Shrapnel: Review

29th July 2023

Sean Beckwith (Jason Patric) is searching for his daughter and his search leads him to Mexico where he believes a cartel have held her hostage. Having been a soldier, Sean has a particular set of skills when it comes to dealing with these kinds of situations and he thinks he’s well within his rights to take matters into his own hands.

However, Sean hasn’t come alone as he’s brought a group of ex-army buddies to help him out, in particular Max Vodhen (Cam Gigandet) who he considers to be his right-hand man. So, as the local authorities aren’t prepared to help, then Sean and his team have to go in armed to the teeth.

Shrapnel is an action drama directed by William Kaufman and written by Chad Law and Johnny Walters. The kind of movie which has become something of a cliché in recent years, Shrapnel seems to do nothing different and doesn’t offer anything more significant than what came before.

Movies such as Sicario have given this kind of border war drama a different edge even though its sequel may not have lived up to its predecessor’s expectations. Also, Rambo: Last Blood didn’t do its genre any favours either with its political leanings being more apparent.

Shrapnel sits somewhere in between, whilst it’s hard to deny that this kind of thing is a male fantasy of sorts which goes back as far as The Searchers, it also makes it clear that it’s nothing personal, it’s just business. However, giving the audience the bare bones of a story, which is predictable and filled with gunfire may bore its target audience.

The audience doesn’t know very much about Sean either as the movie begins. He’s put into a certain situation which a lot of people would dread to find themselves in, however the allure of the drama where only one man can do the job may ignite a dream where somebody deals out their own style of vigilante justice.

It’s just a shame that when you take away all the gunfire, the story is paper thin and doesn’t show its audience anything that they haven’t seen before.

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