Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa worked together in the hit and Oscar-winning blockbuster, Dune (2021). Neither were the headliners in that film. Both had been headliners in previous mainstream productions. Particularly, Bautista was in the super-hero series, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Momoa was in the super-hero series that included Aquaman (2018). There has been talk about the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood in terms of leading characters or productions with predominantly Asian casts. That talk has specifically come from Simu Liu. However, Bautista is of Filipino descent and Momoa is of Hawaiian descent, which means this film has two Asian stars in the lead.
Momoa is a producer on this project, and a few of Momoa's recent projects have taken place in or near his home of Hawaii. His big hit Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) was partially shot in Hawaii. The same appears to be the case here. The script by Jonathan Tropper seems to be mostly about Momoa's character. Tropper worked with Momoa on the series See (2019) on Apple TV, so centering the story and the emotional pay-off on Momoa's character seems obvious, as well as centering on Momoa's homeland. Literally, there is a plot point that hinges on a specific law that exists in Hawaii and only in one other state in the United States, which means this story could only take place in Hawaii.
Momoa stars as Jonny Hale, pronounced hall-lay, a police detective on a reservation in Oklahoma. Despite being a cop, he looks as if he could be a member of Hells Angels. He has the vibe of an outlaw biker boy. He comes across as a guy who is too cool for school and who doesn't really take things too seriously. He's quietly making jokes all the time, whispering comedic one-liners, often under his breath, which is a shtick that Momoa does in most of his recent films. Jonny has been rather neglectful and checked out of his relationship with his girlfriend. He's later described as suffering from arrested development with anger issues.
If this description is true, it's the result of him being an illegitimate child or a son born out of wedlock because his father cheated on his wife with whom would become Jonny's mother. Jonny's mother would then later be murdered. Jonny would discover the body and vow to find the killer, which prompts him to become a police detective. His older half-brother though sent him away because Jonny thought a Hawaiian gang was behind it and went to prison trying to take them down.
Bautista also stars as James Hale, the aforementioned, older half-brother to Jonny. He's a commander in the U.S. Navy who is training men in Honolulu. He is in fact a former Navy SEAL who is very well versed in combat, even more so then his younger brother. He's also a family man, having a wife and children. He seems to be more stable and level-headed. He is estranged from his brother. It's probably not due to him not loving Jonny, but that estrangement seems to be in part in response to resentful feelings toward his father who cheated on James' mother.
The structure here is very much akin to a buddy cop action flick. The story draws parallels to Beverly Hills Cop (1984) with Momoa playing the role of Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley. Momoa doesn't have Murphy's energy. Both Momoa and Bautista feel like they're sleepwalking through a lot of this. It's okay for Bautista because his character is supposed to be the equivalent of Judge Reinhold and John Ashton in Beverly Hills Cop. Bautista is the straight man. However, Momoa is supposed to be the opposite and Momoa has proven he can have great comedic energy. He just demonstrated it in Fast X (2023). Yet, Momoa doesn't really have much of that energy here.
Speaking of The Fast and the Furious (2001), which Momoa is now a part, I draw comparisons to that franchise's spin-off, Hobbs & Shaw (2019). This film, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto (Blue Beetle), the Puerto Rican filmmaker, wishes or aspires to be that 2019 blockbuster. Hobbs & Shaw had a budget of $200 million. The budget here is unknown, but it's obviously nowhere near the nine figures of Hobbs & Shaw. This film boasts a lot of martial arts where the humor derives from how brutally can people be killed. The film references Jackie Chan, but there's only one scene that felt truly Jackie Chan inspired, which involved Momoa fighting nearly naked after an encounter in a bathroom.
There's a car chase and helicopter shootout that felt ripped from James Cameron's True Lies (1994). Later, Bautista has a fight scene that felt ripped from Park Chan Wook's Oldboy (2003). There's a lot of familiar fight moments, but Momoa and Bautista equip themselves well.
Rated R for bloody violence, language and some drug use.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 4 mins.
Available on Amazon Prime Video.