Film Review: Tokarev (2014)

Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller

Director: Paco Cabezas

Writers: Jim Agnew, Sean Keller

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Rachel Nichols, Peter Stormare, Danny Glover, Aubrey Peeples, Max Ryan

 

“Surprisingly good film.”

A former criminal, Paul Maguire lives quietly with his young and beautiful wife Vanessa and beloved daughter Caitlin, in a big house. Everything goes well for him until his daughter is killed shortly after being kidnapped. In order to find out who is behind the murder of his daughter, her devastated and heartbroken father determines to find out the truth on his own. The retired criminal knows only one way to take revenge for his daughter`s death. But in the criminal world, if you`re declaring War, you have to know how to end it.  He knows the price he must pay to bring these people to justice. Nevertheless, he is willing to do it…

“Tokarev” starts with a man sitting in a dark room, waiting, while another man with a gun enters the room.  In the next scene, we see Paul Maguire (Nicolas Cage) standing in front of his daughter`s school ready to pick her up. They both look happy, and seem like nothing is bothering them. Nicolas Cage`s character is a family man who has retired from the criminal world. His young wife (Rachel Nichols) seems to love him and his teenage daughter. All is going well for Maguire`s family. Late in the evening, Paul and his wife are ready to go out to dine with Mr. Thompson and Mr. White.  Before he leaves the house, Maguire has a short chat with his daughter and her friends.  They plan to sing karaoke and play some cool video games while he is out. In the restaurant, while Paul and Vanessa are enjoying their evening with the Governor, Detective St. John (Danny Glover) comes to the restaurant to tell Paul some horrifying news. Paul finds out that his daughter has been kidnapped by unknown people, and later on is found dead.

Even though the police start the investigation into Caitlin Maguire`s murder immediately, Paul starts his own investigation.  He believes that someone from his past is responsible for his daughter’s assassination.

We see Nicolas Cage in almost every movie made. Certainly, we don’t have to watch all of them.

The Academy-award winning actor has stopped delivering the good performance we have come to expect from him. We no longer see him in such movies resembling “Leaving Las Vegas”, “Moonstruck”, “Faceoff”, or “Adaptation”. I do know, however, that Nicolas Cage is still capable of delivering a stunning performance.  In “Tokarev”, directed by Paco Cabezas, Nicolas Cage was not as great as we would expect him to be. But let’s be honest here: “Tokarev” is just another action movie telling the story of man who is seeking revenge for his daughter`s death. So what else can we expect to see in this film except for a couple of action scenes, shooting, and fighting scenes with Nicolas Cage?  Well, if you want to see only action, then I have good news for you.  You will see Nicolas Cage fighting, shooting, crying and most importantly from him- full-fledged emotional scenes.

Overall, I found this film surprisingly good, and not boring at all. Nicolas Cage delivers a very good performance even though the story itself, screenplay, and directing were not good at all. However, “Tokarev” will surprise you with quite an unexpected twist at the end! And if you still don`t want to watch this film, consider Nicolas Cage, who will amaze you with some emotionally charged scenes which I am sure you don`t want to miss.