TL;DR – Good intentions, but sloppy execution.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

The Mongoose Review Introduction

Today we are looking at a film at the crossroads. On the one hand, we have the incredibly important subject matter: we send soldiers off to war and then don’t care much about them once they become veterans. However, the film is exploring this important issue through the lens of a comical action film. It is a combination that we will see is destined to fail because those two impulses want to take different paths.

So, to set the scene, we open as a red sports car blasts down an Arkansas highway while being chased by every cop car in town, dodging spike strips with ease. Ryan “Fang” Flanagan (Liam Neeson) is running from his past, both the dead body back in Kentucky and what happened in Afghanistan. Now, he is running, and he has the police forces of multiple states after him, and the outcome does not look good as he approaches Texas.

Arkansas?

This might be the most clearly ‘filmed in Australia but set in America’ film I have seen. There was no attempt to hide that this was filmed in Australia; this film is aggressively Australian in everything but the ‘state trooper’ logo on the police cars. There is only so much aggressive banjos can do to paper over the obvious. This stretches to Afghanistan. Normally, I would not point it out as this, but usually, they take steps to make it not as painfully obvious. More than that, usually the narrative is good enough that this is not such an obvious issue; however, as we will see, that is one of the many issues that plague this film.

Tonal Whiplash

The next issue is the disconnect between the serious tone of the film and the almost comical nature of the action sequences. Putting aside for a moment some of the technical issues, such as the hit-and-miss digital helicopters in some scenes. There was a clear excellence shown by the stunt teams in making those car scenes work; indeed, some of the best car work I have seen this year. However, smashing a comically charged action sequence next to what is meant to be a serious drama creates tonal dissonance that the film cannot escape. Which makes you start realising issues such as the time scales people talk about don’t match reality, the Texas National Guard taking orders from State Police is a mess, and did he make moves on the car’s AI? They tried to make serious Blues Brothers and it didn’t work.

Convoluted Narrative Mess

Behind the story, there are a couple of interesting themes that the film is exploring. The first is the legacy of war, trauma, and PTSD, and there is something there worth exploring. Then there is the corrupt nature of police forces that are filled with complicit, incompetent, violent people. Also, AI, complicit media, domestic abuse, veterans’ experiences, and more. All of that is the foundation of what could have been an interesting film. However, there are several factors that hold The Mongoose back from shining.

The first is the disconnected nature of the narrative; everything is happening in isolation from everything else. Phone calls, media reports, etc.; it is as if everyone is in their own bubbles and they patched it all together. Which would not be a problem if the script was good enough to support such a film, but it’s not. The dialogue in this film is just a mess, and just painfully awful at times. I am not sure if it was the script or the performances, but when you have Marisa Tomei, Ving Rhames, and Michael Chiklis all trying their best and nothing is happening. A good intersection of these two problems is the sections where we cut to CNN’s Laura Coates that oscillate between the most stilted exposition in the film, only to stop to go to a public service announcement to camera. It felt the same as the end of Heart of the Beast, but more of an unfortunate sledgehammer consistently throughout the film, negating what should be an important issue.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend The Mongoose? Now, I need to be clear that important issues are being explored here. But the final outcome is a mess of a film, with poor execution and a disconnected narrative structure at every turn. A missed opportunity, if there ever was one.

Have you watched The Mongoose? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked The Mongoose, we would recommend Fuze to you because it is also an action film that uses action in Afghanistan to forward the action today, but it makes those points land with depth rather than a slap in the face.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Feel free to share this review on social media and check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Mongoose
Directed by – Mark Vanselow
Written by – Thompson Evans
Music by – Michael Yezerski
Cinematography by – Tom Stern
Edited by – Rodrigo Balart
Production/Distribution Companies – Code Entertainment, Jupiter Peak Productions, Samuel Goldwyn Films, MGM Amazon Studios, & Amazon Prime
Starring – Liam Neeson, Marisa Tomei, Ving Rhames, Marcus Thomas, Michael Chiklis, Maurice Marvel Meredith, Brett Tucker, Ryan Morgan, Stella Stocker, & Laura Coates
With – Geoff Morrell, Charles Allen, Aisha Aidara, Elias Anton, Eddie Baroo, Nicole Chapman, & Dor Gvirtsman
Rating – Australia: M;