‘Due Justice’ delivers dull action with ‘Twilight’ actor

At the 20-minute mark of Due Justice is when I first checked my watch. The first time check of many, as after a bloody opening scene, the Kellan Lutz-led action film had become overwhelmingly dull as it sets up its lead character’s backstory. Max works tirelessly at a job with no description, and communes with his wife and child who see him only through iPad screens on video calls. His failure to achieve work life balance results in a deadly home invasion.

If only daddy had been there. While most fathers might not be able to fend off a 4-man crew of attackers, this is no ordinary man. Max is a stone cold killer, with an ex-military background, and a mental illness that makes him volatile. Off his meds and above the law, he sets off to find his kidnapped daughter.

The movie wants you to root for their reunion, but its hero has more in common with horror slashers than anything else. His strangle first, ask questions later policy lacks any sense of a moral code. There’s an element of the film that seeks to attribute his actions as warranted thanks to an ineffective system. When the law can’t maintain order, it’s up to one man, but when that man has no effective sense of right or wrong, he’s more a villain than a vigilante.

The sympathy for Max runs out by the end, though some viewers may find his work essential if true justice is to come due. However you take the character is up for spirited debate, but what’s without excuse is the film’s absolute dullness. Due Justice has several undercooked ideas that are pored over in stilted dialogue and never dealt with in a meaningful sense. Its talk of the perils of organ trafficking is surface level, and delivered by actors who look like they’re reading off of cue cards. Due Justice not only has nothing to say, it’s also very bad at saying it.

Even if you do rally behind Max, the violence isn’t even compelling. A few choice moments are prime shock and awe, but it’s mostly hidden behind bad digital effects or just out of frame. That kind of low budget creativity does have its charm, and a few innovative tricks like a clump of hair suddenly appearing on a baseball bat after the second stroke give the movie a campy quality. Unfortunately the rest of it is so banal, it’s not even worth watching for the laugh.

Rating: Read A Book

Damian Levy is a reviewer and podcaster for DamianMichaelMovies.