“Debt-ridden pacifist Richard Fyre is propositioned to return to his abandoned mercenary ways by flamboyant zealot, Priest, to eliminate his international competition in exchange for a clean slate.” 

I just want to start by mentioning that this is one of the lowest-budget action films I have watched in a good long while. I feel this is an important point to bring up at the beginning because it’s relevant to how this film comes across. In a lot of cases, low budget means low quality but, while some stuff is affected negatively by the budget, this film left me wanting more. 

The effects, such as they were, were used well despite looking really lacking at times. This is the same for some of the sets and locations. It was clear the money wasn’t really there, but overall it didn’t really matter because what they had they used the best way they could. 

When it comes to the performances Paul Marlon, as the eponymous Fyre, was genuinely believable as a man facing the loss of everything if he didn’t do one last job. He pulled off the action scenes pretty well and nailed the emotional beats all the way through the film. It was also a lot of fun spotting other actors I knew like Jake Canuso, Harriet Thorpe, Ricky Grover and Joseph Millson. 

The story was quite an intriguing one, kind of a mix of other stories but with enough unique points that it stands out for me. The most important aspect of the story is what happened for me at the end. As the film was finishing I sat there and said to myself… “I need a sequel, asap!” 

Overall, this is a low-budget action thriller that isn’t going to be for everyone but has some decent things within it. It has action that works, and effects that are ropey at times but used really well. I’m not going to lie and say it’s a brilliant film, but I did have a lot of fun watching it. It’s getting a 3/5 from me.

“I need a sequel, asap!"

Movie title: Fyre Rises (2024)

Movie description: A former elite assassin, now a broken man, is forced back into a violent underworld when a ruthless crime lord targets his family. With his past haunting him and time running out, he must confront old enemies and his inner demons to protect the ones he loves.

Date published: December 3, 2024

Country: UK

Duration: 1h 50m

Director(s): Paul Knight

Actor(s): Eric Roberts, Cynthia Rothrock, Joseph Millson

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama

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Simon Henderson

Simon Henderson began his journey with his podcast, Inspire Indie Radio, set up to promote independent, and unsigned, artists and help get their music out to other audiences. This is a big passion of his and something he is very proud to do.

One of his other big passions is movies and he followed up the podcast with movie reviews “from the mind of an average guy” on Tumblr. After a while he wanted to bring everything together under one name and so he chose Average Guy Entertainments because, as he is oft quoted as saying, “I’m just an Average Guy.”