The Doorman

  • 24 Oct - 30 Oct, 2020
  • Mag The Weekly
  • Reviews

Ruby Rose plays a former U.S. Marine named Ali Gorsky, who was decorated for her valiant but unsuccessful attempt to protect a diplomat and her daughter while stationed in Romania. Now back in New York and looking for work while she copes with PTSD, Ali gets a job at grand old luxury apartment complex The Carrington. She's told it'll be a very easy gig to start: During building-wide renovations, residents will all have moved out, leaving the doormen (Ali and her boss Borz, played by Askel Hennie) with nearly nothing to do.

In truth, Borz has quite a lot to do. He's the inside man laying groundwork for a heist in which Jean Reno plays the Alan Rickman role: Reno's Victor Dubois is an appreciator of the finer things in life.

Thanks to a couple of bits of miscommunication and coincidence, Dubois' generic team of international tough guys bashes up the wrong apartment, and Ali is eating Easter dinner in the right one: She's having an uncomfortable reunion with the family of her sister, who died years ago. Some old grudge keeps her uncomfortable around the widower, Jon (Rupert Evans), but Ali's niece Lili (Kila Lord Cassidy) and nephew Max (Julian Feder) are clearly glad for the unexpected company.

Like John McClane before her, Ali happens to have stepped out of the apartment when her family is put in jeopardy. Dubois and company take Jon and Lili hostage, terrifying them while they try to find the loot. Slowly piecing things together from afar, Ali starts sneaking around the empty building with Max, trying to pick off members of Dubois' crew. Very conveniently, Max memorised the 10-story building's blueprints – including the many secret passageways – years ago for a Boy Scouts project.

Kitamura has made a couple of films in English, but the level of acting here suggests he hasn't developed much of an ear for performances in the language. Here, Kitamura offers a couple of respectable close-combat fight scenes but gets less successful the more elaborate the action gets.

Other bits of action are either disappointingly executed or so insane in terms of narrative logic one is tempted just to give up. Even the post-explosions denouement disappoints – and the standard for those could hardly be lower.

– Compilation

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