Canadian-Jamaican director Charles Officer’s second feature looks flashy, sounds cool and – Ghost Dog-style – likes to fling out shurikens of eastern philosophy every which way. But this tale of freelance underworld fixer Akilla Brown, played with careworn wisdom by Saul Williams, doesn’t live up to its sharp tailoring and has too much faith in fatigued beats from the gangster-film locker.
Journeyman Akilla is about to retire from the illegal cannabis-distribution business in Toronto, rendered redundant by legalisation. But he finds himself on the end of a double-barrel shotgun when a depot belonging to “the Greek”, his boss, is raided by rival hoodlums. Thanks to his sang-froid, the heist runs off the rails, and Akilla steps in to stop his crew from torturing young soldier Sheppard (Thamela Mpumlwana) who, minutes earlier, was about to blow his brains out.
