Wheelman

(spoiler free)

Frank Grillo is no stranger to the tough guy role and new Netflix film, ‘Wheelman’, lets him play this type of character yet again. Grillo portrays an unnamed wheel man, hired to take part in a robbery. Of course things don’t quite go to plan and he’s left in a deadly situation unsure of just who he can trust and how to escape with his life. With a running time less than ninety minutes would this action thriller be pedal to the metal or just a series of false starts?

The overall narrative for the film is fine. It’s a good premise, ultimately being ‘Drive’ meets ‘Locke’. Grillo spends almost the entirety of the film in his getaway car and it’s this very limited setting where much of the story unfolds, mainly through phone conversations, hence the ‘Locke’ comparison. This claustrophobic setting makes it hard for the story to gain much momentum though as the lack of variation in location becomes tiresome rather quickly.

There was potential to remedy this problem with the inclusion of energetic action sequences which should have come hand in hand with this premise. Whilst there are plenty of action scenes included the way in which they are filmed only further contributes to the frustrating enclosed narrative. For a large portion of the film the action is always filmed either from within the wheel man’s car or from an angle attached to the exterior of the vehicle. This meant that the camera never panned away from the protagonist’s car which would have allowed the audience to see a third person’s view of the action. This was a real shame as there are plenty of action scenes included but due to the lack of variation in the filming of them it was hard to become overly involved during them. There are of course a couple of exceptions, mainly towards the end of the film and whilst they salvage something they never quite achieve enough to make this a positive element of the movie. 

It’s Grillo who is most definitely the best thing about ‘Wheelman’. His unnamed character will draw similarities to Ryan Gosling’s Driver in ‘Drive’. Don’t be expecting anything quite as engaging as Gosling’s performance here but Grillo manages well especially considering the often dull execution of what should have been more boisterous action and interesting narrative beats. His work in ‘The Purge’ and ‘Captain America’ franchises have served him well as he’s developed a very watchable action star presence. It’s unfortunate that unlike those previous films ‘Wheelman’ just doesn’t provide him with the content for him to create anything memorable. 

With stacks of promise to be a snappy, fast-paced action flick ‘Wheelman’ could have been set to be a new cult classic, instead it’s only destined for the Netflix junkyard. Frank Grillo deserves more than the poor hand he’s been dealt here, although credited as a producer he maybe can’t escape all of the blame. Nonetheless he’s a solid focal point for the narrative and action to congregate around but both of these elements come up far too short leaving ‘Wheelman’ with one too many cinematic punctures.

Written by Hamish Calvert

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Rating – 4/10

Question: What is your favourite Frank Grillo film?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)

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