The Bricklayer (2024)

Plot of The Bricklayer: Steve Vail, a former CIA operative now working as a bricklayer is reactivated to hunt down Victor Radek, thought to be dead but now killing journalists in Greece who have something against the CIA. He is required to be accompanied by female agent Kate Bannon. In Greece they become husband and wife and gain temporary ownership of a high end Mercedes. They track down a villain, Sten, and Vail is required to fight gangs of his henchmen at various times, but they gradually close in on Radek who is going to kill the Greek Defense Minister, which will result in world wide reactions. Can they sort everything out in time?

Content: There is no sex or nudity, or drug taking but some drinking. Vail does some bricklaying but once on the case visits posh outings in Greece, and every now and again is faced with hordes of villains but usually kills them all in no time. In a minor climax Kate is captured but Vail gets them to let her go, and blows up the villains by throwing a pack of explosives at them and shooting it. Now and again they get close to Radek, who we see sometimes as a friend of Vail in flashback.  There is a payout in bit coins on a memory stick, but I don’t think we know who gets it in the end.

A View: This is a modern style shoot’em up where the hero is faced with a lot of villains and by his superior hand to hand combat skills and spot on shooting is able to vanquish them all, except when we are faced with a prolonged fight to the death. The film features one of my least favourite tropes, that of a villain discarding his gun so that he can fight hand to hand with the hero, as if!! Somehow the film did not connect up the world event with the lesser conflict, so pretty boring. Am I just becoming jaded by the on screen violence? Oh, by the way, this is not a watch even for shoot’em up enthusiasts.

Fun Fact: It was first released in January2024 in Andorra