Scott Adkins’ upcoming One Shot film will be a single take action flick, and that attribute could make it the most incredible action flick of 2021.
Scott Adkins’ action flick A shot could be the most technically and viscerally impressive film 2021 has to offer. The film pairs Adkins with director James Nunn, following their previous work together on Green Street 3: Never Back Down and Eliminators, and is due out on November 5 in theaters and on video on demand. While their previous collaborations have produced excellent results, their latest brings a particular gadget to the table that no other 2021 action movie does.
The film will star Adkins as Jake Harris, the leader of an elite Navy SEAL team tasked with transporting a prisoner from a black government site, only to make the mission a fight for survival when ‘an insurgent assault arrives to extract said prisoner. With Ryan Phillippe and Ashley Greene, A shot, as the title suggests, captures the story of the film in the vein of Lowering in a single-take narrative, which means the film is riding a tidal wave that has grown bigger and bigger over the past few years.
One-shot action scenes have become huge in recent history, and they typically steal the show whenever they are used, as seen in action movies like Extraction, Kickboxer: retaliation, Jiu Jitsu, Netflix daredevil series, and many others. Scott Adkins himself is no stranger to the one-hit fight scene game, with Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear, Short range, Eliminators, and Max Cloud’s intergalactic adventures each offering very well orchestrated one-take combats.
One-shot movies go back at least as far as Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, but in modern terms, Birdman (or the unexpected virtue of ignorance) is one of the best-known examples. It was only a matter of time before action movies gave it a try, with 1917 set the bar high as a unique WWI film, and Mad Samurai: 400 to 1 also enter the game with a 77 minute katana war. A shot appears to be 2021’s only real contender in the ring of single-take action movies, and that alone makes it unique. With Scott Adkins on board in a local with the typical action flick cut in bold, that makes A shot a must-have for action fans on the 2021 calendar.
Certainly, even as the struggles of the pandemic era persist, 2021 has not been without some well-polished and electrifying action films, such as the film directed by Bob Odenkirk. Anybody or the Donnie Yen vehicle Raging fire. The last quarter of 2021 features releases such as Red Notice, while Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings has been rightly praised for its exceptional action scenes. Yet nothing else in the year can boast of such a promising premise for action, anchored by the face of the Undisputed franchise. In an age where complaints about shaky cameras and super-fast editing continue to slow down promising action movies, A shot is the only one doing exactly what his title implies, and with such technical novelty on his side, he could end up being a very different wolf from the rest of the pack.
About the Author
