasm in the vein of a less-humorous Ludacris or Ice-T; one SEAL team member appears to magically die twice in an example of how I either completely missed something in this regard and/or the film itself somehow managed to also become unbelievably confusing for a moment. And as an added topping to this misshapen sundae, there happens to exist a dull pattern to the onscreen action-exposition, argument, gunfight, explosion as an occasional bonus. It’s enough to make one wonder if this is some sort of demo reel assembled to finance a bigger, better movie, as the finished product simply does not feel complete, original, or engaging. 

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As the film drags on, the uncut takes start to become less noticeable, eventually presenting “One Shot” as just another movie, and the warping of time that manifests as a result gives off the impression that this particular motion picture is far longer that it actually is, which is never a good thing for a thriller. Also, the one-take nature of the film is supposed to add realism, ostensibly, but the film is constantly blurring the line between realistic military combat and the over-the-top video game action in “Call of Duty.” At least the explosions, which tend to happen in an aggressively violent manner that do actually utilize the cinema verité atmosphere to some effective degree, are enough to startle the viewer, who might be dozing off.

“One Shot” is here for people who enjoy a decent film gimmick, but don’t expect anything more than that. In an era where originality is scarce and the deep pockets of boardroom executives stand at the ready to write enormous checks in an effort to produce the latest offerings from one of Disney’s many subsidiaries, a movie like this just isn’t special enough to find a place at the table alongside the enlarged budget tentpoles, beloved Indies, or even the odd, quality mid-level action film. If anything, “One Shot” is merely an experiment in filmmaking chutzpah, and a failed one at that. [D+]

“One Shot” is available now in select theaters and on VOD.