Parents' Guide to Army of One

Somehow it took three screenwriters to come up with this utterly familiar story, pitched halfway between a Liam Neeson revenge flick and something out of the Rambo franchise. Army of One will tick the box for anyone looking to enjoy a bit of mindless violence, but don't expect any surprises or memorable moments. Keeping the action watchable is a cast who deserve a better script. Quite why Hollman's grieving widow and vigilante off-duty U.S. Ranger, Brenner, repeatedly takes on male antagonists twice her size in unarmed combat before usually reaching for a knife in her pocket is anyone's guess. Likewise, Geraldine Singer leads a surprisingly diverse band of militiamen as ruthless matriarch Mama. But the characterizations are all so broad they never escape being a series of lazy cliches.

As often happens in movies like this, the baddies have multiple opportunities to kill off the hero but keep finding more incredulous reasons to decide against it. This is despite literally all of their problems stemming from mistakenly thinking they've shot Brenner in the head in the setup for what follows. It's one example of many of Army of One battling in vain.