John Wick has probably created unrealistic expectations for the adrenaline levels to be encountered in luxury hospitality venues, and this low-budget super-soldier thriller, largely narrated over cocktails in a swanky hotel lobby, follows firmly in its gold-card wake. But the generic and strangely pointless tech conspiracy on offer here supplies as memorable an experience as a branch of the average Hilton. And despite its attempts to juice up its cyborg setup with some old-fashioned body heat, Dark Asset ends up more smarmy than sexy.
Former special forces soldier (Byron Mann) is fitted out with a cybernetic enhancement chip and a John Doe moniker, the latest recruit in an experimental programme. Once the chip has been activated by boffin Dr Cain (Robert Patrick, who has acquired fiendish eyebrows since his Terminator 2 days), he has access to enhanced cognitive and physiological abilities. But the hardware malfunctions, and John busts out of the secure facility and heads not for the nearest casino (surprisingly given his card-divining capability), but to a hotel where he cracks on to Jane (Helena Mattsson) and insists he has quite the tale to tell.
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