Boss Level

Directed by Joe Carnahan, Boss Level follows Frank Grillo’s Roy Pulver as he attempts to find his way out of a violent time loop that always ends with his murder at the hands of various oddball assassins. It’s relatively familiar subject matter that’s employed to engaging and often exhilarating effect by Carnahan, as the filmmaker, working from a script written with Eddie Borey and Chris Borey, delivers a briskly-paced endeavor that benefits substantially from Grillo’s compelling efforts as the tenacious central character – with the (occasionally exhausting) voice-over narration going a long way towards transforming Roy into a thoroughly sympathetic protagonist. (And it doesn’t hurt, either, that Carnahan has elicited superb work from an eclectic supporting cast that includes Naomi Watts, Ken Jeong, and Mel Gibson, with the latter, who offers up a spellbinding tale about a snake and a boar, turning in a typically enthralling performance that remains a clear highlight.) There’s little doubt, ultimately, that Boss Level‘s success is due in no small part to Carnahan’s willingness to periodically slow down and emphasize the hero’s quieter exploits, with such instances of context and exposition paving the way for an increasingly mesmerizing and exciting second half that fares even better than one might’ve anticipated – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as a top-notch entry within a mostly hit-and-miss genre.

***1/2 out of ****