Review of the movie "Afterburn"

On September 18, cinemas began showing the post-apocalyptic action film Afterburn, based on the comic book series of the same name by Red 5, created by Scott Chitwood, Paul Enns, and Wayne Nichols. This time, Dave Batista and Olga Kurylenko are going to kick ass in the ruined cities, and we’re ready to tell you how much fun it is to watch their on-screen battles in the review below.

“Afterburn”

Genre post-apocalyptic action movie
Director JJ Perry
Starring Dave Batista, Olha Kurylenko, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Hiew, Daniel Bernhard
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb

They say that stability is a sign of skill. For the director of , J.J. Perry, this is his second consecutive collaboration with actor Dave Batista after the action film “The Killer’s Game” (2024).

A powerful solar flare caused all electronics to fail. Chaos and destruction reigned on the long-suffering Earth. Six years later, in London, the skilled treasure hunter Jake agrees to fulfill a dangerous task from a local collector of culturally significant things and valuable works of art, nicknamed King Arthur. In exchange for the delivery of the Mona Lisa hidden in France, Jake will receive a coveted boat on which he can sail off into the sunset with the first beautiful woman he sees.

From the very beginning, the filmmakers make it clear who the coolest guy in the movie is, and at the same time what kind of movie we’re going to see (as if it wasn’t clear enough). The unwavering Jake pretentiously and surprisingly quickly deals with a bunch of useless extras, so that no one has any doubts that if anyone is capable of getting to da Vinci’s masterpiece, it’s only the post-apocalyptic Indiana Jones on steroids.

In general, such a mid-budget, straightforward B movie does not need any reviews or even deep analysis in principle — everything is on the surface. Fans of “action” films will see the movie anyway, everyone else will either rightly spit or, and this is the most logical solution, simply pass it by.

Regarding the ex-relator and the team member Guardians of the Galaxy, it seems that the man decided to find his own niche. Like Liam Neeson in retired militants or the same Statham in oakleaf action movies with the names of different professions. Along with the aforementioned “In the Lost Lands” and Zack Snyder’s zombie heist movie “Army of the Dead” (2021), this is Batista’s third post-apocalyptic fiction with more or less the same budget in the last few years (and the second in the last six months). Stability, as we remember, is a sign of skill.

The protagonist has a clear goal, gradually completing various missions and quests — from solving ciphers or overcoming flooded levels to destroying enemies and extreme driving of an armored SUV under the sights of tank guns. In the frame, “non-game characters” flash, giving instructions before the next mission, and maps that clearly show the progress of Jake and his companion Drea towards the goal. The conventional plot exists purely as a link for local showdowns.

At some point, the narrative will be infiltrated by subtle notes of dystopia associated with the military dictatorship in France, but they will disappear as quickly as they appeared. The villain played by Christopher Hugh is such a one-dimensional dummy that his limitations border on caricature: all he does is either play chess or kill every ordinary person he meets. Sometimes the latter is a consequence of the former.

To be fair, the action scenes look good, and J.J. Perry’s stunt DNA comes in handy here. But it’s almost the only bright spot among the content emptiness, frankly ridiculous moments, and general boredom. To give you an idea of the real level of performance here, there is even a scene of a pair of protagonists walking in slow motion against the backdrop of a spectacular explosion. That is, a worn-out genre trick that was literally ridiculed in “My Spy” (2020, available on the website review of the sequel), where Batista and young Chloe Coleman performed exactly the same thing, is presented in all seriousness.

There’s no on-screen chemistry between Dave and Olga Kurylenko, the former delivering another batch of invincible furniture, the latter offering the emotional spectrum of a Terminatrix, with the difference that for the latter, stone-faced indifference is a natural behavior. The only one who really has fun on the set is the ever-cheerful Samuel L. Jackson, dressed in a luxurious outfit, especially for a post-apocalypse.