An ordinary hospital shift turns into a kidnapping, a jailbreak and a chase across a city in Point Blank. Joe Lynch directed this 2019 American action-crime film, which pairs Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo and keeps its story moving for a brisk 92 minutes.
What is Point Blank about?
A nurse is on duty when a wounded man is brought into his hospital under guard. The patient is suspected of murder, and police want him kept exactly where he is. Then the nurse's own life is pulled into the case: his wife, who is pregnant, is abducted, and the person holding her is the injured suspect's brother. The demand is blunt. Get the patient out of the hospital and hand him over, and the woman comes home. With no time to think it through and nobody he can safely ask for help, the nurse does what he is told and walks a wanted man past the people guarding him. From that point the two are tied together, a medical worker with no criminal experience and a suspect who cannot afford to be caught, while officers and other interested parties close in on both of them.
About the cast
Anthony Mackie and Frank Grillo are billed first, followed by Marcia Gay Harden and Teyonah Parris. Boris McGiver, Christian Cooke, Markice Moore and Nik Pajic fill out the remaining principal parts. Joe Lynch is the director.
Context & significance
Point Blank belongs to a familiar strand of action cinema: the story of an everyday person forced into a crime by a threat to someone they love, then stuck alongside a partner they would never have chosen. The catalogue files it under action and crime, and the premise brings in elements of the chase film and the mismatched-duo picture as well. Its running time of 92 minutes is on the short side for the genre, which fits a plot built around a deadline and a hostage. The film is a United States production from 2019. Viewers looking for a fast, contained thriller with a clear set-up, a ticking clock and two leads sharing most of the screen time will know what kind of evening this offers.
Watching Point Blank on Ktime
Point Blank is available on K-Time with a Persian dub, so the film can be followed in Farsi from start to finish. K-Time is a streaming service made for Persian speakers and the Iranian diaspora, with a Farsi interface throughout. Anyone can read this page; to press play, log in with a K-Time account.