When an international terrorist (Dean Jagger) kills his colleagues and escapes capture, Texas Ranger Alex Tyree (Thomas Jane) heads to London to track him down.
Partnered with British intelligence agent Smith (Dominique Tipper), Tyree finds himself in a race against time to prevent a nuclear cataclysm.
A modern spin on Coogan’s Bluff, Brannigan, Red Heat and every other ‘stranger goes to the big city’ movie, One Ranger is the latest effort from Jesse V Johnson, the director of the Debt Collector movies. He has made a name for himself in the direct-to-video market, and I need to dive deeper into his filmography.
Partially because so many of his films pop up in my recommendations, and partially because he is so productive.
Starring Thomas Jane, One Ranger is a more modest proposition than the Johnson films I have seen.
It is not bad, but it is more of a straightforward genre piece.
While it falls in line with the films I have already mentioned, the film it reminded me the most of was Chuck Norris’s Lone Wolf McQuade. Like that film, One Ranger balances Western iconography with contemporary action movie aesthetics, especially in terms of the weaponry and technology.
One Ranger takes it a step further by adding more of an international scope - not only in its London setting, but in its villain’s plot, which involves an international plan to detonate a dirty bomb.
While it is fairly straightforward in its story and its telling, One Ranger benefits from an undercurrent of wit.
The script’s rote-ness benefits from a seasoning of self-awareness: the vague incredulity of the other players at the Ranger’s overall presentation (including a seemingly endless list of catchphrases and aphorisms). But the film’s biggest laughs come with a dash of claret.
Johnson has a facility for finding dark laughs amid the broken bones (see The Debt Collector), and he enlivens the action in One Ranger with some nasty punchlines.
The prime examples are a pair of brutal scraps with henchman Oleg (Jess Liaudin).
In the first, Jane is shielding himself from Liaudin’s knife with his unprotected hand while poking his opponent in the eye. They both hold on until the first, simultaneous gush of blood.
This gruesome standoff is reprised during the finale when the Ranger has to - once again - block a knife with his hand.
At this late stage, Oleg has more self-awareness and personality than this archetype is usually allowed.
As the title character, Thomas Jane leans toward the character’s potential for caricature - particularly in the accent and body language - but never goes over the edge. It is a little jarring at first, but effective.
Also effective is his pairing with his Expanse co-star Dominique Tipper. Flinty and grounded, Tipper is a good straight man for her co-star’s bigger performance.
More disorienting than Jane’s choices is John Malkovich, cast as Tipper’s boss. He appears to have forgone a British accent in favour of a deliberate cadance. He is not in the movie for long, but it is a rare dull turn from Malkovich.
Taking place in crumbling council estates, One Ranger has a uniquely grim, lo-fi aesthetic. There is an undercurrent of disenchantment to the whole movie, as though it is counterbalancing the ranger’s assumed idealism. Villain Declan MacBride (Dean Jagger) is a disillusioned former IRA man who has grown more disillusioned by working as a gun for hire.
The climax is a little rough - after declaring that he will pursue MacBride, we cut forward in time to the Mexican desert. Tipper’s Smith then provides an exposition dump to explain the why and how we end up here.
Despite the awkward transition, the finale adds a sense of symmetry to the film, by ending in the same place it began. It may have taken weeks and thousands of miles, but the ranger finally gets his man.
As is, One Ranger is a decent programmer - if it had leaned more into its idiosyncrasies, it might have been something a little more original.
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