Movie Review: Intensive Care (2018)

Intensive Care (2018) - USA - Action Comedy - NR (PG13)

Directed by Jared Bentley

Starring Tara Macken, Jai Rodriguez, Kevin Sizemore, Jose Rosete, Leslie Easterbrook, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Gunnar Sizemore, Austin Pollard, Ela Gavrila

Dumb, dumber and dumbest meet even dumberest in this comedy of errors masquerading as an action thriller, and yet it strangely succeeds.

An ex-special forces soldier takes up a new profession as a caregiver for a rich elderly woman. A seemingly innocuous job turns potentially deadly as thugs break in with the intention of robbing the woman but end up with more than they bargained for.

If the plot seems basic and especially in the category of 'seen it before', well it is. There's nothing new here from the standpoint of ex-whatever fighting machine having to face-off against a threat that we haven't seen in any number of Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Whatshisname or any action star's glut of dime a dozen movies.

In actuality this film seems confused at the outset as to what it wants to be. The setup is basically an action movie. The IMDb page lists it as a action/horror/thriller. But past the half hour mark, and I was less impressed with it up to that point, it takes a turn into an action comedy, and that alone saves it.

The filmmaking is competent, the acting is competent, as a matter of fact on the whole it's pretty competent and that's about the best thing that can be said about it. Yet the humor and action keep it going, even if at times it is interrupted by "WTFs" on the part of the viewer.

Throughout the film I had gone from a rating of 2 fingers during the first half hour to upping that to 2 Plus. My thoughts were it at least maintains itself. But then that became an important distinction as, with as basic of a premise and setup as it has, it rolls with its humor and action and is actually watchable and even enjoyable throughout its 80 minutes. There is an additional post-credits scene which nicely sets it up for a potential sequel.

My Rating: 3 Fingers; that's 6/10 for IMDbers