Love Hurts (15)

Real estate agent Marvin Gable has managed to walk away from his old life as a hit man and now sells des res properties to couples and families. Thuggish henchmen track Marvin down and dole out a beating courtesy of his brother Knuckles, who is desperate to wreak revenge on Marvin's elusive former accomplice Rose. The realtor reluctantly meets the threat with martial arts skills and wanton violence.

LondonNet Film Review

Love Hurts (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Love doesn’t just hurt, it requires urgent hospital attention in John Wick fight coordinator Jonathan Eusebio’s breathlessly choreographed directorial debut. Wince-inducing martial arts and stunt sequences, including fisticuffs in a kitchen using cookie cutters as knuckle dusters, snuggle up next to an offbeat romantic comedy in Love Hurts. Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan, who rampaged with a bum bag in Everything Everywhere All At Once, showcases his athletic prowess with a dazzling array of props in expertly stylised brawls that draw oxygen from hyperkinetic camerawork, snappy editing and spurts of droll humour…

During the aforementioned kitchen smackdown, the camera temporarily settles inside a working microwave and a fridge as combatants are pummelled into bruised and bewildered submission. Screenwriters Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard and Luke Passmore delight in doling out wanton violence and employ multiple voiceovers to gatecrash the internal monologues of characters as they wrestle with amorous feelings. Screen chemistry between Quan and fellow Oscar winner Ariana DeBose serves the predictable plot but is lukewarm at best. Sparks fly far more convincingly between two seemingly mismatched supporting characters, flung together in blood-spattered adversity.

Real estate agent Marvin Gable (Quan) walked away from his old life as a hit man for his cold-hearted brother Alvin (Daniel Wu) aka Knuckles. He has successfully reinvented himself as one of the top sellers at Frontier Realty, working for a caring and compassionate boss (Sean Astin) who treats him like family. Colleagues including assistant Ashley (Lio Tipton) are blissfully unaware of Marvin’s dark past. His brother’s former accountant, Rose Carlisle (DeBose), who Marvin was supposed to kill, surfaces unexpectedly and announces her return by sending Valentine’s Day messages to Knuckles and his slippery right-hand man, Renny (Cam Gigandet).

Knuckles dispatches poetry-spouting assassin The Raven (Mustafa Shakir) and two bickering henchmen, King (Marshawn “Beastmode” Lynch) and Otis (Andre Eriksen), to torture Marvin until he gives up Rose’s current location. Alas, Marvin doesn’t know her whereabouts and he reluctantly meets the intimidation by dusting off an impressive repertoire of hand-to-hand combat skills. When he does eventually collide with Rose, she is no mood to spend the rest of her life as a fugitive, looking over her shoulder: “Running ain’t living!”

Timed to melt a few hearts ahead of Valentine’s Day, Love Hurts is a deliriously fast-paced action comedy from the producers of Nobody, which blends a similarly spicy cocktail of high-octane stunts and macabre humour. Eusebio draws on his vast experience as a fight choreographer to elevate the cast’s bone-crunching confrontations, spinning the camera around characters and occasionally shooting overhead to capture carnage from every angle. Barry White’s swooning You Are The First, The Last, My Everything is a cheeky soundtrack choice to accompany one particularly brutal bout. Love disembowels and eviscerates.

– Sarah Lee