Black Lotus is your pretty standard low budget action flick. Ex-special forces guy comes home and ends up clashing with local baddies. The characters at play aren’t very well fleshed out, and our lead, while physically imposing doesn’t have the charisma or charm to carry a film. The standout here is Frank Grillo playing against type as a mob boss who doesn’t do any fighting… which honestly feels like a complete waste.
There are a few moments of solid action near the end of the film with Matteo and special agent Shira (played by Rona-Lee Shimon) going against Saban’s henchmen Ber (played by Magnus Samuelsson) and Lo (played by Simon Wan). This fight is decent, but there’s nothing that memorable about it.
The biggest problem I have with Black Lotus is that the stakes never really feel that high. Saban is a bad guy, and he’s angry that his banker has stolen his money — wouldn’t you be? In a way, he’s sort of justified in his anger and retaliation. Not that I condone kidnapping and killing, but his motivations aren’t unwarranted. And that’s a problem. We’re never really shown just how ruthless and evil Saban is enough for us to want to see him taken down. We get a bit of exposition via our side character agents about his dirty dealings, but we never see him actually kill anyone. Or order the killing of anyone. It’s not until the very end when he’s threatening the life of a child that we’re given a glimpse into his actual depravity. Instead, we just get him making threats, his dissatisfaction with a restaurant I assume he owns being empty, along with him conversing with Ber about whether or not he got a secretaries phone number. There’s just not enough there for us to care.
The one death prior to the end of the film that Saban is responsible for happens off screen, and we’re not given any clue as to how he knew to kill this guy. And the reveal of this character’s death is actually unintentionally hilarious — his reveal is of him hanging upside down on a bridge, and a passenger boat filled with kids and nuns screaming as his bloody body is dragged across the windowed rooftop. It’s suppose to serve as a moment of terror, but the way it’s presented had me chuckling out loud.
Matteo as a hero is too bland to care about as well. I know his demeanor is due to his feeling guilty about his actions at the beginning of the film leading to the death of his friend, but he’s almost too mopey. It’s hard to want to root for a sad sack, no matter how much ass he kicks… even less when said ass is very little. Had they swapped Magnus Samuelsson with Rico, I think this would have been a very different and much more enjoyable film.
Overall, while I didn’t hate watching Black Lotus, it’s a very boring and forgettable film. Not Grillo’s best, and honestly pretty undeserving of his presence. I hope he got a decent paycheck from it. I’d recommend skipping this one.
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