Boss Level (2020)

Plot of Boss Level: Apparently Boss Level is a name for a high level in a video game. In this case it is Roy Pulver who gradually finds out he in living in a time loop while people try to kill him, starting with a villain with a machete in his bedroom. Roy gradually progresses overcoming a succession of assassins and visits he former partner, Jemma, a scientist who has produced an end of the world machine controlled by Colonel Ventor, who wants to be a world dictator. Roy also meets his son during the repetitive process. It seems that if Roy overcomes all he will get to Ventor. Despite all his efforts he cannot get past an assassin with a sword, who cuts off his head and he has to learn to swordfight to overcome her, but despite all it seems that Jemma has been killed. Is it true? And has Roy got an alternative play to carry out?

Content: No sex or nudity, but Roy drinks quite a bit, mainly in a bar where a number of events occur. As in other time loop films, Roy remembers how things went last time and improves his strategies. There are explosions, he steals a performance car and is chased on the road, and in Ventor’s citadel is faced by the swordswoman, who keeps cutting his head off. This is quite graphic but not bloody. His means of overcoming her is particularly ingenious. We see Jemma and the ‘Spindle’ which is a sort of pulsing light tube thing, which is apparently rewriting history. Also in company with his son Joe, Roy sees the end of the world.

A View: This was a straight to video film which seems to have had a lot of trouble in post production and distribution. And was the centre of a court case between the producers and Blumhouse. I had it on the TV but realised that I had not really been watching it, so watched it a second time the following day. Something you can do with many cable channels. It is pretty good stuff although I’m not sure that Naomi Watts fits with Frank Grillo. But I am a bit of a fan of Joe Carnahan films, his ‘Smokin’ Aces’ being one of my all time favourites. So if you like action films this outing will not disappoint.

Fun Fact: The director has been trying to make this film since 2010.