Starring Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor. Two out of work debt collectors once again return to collect three potentially dangerous debts for the same client.
For anyone that’s watched the first Debt Collectors and spoilers ahead for anyone that hasn’t and is planning too. Like me, you are probably wondering how our debt collectors especially Sue (Louis Mandylor) are still alive. Sue took an assault rifle to the torso multiple times before falling down dead. French (Scott Adkins) took two to the chest before staggering to his car to escape. I too was wondering.
The first debt collector had Tommy (Vladimir Kulich) recruiting French for collection work and paring him up with Sue. French wasn’t a fan of the work; Sue had been doing it for a while. This all leads to a climax where they supposedly met their violent end.
The Debt Collector 2 also known as Payback starts with French now working in a bar as a bouncer. Some locals start some grief so the manager tells French to sort it. We see Sue wonder in and witness the action as French promptly takes out the riff-raff causing a mess as well. French bumps into Sue and like many is shocked to see him alive and breathing. Sue has clearly gone there to find French.
French promptly gets fired from his job by the manager for causing all the damage even though he told him to interfere and the locals were being complete arseholes about it. What was he supposed to do?
Sue offers French a job doing 3 collections for his old boss Tommy which needs to be completed within 48 hours. French reluctant at first but soon agrees once he hears how much money is involved.
So, the duo starts on their way of collecting the debts. We also learn how they survived their injuries. Sue informs French he was rushed to a hospital and died twice on the operating table, it’s a miracle he survived. I wouldn’t like to see his medical bill after that. Frenches wounds were not quite as serious.
Naturally collecting the debts are not easy as none of the debtors wants to pay. French already points out that’s he’s not going to do all the heavy lifting this time like the 1st movie and rightly so. Sue gets a lot more involved this time around. Even as far as going to a boxing gym whose owner owes the debt so Sue being a past boxer steps into the ring with one of the gyms young proteges. As you can guess, if he wins, they pay the debt, simple right? Things soon get messy as nothing goes according to plan. On a side note, this causing an ongoing discussing between French and Sue over boxing vs martial arts. Sue calling it the sweet science, French saying MMA beats all.
The pair have great chemistry. Among some of the best on-screen chemistry, I’ve seen for a while with back and forth banter, jokes and telling comical stories. I had some laugh out loud moments. Adkins cranks up the cockney gangster tone a bit getting into the role of a debt collector. Even Sue mentions how much he seems to enjoy his work now. In which French replies I hate this work but I’m good at it.
Mandylor channels his inner Mickey Rourke/Michael Madsen east coast old grizzled badass-ness once again.
One of the best scenes in the movie is when the pair have a difference of opinion so go toe to toe. It’s a brutal painful-looking fight reminiscent of Roddy Piper and Keith David from They Live. This put their past argument of boxing vs martial arts to the test. Even during the fight, it has its comedy moments with Sue going for an all fashioned kick in the nuts, French catching him and calling him a sneaking mother fucker maintaining that chemistry.
The fights are great. Brutal and painful-looking, the pair receive wounds that stay with them the whole movie and seem to carry on bleeding. I thought the climax could have been done a little better, I like a good end fight and not just clique gun battle where everyone seems to be a bad shot.
In conclusion, The Debt collector 2 is a sequel I wasn’t expecting as I thought Sue died but I’m glad they did. Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor are great on screen together and I hope they make more debt collector movies down the line.
The Debt Collector 2 (Payback) is on Netflix now.
Rating 3.5/5 belts
