No Country for Old Men’s Anton Chigurh was the scariest thing to come out of Latin America since Argentinian inflation. So it’s taken a surprisingly long time to see a direct imitator: the dark-clad avenger El Corvo, played here by Marko Zaror. Not only does he have the gauche coiffuring (bald on top this time), but also the philosophical penchant, asking imminent victims if they’ve given themselves a present recently. If the Cormac McCarthy rip-off wasn’t enough, Ernesto Díaz Espinoza’s ponderous thriller also gives El Corvo a couple of scenes lifted from The Terminator, and the villain from Enter the Dragon’s blade-hand for good measure.
Diablo isn’t all cliches though: martial arts multitool Scott Adkins has a potentially interesting role inverting the usual over-the-border revenge mission. He plays former bank robber Kris, who’s been charged with entering Colombia and kidnapping Elisa (Alanna De La Rossa), the daughter of drug baron Vicente (Lucho Velasco). Making good on a promise to her dead mother to extract her from the kingpin’s clutches, he bundles her into a car boot – and soon he not only has Vicente and assorted ne’er-do-wells on his six, but El Corvo too, hoping to cut in on the bounty.
Giving Elisa a gun to reassure her while she’s in the backseat, Kris has to play daddy day-care to the coddled teenager who – for reasons not hard to guess – has the same volcanic temperament as his own. Despite a smartly animalistic performance from De La Rossa, nostrils flaring in outrage, it’s a mismatched pairing that never fully ignites. Given relatively little character detailing on his side, Adkins comes over more dour than an uncontrollable dervish game for sparring. Despite the exposition dumps, his backstory doesn’t translate into a satisfying redemption on the run.
Luckily, there’s always gratuitous violence. After a couple of lacklustre bouts in which Kris dispatches sundry henchmen, Adkins and Zaror tear into each other impressively (twice). With Zaror also acting as action choreographer, the combat is kept rangy and flailing: they atomise an illegal casino the first time around, and in the climactic second, Adkins fends off El Corvo as he heads up a long staircase to join Vicente in trying to stop Elisa being dragged into an aggregate crusher, in a kind of heavy-industrial version of My Two Dads. Unlike the laborious setup elsewhere, this is the right kind of basic.
• Diablo is on digital platforms from 27 October.
