Take Cover

Sometimes when i just want to have a good time, i simply unplug my brain cells and just watch lots of bullets fly in the air, explosions and fights i turn towards 90´s action films produced by the legendary American distribution company known as PM Entertainment Group Inc. They produced a hell of a lot of low budget action films in the 90´s with action stars like Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Lorenzo Lamas, Jeff Wincott, Jack Scalia, Gary Daniels, Jeff Wincott, Jeff Fahey and many others. Back in the 90´s i used to rent several action films released by PM Entertainment because not only did the VHS covers look cool, you knew that most of these films would be a fun watch. It didn´t matter if none of these films had any plots as long as they had plenty of action and terrible dialouge. There are several films i could easily recommend if you enjoy action films in general but let´s stick to one specific title for a moment. Let´s talk about the 1995 action film Rage from legendary action director Joseph Mehi ( who have directed classics such as Final Impact and Maximum Force ). This film star none other than action actor Gary Daniels as the California teacher Alex Gainer who is chosen by the army to be a prime specimen to clone for the army. If you want lots of action, violence and gun battles then you are going to have fun with this film. Especially towards the end at the shopping mall scenes, they are some of the most violent gun battle scenes i have seen inside a shopping mall where stores get completely destroyed. What i love about scenes such as this is that you don´t need a reason to explain anything, just kick a lot of ass and shoot down as many as possible. I do wonder if this film was inspired by the 1992 action classic Universal Soldier, because the military use people in a similar way but for cloning instead. Either way this is a fun B movie action film that smells 90´s from the start to the cheesy ending. If you look around online you should be able to find a DVD copy of Rage, it´s worth checking out if you want classic Gary Daniels action. Speaking of action stars we do have some still working in the movie industry today and one of the greatest ones is of course Scott Adkins. With several really good titles such as Ninja, Undisputed III: Redemption, The Expendables 2, Accident Man, Avengement, there are many titles worth checking out. I have always been a fan of Scott and really appreciate he does his own fight scenes as well as action scenes in general. Early this year i bought a physical DVD copy from the UK of his film Take Cover to add to my Scott Adkins physical collection and to see if this would be another action gem. Is this one of his better releases in recent years or is Take Cover not worth your precious time at all?

Professional sniper hitman Sam Lorde ( Scott Adkins ) is on a mission with his sniper partner Ken ( Jack Parr ). They end up killing the target but one other target is killed that wasn´t planned. Sam have doubts about himself and his sniper career and decides he will do one last mission before he ends being a hitman. Ken is not happy but accept his friend Sam´s choice, so they will celebrate one last night together at a luxuary hotel having the best most exclusive room. What starts of like a promising evening is about to turn into a nightmare.

You might think that Take Cover is just another action release that looks exactly the same as some of the previous Scott Adkins releases. The good news is that this film actually have a bit more complicated plot than his action films in recent years. Imagine if you would be inside a luxuary hotel room with wide windows where snipers suddenly try to take you out? You can´t reach the elevator because you might get shot, so what do you do to survive and find a way out? This is where this film turn more interesting than the generic start that looks very similar to other snipers films. I would say that even if the film starts off pretty dull it actually gets better as the film takes place at the hotel. When it comes to the characters there is a great chemistry between the main characters Sam ( Scott Adkins ) and Ken ( Jack Parr ). It´s like two brothers arguing about anything while they work together and still get along. Even though this is not the most powerful acting performance i have seen Scott Adkins do ( perhaps his best acting performance is in the film Avengement ) i still feel he pulls off a solid enough performance that matches the character. I do like actress Alice Eve ( who i enjoyed in the 2023 horror film Haunting Of The Queen Mary, worth checking out ) as the character Tamara. What is especially nice about her character is that you think she is a certain way from the beginning, and she completely changes showing her true identity. The action scenes looks good as they usually do in a Scott Adkins film and i especially enjoy the martial art fighting scenes. So is there any detail that could have been changed? There are a few dialogue scenes that didn´t feel like they were needed to be included, especially regarding Amsterdam. Overall i still feel that Take Cover is worth a watch if you are an old school action fan. Director Nick McKinless ( stuntman on films such as Zack Snyder´s Justice League ) knows how to deliver classic action entertainment and with Take Cover he makes sure to let Scott Adkins look good on the big screen. Worth a rent on VOD or pay for a physical DVD copy so we can keep this genre alive.

Rating: DDD