In Hollywood it’s not uncommon for people to start in one aspect of filmmaking and eventually move on to something else. We see it all the time with actors stepping behind the camera to direct or produce after years of acting. Stuntmen are no different. They may not do so as often or it may not be as publicized but stuntmen often transition to taking on other jobs on the film set. A very recent and very successful example is Chad Stahelski, a stuntman for a number of years as the stand-in for Keanu Reeves on a number of projects. In the last couple years Stahleski has lent his hand to director with John Wick and John Wick: Chapter 2 and he’s currently working on a re-boot of Highlander. Beyond Redemption is an example where a bunch of stuntmen decided to get together and make their own movie.
Virtually everyone involved with Beyond Redemption has some sort of stunt work experience. The film was directed by Bruce Fontaine, a former stuntman. It was written by a couple of former stuntmen in Derek Lowe and Tong Lung. And the film’s star Brian Ho is also a stuntman. Plus the majority of the cast is filled out with stuntmen. Stuns on stunts on stunts!
In Beyond Redemption Billy Tong (Ho) is an undercover cop that attempting to bring down a crime ring operating in Vancouver. The deeper undercover he goes, the more trouble he gets into. Not only does he put his own family at risk, but during part of the operating the daughter of a Triad Boss gets caught up in the middle. Billy will stop at nothing to ensure his family is safe and save this innocent girl.
The good thing about Beyond Redemption is that it’s a pretty quick 90-minute watch. There’s a number of action sequences, most of which are pretty good, that helps speed the whole thing up. Of course when you have a film made by stuntmen you except good stunts. So yes, in that regard the film succeeds. The fighting and all that jazz is really good. Plus the movie is set in Vancouver and Vancouver is a wonderful location for any movie.
There are a number of downsides, however. The script is nothing special. This is a pretty standard undercover operation gone awry. The dialogue is pretty poor and most of the acting is subpar. That is to be expected though. These are stuntmen and they’re focused on the action. I highly doubt much time was spent on cleaning the script up.
Another issue is digital blood and CGI gunshots. I understand why these are used, but they rarely look good and here they’re pretty rough. It’s unfortunate because the digital elements do take away from the good action some. If you notice digital effects it’s usually because they’re bad and you definitely notice them here.
And finally we have the editing which leaves a lot to be desired. Fontaine and Lung editing Beyond Redemption and not only are they stuntmen, but this looks to be the first thing either of them has edited and it shows. This looks like a movie that was pieced together by a first-time editor. The editing shoots for style but feels sloppy and cheap.
In the end Beyond Redemption is far from perfect. It’s a film with a number of flaws that are very much evident, but they are flaws you expect from a first-time filmmaker. Even with those issues there’s some fun to be had. Beyond Redemption has it’s heart in the right place and that counts for something. This isn’t a bad Sunday afternoon watch and it offers enough that I’ll be curious to see what Fontaine comes up with the next time he steps behind the camera.
Beyond Redemption is now available on Blu-ray from Well Go USA.
