At a CIA black site, analyst Zoe Anderson (Ashley Green) is escorted by a SEAL team lead by Jake Harris (Scott Adkins) to escort suspected terrorist Amin Mansur (Waleed Elgadi) back to the United States for a time sensitive purpose. While Anderson deals with bureaucratic squabbles between the CIA and the black site's head Jack Yorke (Ryan Phillipe) the sitce soon comes under attack by insurgents leaving Anderson, Mansur, and the SEAL team fighting scrambling to find an escape and protect Mansur from both the insurgents and black site personnel who harbor anger and hatred.
One Shot comes to us from James Nunn, a UK film director who first came to prominence as co-director of the sniper thriller Tower Block which lead him to direct a number of direct-to-video action films. One Shot marks Nunn's third collaboration with Scott Adkins following their work on Green Street 3: Never Back Down and Elminators. One Shot selling point is the illusion of being shot entirely in one continuous shot similar to films ranging from genre pieces like Bushwick and Silent House to larger scale films like Birdman or 1917. One Shot's stylistic approach to a very basic "meat and potatoes" action framework does elevate it above typical films of this ilk, even if the production is understandably limited by their resources and can't fully exploit the gimmick.
Scott Adkins is well cast as SEAL Team leader Jake Harris and remains an engaging and underrated presence in indie action films. Adkins effortlessly commands the screen in One Shot and sells the danger and tension of the situation. Ashley Greene does well as the CIA analyst whose methods are contrasted against the more extreme methods of Ryan Phillipe's Jack Yorke as the movie includes an anti-torture subtext as well as commentary on the self-feeding cycle of the war on terror where in strikes met with counterstrikes lead to further collateral damage which helps fuel the radicalization that keeps this "war" going. While there's not the level of depth you see in something like Eye in the Sky or one of the John le Carre adaptations the movie does get a bit more ambitious in this department than it needed to.
While most of One Shot's usage of the "one take" format are reasonably well utilized, there are parts where the format works against it and I think it mostly has to do with the Camera's switch in focus. When a one-take setup is utilized in a film, it works best if you're only following one or a specific group of people because it embeds you with them and makes you feel like you're in the movie with them. Nunn does do that with Jake for much of the movie, but there are large chunks of the film where Jake will be off camera and the focus will switch to the insurgent leaders or Mansur which breaks the verisimilitude of the format and doesn't use it to its full effect. If the insurgents had been held at a distance in the movie and only viewed from either surveillance monitors or from Jake Harris' point of view it would've made for a far more effective and tense experience because it would keep our characters and the audience in the dark with regards to them and make them seem more threatening.
One Shot is an entertaining film that takes a well worn premise and plays it reasonably well. While it does feel a little restricted by its budget and the one take format is lacking in polish in comparison to other users, One Shot remains a simple but effective show case for James Nunn's prowess in action filmmaking.
One Shot comes to us from James Nunn, a UK film director who first came to prominence as co-director of the sniper thriller Tower Block which lead him to direct a number of direct-to-video action films. One Shot marks Nunn's third collaboration with Scott Adkins following their work on Green Street 3: Never Back Down and Elminators. One Shot selling point is the illusion of being shot entirely in one continuous shot similar to films ranging from genre pieces like Bushwick and Silent House to larger scale films like Birdman or 1917. One Shot's stylistic approach to a very basic "meat and potatoes" action framework does elevate it above typical films of this ilk, even if the production is understandably limited by their resources and can't fully exploit the gimmick.
Scott Adkins is well cast as SEAL Team leader Jake Harris and remains an engaging and underrated presence in indie action films. Adkins effortlessly commands the screen in One Shot and sells the danger and tension of the situation. Ashley Greene does well as the CIA analyst whose methods are contrasted against the more extreme methods of Ryan Phillipe's Jack Yorke as the movie includes an anti-torture subtext as well as commentary on the self-feeding cycle of the war on terror where in strikes met with counterstrikes lead to further collateral damage which helps fuel the radicalization that keeps this "war" going. While there's not the level of depth you see in something like Eye in the Sky or one of the John le Carre adaptations the movie does get a bit more ambitious in this department than it needed to.
While most of One Shot's usage of the "one take" format are reasonably well utilized, there are parts where the format works against it and I think it mostly has to do with the Camera's switch in focus. When a one-take setup is utilized in a film, it works best if you're only following one or a specific group of people because it embeds you with them and makes you feel like you're in the movie with them. Nunn does do that with Jake for much of the movie, but there are large chunks of the film where Jake will be off camera and the focus will switch to the insurgent leaders or Mansur which breaks the verisimilitude of the format and doesn't use it to its full effect. If the insurgents had been held at a distance in the movie and only viewed from either surveillance monitors or from Jake Harris' point of view it would've made for a far more effective and tense experience because it would keep our characters and the audience in the dark with regards to them and make them seem more threatening.
One Shot is an entertaining film that takes a well worn premise and plays it reasonably well. While it does feel a little restricted by its budget and the one take format is lacking in polish in comparison to other users, One Shot remains a simple but effective show case for James Nunn's prowess in action filmmaking.