Mayhem! 2024 Machetes, Guns, and Sword Bloodsoaked Action

French action film Mayhem! released to excited film watchers everywhere on January 5th, 2024. The story follows Sam, starting with his incarceration in a gym full of sweaty inmates. On the verge of parole and to set the tone for the remaining run time, a man savagely beats another with a dumbbell. For action genre lovers, it sets a good precedent. Shortly after this foray into all things gangs and drug runners, it delivers another spurt of high-energy action when Sam realizes that going straight isn’t a choice sometimes.

Sam can fight and it’s here we learn how well. When push comes to shove Sam fends off two assailants and then a third is toppled off a rooftop during an impressive hand-to-hand battle. When we next see Sam, he’s on a tropical island in Thailand called Bang Chan, fighting for money, working in a restaurant, and on the arm of a woman called Mia. It’s around this part of the film that the pace slows down to get acquainted with this new family unit, including a little girl called Dara who calls him Daddy.

Mayhem Movie 2024 Review

Enter vicious criminal groups who decide that if Sam wants out, he’s going to have to do one last job. Narong and his army of henchmen wait in the wings as Sam finds out that mistakes are always going to be dealt with by savage brutality. In a predictable turn, a critical event takes place and the resulting assault puts Sam as close to death as possible.

Between here and the resulting vengeance and revenge, Mayhem! becomes quite sedate. Almost as if it were trying to figure out how to have Sam uncover all of the twists and secrets. And like John Wick avenging his dog and everything it stands for, Mayhem equally gives Sam a very big bone to pick with the local crime boss, Narong. The film also manages to tie in child trafficking and sex syndicates just in case anyone needed further buy-in to be on Sam’s side.

More frustrating than annoying is the long period as the man of the hour tries to track down information on his new enemies. He also finds he has help in the form of a champion with a sword, Hansa who decides Sam’s cause is a hill he’s willing to die on. And while I appreciate an attempt to suddenly flesh out a side character in Hansa, the bonding moments don’t work as effectively as they should.

The pair feel forced and out of place, causing a tonal rift. Less cool and more on the side of awkward, Hansa takes on a large-scale “look over there!” plan with his trusty heirloom sword while Sam infiltrates headquarters.

Jump Action Fight Scenes

The final quarter delivers and delivers hard. There’s no denying all fight scenes aren’t created equal and the hallway setting, though cool is an action trope that is getting a little stale without new tricks. The one-man army beating off a line of foes one at a time has never been a way to elevate the tension. On the upside, there are several moments I decided should be called “jump-action” in a similar vein to “jump-scares” where attacks during large-scale fight scenes explode onto the screen rather than gradually build up to it.

The gruesome ending picks up its bleeding heels with a standout setup in an elevator. Think machetes and guns inside a very small place. The resulting carnage is a spectacular of slicing and dicing that is unexpected in a venue like this but welcome. And in the style of many gritty thrillers like this, Sam remains steadfast in his resolve to not die by drinking the entire cup of concrete and anyone else’s at the party. Like Jack in Beaten to Death or Grace in Ready or Not, the hero rises from the blood-soaked floor but still tries for the win.

Watch Samara Weaving in Ready Or Not posing as the best kick-ass version of herself in this 2-and-a-half-minute video on YouTube

Where to Watch Mayhem!

• Available from FRIDAY, JANUARY 5th, 2024. Available to buy and rent on Amazon, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play, and more
• Language: French, Thai, English
• Runtime: 99 min
• Mayhem! 2024 was made available to Mother of Movies as a screener for review.
• From GANGS OF LONDON Director Xavier Gens. Distributed by IFC Films. Writer: Xavier Gens, Magali Rossitto and, Guillaume Lemans.
• The cast features former MMA fighter Nassim Lyès as Sam. Also cast in Mayhem! are Loryn Nounay, Olivier Gourmet, Vithaya Pansringarm, Chananticha Tang-Kwa and, Sahajak Boonthanakit.

Mayhem! is rated

4 Lucky the elevator didn’t shake out of 5

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