Hello Everyone. It is I, your Feisty Indian Aunty, who just watched SAS: The Rise of the Black Swan on Netflix. My first hero was Steven Segal who only needed one punch to put a man down. I love those martial artists who have spent their whole lives practicing that one thing. I have always enjoyed action and spy movies and I have watched every Sylvester Stallone movie, and every Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, and every James Bond movie. (I also have a special place in my heart for Kill Bill which was wonderfully gruesome.
The basic plot of the movie is this. It’s basically Die Hard (another movie that I love) on a train. In this movie it’s one soldier that takes on a whole group of elite mercenaries.
SAS: Rise of the Black Swan isn’t nearly as good as any of those movies I just mentioned, but despite its so-so acting and ho-hum plot, I was nevertheless still kept at the edge of my seat. Both Sam Heughan and Ruby Rose are very easy on the eyes, and there were enough twists and turns regarding the identity of a mole that kept me guessing until the end.
It’s not a terrible way to spend two hours.
On the face of it, there’s nothing here we haven’t seen before. That said, the movie still felt like it was trying to say something.
What does it take for a person to become a killer? I’ve heard people say that it isn’t easy to kill a person unless you’re trained to do it. If you’re a soldier. If you’re protecting the safety of your country. I’ve also heard stories about how terrifying the effects can be when you kill innocent people because that’s what you’re expected to do for your country.
What kind of a person becomes a killer? Is it a genetic thing? Do you need to have latent psychopathic tendencies before you take on such work? I believe that anyone who joins the army, navy, air force, or special forces, truly believe that they are doing national service. You need to be fearless. You need to be Incredibly intelligent. And you need to be completely objective so that you have the ability, and the will, to kill. Heaven knows there’s very little that is harder than that.
Despite its shortcomings, what SAS: Rise of the Black Swan does is clearly show you that both characters, on both sides, are similar in their psyche. They are cut from the same cloth, but one is a hero and the other is a terrorist. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t really dig any deeper beyond this superficial point.
I’ve been an avid reader all my life. And I’ve always had a passion for mysteries, and spy stuff, and action movies. Books and movies like that often make you believe that good overcomes the evil even though both parties do exactly the same thing. Yet, we continue to believe that a good killer is better than an evil one.
I know. I know. I’m digressing. But there really wasn’t much else to say about this movie. It was as entertaining as these movies tend do be. The action is pretty good. It was nice seeing Andy Serkis and Tom Wilkinson. So watch it if you, like me, enjoy this sort of thing. If anything, your mind might wander enough to leave you with some deep and meaningful questions about what makes for a killer.
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