‘Man with No Past’ Review

Man with No Past will have you laughing out loud for all the wrong reasons in a direct-to-video gem that’s unintentionally hilarious. A decent premise struggles mightily with classic philosophical themes of good versus evil in a poorly executed action-thriller that fails in every regard. The mystery at its core takes forever to develop and isn’t that difficult to figure out what’s happening. You won’t need Sherlock Holmes for this one. Martin Csokas, typecast again as the arrogant villain, offers the lone bright spot with his trademark sneer and smarmy delivery. His performance is so silly and exaggerated that it’s actually quite entertaining.

Déjà Vu in Ancient Rome

In World War II Paris, a Nazi General (Jon Voight), his ruthless henchman (Philip Winchester), and a cold-blooded advisor (Csokas) line up innocents to be executed. They’re searching for the French Resistance and are willing to kill for information. A heroic figure (Adam Woodward) lurks in the background with weapons ready to save the day. He makes his move, but the scene suddenly changes to another time period.

In present day New York City, the same hero awakens in a seedy hotel room as an amnesiac. He finds weapons, money, and motorcycle keys but no ID to prove his identity. The desk clerk also has no memory of him checking in. He did sign in as “Ryder,” which matches a letter on the keychain. Ryder’s inexplicably drawn to a nearby diner where the owner, Shelly (Charlotte Weston), and her granddaughter, Morgan (Charlotte Vega), seem very familiar.

Meanwhile, in the towering office of the Sanborn Group, Paul Sanborn (Voight) and his fixer (Winchester) meet the architect (Csokas) of his bold new development. Sanborn plans to remake the city’s slums into a gleaming new metropolis, but a pesky city council member won’t authorize the construction. At the diner, Ryder has an intense flashback that takes place, drumroll please, in ancient Rome with the same people present.

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A Painfully Wooden and Repetitive Movie

Man with No Past has terrible dialogue and character development. The rub is that Ryder seems to be reliving the same moral dilemma at multiple time periods throughout history. The script by prolific VOD action producer Steven Paul (Expend4bles, Shadow Land, Disquiet), reuniting with Voight after making The Land of Israel with Jon Voight: God’s Story, has cardboard characters spouting existential nonsense without actually saying anything.

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The only character with any meaning is Vega’s “Morgan”, who serves as the generic love interest and literally sums up what’s happening every time she meets Ryder. These interactions are painful to watch. You wish Ryder would just ask her to stop beating around the bush and tell him WTF is going on. That’s when he’s not staring in a mirror asking the same question.

Paul relies on coincidence as a tool of fate, destiny, predetermination, or any cosmic mumbo-jumbo term. Ryder has to be in the diner to witness Sanborn’s lackeys shake down the innocent women who, of course, needs manly protection. Then you have groan-worthy shots of every tough guy sizing each other up as flickers of remembrance obviously cross dull faces. This batter is poured on thickly as these same scenes repeat in time. We’re meant to question what’s the source of these do-overs. Are these characters in some kind of technical simulation? Or is there a religious reason for Ryder’s memory loss and lack of awareness? It’s easy to guess if you don’t lose interest nearly two hours later.

The Road to Boredom

Man with No Past compounds the cheese factor with an ’80s-era guitar score and heavy use of fast-forwards. Ryder could be Sonic the time warrior with all the sped-up sequences. What stylistic purpose does this actually serve? It could have looked cool, done once or twice, but became a constant annoyance as an editing tool. My only thought is that Paul and director James Bamford (Air Force One Down) wanted to trim the runtime while still preserving what had been filmed.

The biggest let down in a film loaded with disappointment is the woeful action. The action scenes are weak at best and have no creativity. It doesn’t help that we see the same fight scene play out over and over again. There’s no difference in what transpires in each historical setting. This makes sense plot-wise, because Ryder has to experience a sense of déjà vu. The problem is that it’s boring and repetitive to the audience. The action for VOD movies is often the saving grace, but that’s not the case here.

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You will get a kick out of the costume designs. Voight and Csokas’ various wigs look like they come from the dust bin in a community theater. It’s hard to believe Paul and Bamford didn’t realize their cast looked ridiculous. You can save money in a lot of places, but your characters have to look physically fit the part or the entire narrative crumbles. The scenes in Rome just can’t be taken seriously and puts another nail in this film’s coffin. Do yourself and see Aki Kaurismäki’s great film, The Man Without a Past, instead. That one’s actually supposed to be funny.

Man with No Past is a production of SP Media Group. It will be available digitally and on demand on January 14th from Republic Pictures. It’s available to rent or buy on the usual digital platforms, such as YouTube, Google Play, and on Apple TV through the link below:

Watch on Apple TV