Eraser: Reborn movie review — Pointless reboot misses Schwarzenegger swagger that made Original action fest cool

Language: English Think Eraser and random recall brings back the gloriously corny action scene featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and an alligator twice his size. The beast opens its gigantic jaws to feast on Hollywood beef, but Arnie is quicker. He shoots the animal straight between the eyes and then declares with signature swagger: “You’re luggage.” He does a whole lot more in the film, jumping off planes without parachutes, saving the lady in distress, outwitting a foxy villain and, generally, demolishing all that’s evil. The 1996 popcorn thriller was manufactured to accommodate antics that garnered a global base for Schwarzenegger’s larger-than-life stardom, and was the last of his series of great action hits. Twenty-six years later, the makers have tried reviving the played-to-gallery magic with a franchise reboot meant to pay homage to Arnie, alligator and all else that worked in the original film. Watching Eraser Reborn, however, the notion is instantly clear: If you do not have an Arnold Schwarzenegger to make that sort of absurd violence look cool, you cannot and should not attempt a revival. The point of dwelling on the 1996 original at the start of a review about the 2022 reboot is evident: There is little that the new film has to offer that works as entertainment for today’s audience. Over-the-top generic devices that regaled back in the nineties aren’t exactly what the present-day audience looks for. This also brings us to the second problem with this dated piece. Arnie is 74 now, obviously not in the frame to return in blazing action form, and yet the target viewership base for this reboot attempt remains the generation that had rooted for his original hit.

The reboot would appear a lazy and lifeless rehash to most such viewers, falling way short of being the unapologetic celebration of excesses they’d expect.

Served with no ingenuity whatsoever, Eraser: Reborn comes two and a half decades too late and seems wholly unnecessary.

British actor Dominic Sherwood plays Mason Pollard in the reboot, replacing Schwarzenegger’s John Kruger from the original film. The job profile of the hero is the same. Like Kruger, Pollard is a US Marshal who works for the government’s witness protection program. His task is to engineer fake deaths of witnesses in a way no trace of their existence is left behind, so that they can start a fresh life with a new identity. Pollard’s day at work is more or less the same as Kruger’s was all those years ago, except that technological advancement over the decades has upgraded the game for the protectors as well as the antagonists. Michael D. Weiss’ writing, officially based on characters that Tony Puryear, Walon Green and Michael S. Chernuchin created for the first film, tries following the original’s template plotwise and in spirit as Pollard hit action mode right away. His mission is to protect Rina Kimura (Jacky Lai), the wife of a top gangster. Rina’s life is in danger because she has agreed to turn a state witness against the mob. It doesn’t take long for one to realise Weiss and director John Pogue were in no mood to push the envelope on the storytelling beyond standard tropes. To justify the pile of action set-pieces that forms most of the runtime, the plot creates space for familiar screenplay fillers. As Pollard flees to Cape Town with Rina, there is the expected double cross tossed into the narrative. A mandatory team of killers is hot on their trail, too, as Pollard battles the odds in a bid to protect Rina. Director Pogue is unimaginative enough to believe cliches that seemed lame even in 1996 would work today — you get that impression as the villains unfailingly shoot to miss and done-to-death stunt sequences unfold with choreographed perfection.

Plot loopholes and over-the-top liberties in storytelling were a part of the original Eraser, too, but that film, directed by Chuck Russell, revelled in a wanton zeal that worked for its talismanic action hero. Also, coming into Eraser, Schwarzenegger was already an established action superstar. The problem with Eraser: Reborn is its lead star struggles to live up to the heavy-duty billing and it shows. Dominic Sherwood rarely showcases the screen presence to carry off a Schwarzenegger reboot, neither does he have the charisma to craft an original image for the action prototype at hand. Sherwood is functional as a hero, as he carries on mechanically with the action scenes. The prop cast, most of whose names one struggles to recall, doesn’t impress much, either. While a majority of the actors goes through the motions with wooden expressions, a few among the cast try to ‘act’ by resorting to exaggerated hamming. Perhaps, it isn’t the fault of the actors. This film and its roles weren’t written to extract good performances. Eraser: Reborn is one of those films that struggle to engage right from the start and never really manage to do so. The film gives away its plot within the first 10 to 15 minutes and then does precious little to insert a few intelligent twists that might stir audience interest. It is a B-movie that relies on assembly-line tech specs and that is clearly not enough. By now, the low-on-content drama that vaunts set-piece violence has become an all-too-familiar exercise in ennui. Banal dialogues and hackneyed CGI only worsen the impact. Rating: * (one star)

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist, and film journalist based in Delhi-NCR Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .