Review by Emily Craig (@emillycraig)
Directed by: Mark Atkins
Starring: Natalie Burn, Daryl Hannah, Edward Furlong, Vinnie Jones, Jason London, Robert Davi, Michael Pare, David Keith, Christa Campbell
Apart from a lot of shoddy dialogue (it is a B movie, after all) the acting is surprisingly decent; Burn does a great job in her action scenes and is mesmerising to watch, while Daryl Hannah and Jason London make great villains. Vinnie Jones plays Vinnie Jones, as always.
Left To Die (AKA, A Perfect Vacation, Awaken) is a B-movie with an obscure, star studded cast that would catch anybody’s attention; starring Vinnie Jones (Snatch), Edward Furlong (Terminator 2: Judgement Day), Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill) and Jason London (Jason and the Argonauts), it’s easy to see how the film would gain popularity.
Directed by Mark Atkins, Left To Die follows Billie Kope (Natalie Burn), who is on the search for her sister, who mysteriously disappeared five years ago. Billie wakes up on a not so abandoned island without any recollection of how she got there. She then discovers other people in the same situation as her. Together they try to figure out why they’re there, while fighting for their lives when soldiers appear sporadically to take one of them.
The first issue I have with this film is its rushed introduction; there is so suspense as Billie wakes up on the island. We are introduced to the other characters too quickly, therefore we don’t have enough of a connection with the central character; the whole sequence is too busy. It’s when we’re introduced to the antagonists that the film becomes interesting. Left To Die draws some similarities to Hostel, which was clearly an inspiration for the film. It’s got that whole foreign element along with the elite versus the others theme, which I enjoy.
Apart from a lot of shoddy dialogue (it is a B movie, after all) the acting is surprisingly decent; Burn does a great job in her action scenes and is mesmerising to watch, while Daryl Hannah and Jason London make great villains. Hannah plays the alpha female extremely well and her costume adds to this. Vinnie Jones plays Vinnie Jones, as always.
The plot isn’t anything new or exciting; Dirty Pretty Things, Never Let Me Go and Hostel all employ similar themes and tropes. That being said, I found myself watching it till the end without wanting to distract myself with my phone, so that’s something. It’s the action scenes that really make this film shine, and I like how all the actors perform their own stunts (at least I believe so), but the film is a hybrid of so many other popular films that it’s hard to find any originality here at all.
