Revenge stories are tried and true ground within action cinema. The formula is familiar and often guaranteed to entertain. Stand Your Ground, from director Fansu Njie, is happy to operate within the established trappings of that genre.
Stand Your Ground follows the story of former special forces operative, Jack Johnson (Daniel Stisen), as he seeks revenge on the vicious crime lords who callously murder his pregnant wife.
Much like the name of our main character and the film’s title, an overwhelming majority of what is presented in Stand Your Ground is painfully generic. The revenge story follows the expected format – our protagonist skillfully takes out his adversaries in explosive gunfights and brutal hand to hand combat. It’s quite obvious this is a guy you don’t want to mess with!
The motivations of the film’s primary antagonist, the gang’s ruthless kingpin Bastion (Peter Stormare), are comically flimsy. He sports a generic red hat to give you some inclination of the kind of world view that might be informing his ruthless behavior, although the film avoids any definitive assertions about it.
His ominous monologues about power, loyalty, and whatever else he’s rambling on about fall flat. They’re confused and muddled; lacking the necessary bite to fully communicate the threat he poses.
Whatever that threat may be is valiantly fought off by Jack. Utilizing the peculiar technicalities of “stand your ground” laws, he lures evil henchmen into his house in order to tactically take them out.
Stisen’s effort as Jack is admirable despite lacking the necessary naturally charismatic energy to keep a movie like this propelling forward. He’s physically imposing and carries himself with the cool, understated confidence that so many action stars try to embody.
Unfortunately, Stisen’s performance and Njie’s film as a whole suffer from the same main issue – which is an understandable inability to fully tap into distinctly American sensibilities. Stand Your Ground takes place in an unnamed Southern American town. Everything from Jack’s military background to Bastion’s racist and exclusionary rhetoric are uniquely American.
However, Njie, who is Swedish of Gambian descent, and Stisen, a London based Norwegian, are approaching the story from an outside perspective. Not to say that foreigners can’t make great films examining the nuances of American life. They certainly can; and certainly have. However, tackling subject matter so deeply engrained in the American psyche requires a level of intimacy with the subject matter that’s not on display here.
Njie and crew are clearly capable filmmakers. The action sequences are crisply presented, and the story moves at a comfortable pace. The score keeps things exciting throughout. However, this particular subject matter isn’t well suited for this specific creative team.
Everything here is in service of action spectacle and an easily digestible revenge tale – even if it doesn’t always fully come together. Due to the concept of standing one’s ground, much of the action takes place in Jack’s home. There was a wonderful opportunity to clearly establish the homes geography early in the film to then highlight later as Jack defends his home turf.
Stand Your Ground is far from reinventing the revenge genre, but is more than comfortable as a fun entry within it. Fans of revenge flicks will get a kick out of watching it all play out. Which is really all we can ask for, and frankly, all that matters.
Stand Your Ground is currently available on digital and on demand, after having a theatrical run last month.
