Soulcatcher (Netflix, 2023)
Soulcatcher is a compelling Polish action thriller about a military contractor who just wants to avenge his brother.
The movie is the work of talented director Daniel Markowicz, who also directed the action thrillers Lesson Plan (2022) and Bartkowiak (2021).
Markowicz wrote the script for Soulcatcher together with Dawid Kowalewicz, with who he previously collaborated on the sci-fi movie Shadows (2022).
Soulcatcher tells the story of Richard ‘Fang’ Kiel (Piotr Witkowski), who used to fight terrorism as a member of the Polish services.
These days, however, Kiel works as a mercenary for a private military company. Together with his brother Piotr (Michal Burdan) he accepts a lucrative mission in a (fictional) country ruled by a local warlord.
Although the task at hand at first seems simple enough, it turns out that they have to face a dangerous experimental weapon that turns people into savage killers.
Apparently, the experimental technology was developed to fight cancer, but now the technology has itself become a cancer that has to be fought.
The inventor is a Professor Mazur (Jacek Poniedzialek, in full Walter White mode). He works (or is forced to work) for said evil warlord, who wants to sell the tech to the highest bidder. It’s Mazur’s daughter Eliza (Michalina Olszanska) who wants to warn the world about the dangers of her father’s experiments and contacts the Polish authorities. But can they be trusted?
Pretty soon Kiel and his team, which also includes a smart female sharpshooter (Aleksandra Adamska), set out on the mission: impossible of a lifetime.
From the outset it is clear that Soulcatcher is a low budget movie that works well in a Eastern European setting. It’s not high art, but neither does it pretend to be, and director Markowicz certainly makes the most of what he’s got. There are some prolonged action scenes with lots of ultra-violent kills that give you a lot of bang for your Netflix-buck.
I think Markowicz has a wicked sense of humor in the way he likes to introduce supporting characters as sympathetic, only to have them killed shortly after.
I like this kind of movie, just like some other people like the simple but entertaining love stories that Netflix also regularly provides (and for which I’m not the target audience).
There’s a roguish charm to Soulcatcher, that revels in and also transcends its storytelling tropes and at the same time provides a showcase for its talented cast.
So who knows?! Given a bigger budget Markowicz may make the next Expendables-sequel, the female stars could one day be Bond-girls a la Famke Janssen while star Witkowski may one day be the next Scott Adkins or even the new Gerard Butler.