Film Review: THE DOORMAN (2020): A Predictable Heist Tale Gone Wrong

The Doorman Review

The Doorman (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Ryûhei Kitamura, and starring Ruby Rose, Jean Reno, Aksel Hennie, Rupert Evans, Julian Feder, Kíla Lord Cassidy and Philip Whitchurch.

Ryûhei Kitamura’s The Doorman is a tedious movie to watch. It is much like a gourmet meal that was not because one took great care to buy choice ingredients and then botched up the actual preparation. That is, in fact, an effective analogy because all the action in the film revolves round an elaborate Easter dinner that goes very wrong because someone trips and spills the mint sauce!

The Doorman has all the classic elements of a family saga – an extramarital affair that is delicately hinted at, estranged family members, and a prodigal relative who magically shows up and saves the day. But it tries very hard to be an action movie. And since it is mired with lame dialogue and predictable ‘twists’, the end product is underwhelming and almost comical.

Ali (Ruby Rose) quits the US Marines to take up a job as a doorman in an old New York building. And rescues her extended family when a crook shows up with an entourage to recover some priceless paintings after 30 years.

And Ali quits the Marines why? Because she failed to save a diplomat and her daughter from an attack during her stint at Bucharest. One would think getting into the Marines is a rigorous process that makes a strong person stronger. But Ali, for all her training, behaves like an angst-ridden teenager and quits after one setback. And why had she joined the Marines in the first place? Apparently to mend a broken heart after almost having an affair with her brother-in-law, Jon Stanton (Rupert Evans).

‘What’s a decorated soldier doing here as a doorman?’ asks kingpin of the baddies, Victor Dubois (Jean Reno), at one point. That’s my question too. To which there is no satisfactory answer.

Ali makes a beeline into her niece, Lily’s (Kíla Lord Cassidy) heart after literally saving the little girl’s cat. Then, at some point, she has a conversation about Zodiac signs with one of the thugs while they try to kill each other. Why am I not impressed? Probably because the scene lacks the style and class that would have made it chilling and borders on slapstick instead.

But it gets worse. Ali and her nephew, Max (Julian Felder), while running from the bad guys, find one of the secret chambers in the building and choose that moment to bond. Clearly, they didn’t like the interruption to their Easter dinner.

Dubois, as a villain is not menacing enough and is easily surpassed in the ruthlessness department by his henchman, Borz (Aksel Hennie). In fact, Jean Reno, with his puffy face and ridiculous accent, is a pathetic caricature of himself and has certainly left his Leon: The Professional days far behind.

The script, riddled with unlikely coincidences, does not help. Ali’s Uncle Pat (Philip Whitchurch) gets her a job in, of all places, the very building where her late sister’s estranged family lives. The building is evacuated for renovations save for an old couple’s apartment which is the target of the thugs. Turns out the couple moved there seven years ago from another apartment ten floors above – the only other occupied apartment where a family reunion is taking place between Ali and her dead sister’s family. Go figure!

The only realistic scene in the film is of two of the thugs discussing their pay for the job, one sounding suspicious that the other might be getting more than him.

Ruby Rose looks good and does a decent job in the action sequences. But she still has a long way to go before she can play something like Charlize Theron’s Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blonde.

All in all, I would give this one a miss.

Rating: 4/10

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