No One Lives Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A group of professional thieves seek to rekindle their losses from a botched job by kidnapping a seemingly wealthy couple only to discover much more than they bargained for.

Review: Don't let the fact that this film was produced by the WWE deter you from seeing this even though its distribution was handled horribly. I wasn't expecting anything when I watched this little film and was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining it turned out to be. I should have known there was a lot of potential here due to the director involved, Ryuhei Kitamura (you certainly feel his artistic flair), who had directed "Azumi," which I love, and fan favorite, "Versus;" this isn't his first foray into Hollywood, however, as some may be familiar with the film, "The Midnight Meat Train" with an up and coming Bradley Cooper. While this film does provide a certain vibe of borrowing multiple ideas from numerous other sources, the concepts are brought together in such a way to feel unique. Essentially you have every element you would want from an action/thriller: guns, gore, babes, and a likable killer.

The film begins with a girl trying to flee from the killer who is simply referred to as the "Driver." We are then introduced to a couple traveling across country who appear to be having some personal issues, but it's pretty damn obvious the guy is the Driver, played admirably by Luke Evans; I definitely love his sadistic approach to the character and the pure enjoyment he displays when killing people. To finish setting the stage, we are introduced to an organized group of thieves who are caught in the middle of a job as the family they are robbing arrives home early. One of their more reckless members, Flynn, shoots the family leading the group to abandon the heist and retreat; annoyingly, Flynn takes forever to be killed as if they were dragging out the anticipation since he is such a little bitch of a character. The thieves head to a local bar to blow off steam when they cross the path of the Driver and his squeeze, Betty. Flynn, wanting to make up for the blown heist, believes he can recoup the losses by taking it from the Driver and Betty, convinced they are rich. After running the couple off the road and keeping them captive at the thieves' headquarters of sorts, Flynn begins to raid the Driver's possessions when he stumbles upon the girl from the beginning, named Emma, tied up in the trunk of his car. It's at this same moment when Betty inexplicably kills herself by plunging her throat upon a knife held by one of the thieves pushing the Driver into a berserk rage. Emma, cleaned up by the thieves, reveals to them that the Driver is a devious killer, and they have no idea what they have got themselves caught up in.

Besides being a more than capable fighter, the Driver possesses an array of weapons and traps that he uses to ensnare and kill the thieves one at a time. Emma is no push over either as she has been learning to be a killer/survivalist at the hands of the Driver. It is implied that the Driver carefully and methodically brainwashes his victims to be like him and perhaps learn to love him such as with Betty. However, Emma only wishes to kill the Driver at all costs and is even willing to save him if it would mean she would be denied the pleasure of killing the Driver herself; this was an interesting relationship dynamic I don't believe is explored often enough in film: a hate so strong you'd save someone from being killed just so you can be the one to kill that individual. Eventually everyone is picked off until there is a final showdown between the Driver, Flynn, and Emma. Thankfully, Flynn is killed gruesomely, and the Driver takes Emma down revealing he had a GPS tracker in her body, which he rips out, implying she is very much on the same path as Betty before her. The final scene involves the Driver killing the last thief, that managed to survive, at a hospital as the Driver states the title line.

Parts of this film do feel like a cross between the likes of "Saw" and "The Collector," among many others, but the Driver is amusing enough to make a name for himself. For the most part, this is a fun film that tried to appease the audience it was focused toward by throwing in lots of action and fan service. It's not without its flaws by any means as there are a fair number of contrivances, we don't learn enough about the Driver, I didn't like the order in which the characters were killed, and a lot of moments did feel like a ripoff of other movies. I definitely recommend giving this one a try since it will more than likely fade into obscurity due to the lack of promotion, and I don't feel it deserves such a fate; this film is significantly better than it would appear. But if you're not the type that likes to cheer on the villain, give this a pass.

Notable Moment: When the Driver reveals he had hollowed out the body of Ethan and used it like a blanket to help him find the location of the other thieves. It's a cool reveal and completely bloody.

Final Rating: 6.5/10