User reviews

Legacy of Lies seems to have everything you'd need to make such darkish spy thriller. Exotic locations, seriousness, corrupt parties, family ties, desperate circumstances and a McGuffin to run for.

Problem is, even despite having the right components, they forgot to buy the glue. And decided to slap those components together with wet dirt, instead. Which, of course, isn't sufficient.

Most of the movie is about fetching a briefcase with "files" and apparently a nerve agent (gotta put exotic poison name in your movie, right). Why is it of any importance, isn't really clear, aside vague clues shown on TV screens around the movie every now and then.

The dialogues are very short and functional, with little to no drama, so characters only say what they have to say. Basically, as if they're reading plot points off a list, rather than actually having conversations. And attempt at having any drama (musings of mission gone wrong in the past) is so cringeworthy, it'd be better if they didn't do it at all.

Actors are nice to watch. They all feel interesting enough to be a part of something memorable.

Then there's action, the spectacle of the show. And sure, it's plentiful and well-executed. Camera angles work, shots are long enough and so on. But then, there's big ugly thing in the room that ruins it all --

Audio. Every gun sounds muffled. Soundtrack feels like random generic action soundtrack, with no tension and release, never stops and doesn't follow what's happening on the screen even by smallest bit. Which makes it super weird and out of place. Rather than giving rhythm to the action, and slowing down to relax, it just does its own random thing, basically turning everything into weird, incoherent soup. Same for dialogues, for example, they are often muffled or lost in background so you never truly concentrate on them. There's nearly any atmospheric sound whatsoever, cities don't sound like cities, cars don't make sound when they take off, etc. Watching this movie without sound at all would probably result in better experience than watching it drowned into really, really badly designed sound it has. I felt like it ruined entire thing.

Other problem that drags it down is concentrating on action too much. Yes, it's nice, and necessary, but in a spy movie with capital hopping, evading capture and being chased two powerful forces, what do you think is the important or exciting part?

This movie, in extremely blunt and rather dumb manner, skips over every possible bit of TRADECRAFT, characters just magically book flights and hotels under false names, acquire cellphones and weapons, get tracked to the other side of the Europe, all that'd be really interesting see... is cut out. For some reason, scenes of throwing elbows at faces and dreams of a dead woman was more important that the very essence of a spy thriller.

So in the end, you get a movie that had all the ingredients to be good, but ruined itself with extreme incompetence at cooking them.

Scott Adkins is always watchable, but the man has a few turkeys in his back catalogue and unfortunately, Legacy Of Lies is one. He plays Martin Baxter, a former MI6 Agent living with his 12 year old daughter in a dingy Peckham flat. He works as a bouncer and has a side hustle as a cage fighter, but is also a broken man, tormented by the memory of a mission gone bad.

Then one day, the daughter of a dead friend turns up asking for his help. Before he can even answer, bullets start flying and Baxter winds up in the middle of an intricate spy web, trying to retrieve a MacGuffin that could bring down the Russian Government.

This is definitely more Bourne than Boyka, but it misses the mark. There's a couple of cracking action scenes in here, including a nightclub shoot out and a short but memorable punch-up with Leon Sua, but otherwise it drags. The final confrontation on a bridge is disappointing and the film is so unsubtle, there's literally a scene where one character turns to face the camera and explains the title.

It's not terrible, but it's not amazing either. Legacy Of Lies is okay. It's all right. And credit to the cinematographer, Kiev looks amazing. But if you're an Adkins fan, this is way down on the list of his essential movies.

Meh.

This movie was at best bland. Sorry to say so, but that is the truth. And even with the likes of Scott Adkins in the lead, the movie never managed to get its head out of the mediocrity gutter.

The movie started out interesting enough, but it quickly lost its momentum as the air seeped out of the storyline balloon, and it became a flaccid experience. The movie was watchable, sure, but this was hardly an outstanding or memorable movie. And it was by no means a milestone for Scott Adkins.

I managed to sit through the movie, although I can't claim to have been overly entertained. And I actually drifted off twice along the way, since nothing of much interest were happening.

For an action movie of this type, then "Legacy of Lies" just didn't cut it. And it was a shame really.

My rating of "Legacy of Lies" lands on a very mediocre five out of ten stars. I've seen it now, and I know that I will never be returning to watch it a second time; as the movie offered nothing interesting or unique.

Folks who make movie trailers-not movies, should get academy awards cause the preview of this film convinced me to buy it; stupid me. It's plot is confusing, the characters are cardboard, the daughter is annoying, the "action scenes " are...yawn inducing. Scott Adkins is handsome and believable in his kick-but skills, I can't say anything else that's positive about this film.

Convinced by eldest son to watch a movie with me and unfortunately chose this one. It really was boring. Was kind of like watching a British made action film seem like an American made one - which it simply didnt.

Kudos to the lead actor who did a great job under the circumstances. He seariously needs to be in a blockbuster.

The new Jason Statham?

Scott is a talented action star and has been in many films over the last 20 years, always playing the same type of character, and never seems to improve his acting ability.

Perhaps it's the directors and poor scripts but after a while you realize that it's him. He's just as good as he's ever going to get and that's average and all the movies where he is a lead look the same.

Legacy of Lies attempts to be a tier-1 actioner but it's really a tier-2 or -3 with its cast of inexperienced unknowns. Filmed in parts of Europe, mostly in hollowed-out Ukraine it appears, this is writer/director Adrian Bol's first feature film so he's got a few lessons to learn. Honor Kneafsey plays young teen daughter "Lisa" to "Martin" (the lead) but her character seems wrong for the whole situation, and her throwback Shirley Temple look is really obtuse. Plausibility suffers too when semi-automatic pistols prevail over automatic machine guns, really?! If you do sit through this, please tell me your cost was $0.

I love spy action films but this one was really poor quality and did not grab my attention enough to even finish the film. Don't bother!

There's enough Adkins fights and action to hold you over until the Isaac Florentine directed "Seized" gets released. This isn't a Florentine or Jesse V. Johnson flick but, if you're an Adkins fan, a true fan, you'll like this movie.

Scott Adkins is back with another DTV Action Thriller & this time he plays an Ex-Spy for the British government who walked away from it all after a secret mission went terrible wrong & we meet him 12 yrs later as a troubled dad with his smart 12 yr old daughter & he works in a swanky club as a bouncer & cage fighting on the side to earn some cash & Adkins is good again in another solid role that shows he's a fine solid actor as well as a fantastic gifted fighter. Legacy of Lies is a basic Spy Action Thriller but actually looks really slick & Cool with nice lighting & smooth, fast fighting scenes that are apart of todays Action genre & mostly it's a pretty good little Thriller. Adkins movie daughter in this is ok'ish, abit annoying sometimes & adds nothing to the film except the motivation for the events he's forced into later when his past catches up with him & we get the usual basic old "Buddies" of his that are still Agents & are all Assholes lol, the Awesome Adkins glides through the low-budget film beating up & shooting everyone & that's fine by me as that's what we expect from Adkins & the Action genre but the film is watchable only once. I think Scott Adkins is way underrated & can & has done way better films.

Adkins is Awesome as usual but it's just a very basic & generic DTV Action Film.

If your accustom to Scott Atkins movies , this in my opinion is one of his better ones with enough twists & turns to keep you in tune through out. The top few Lead actors /actresses in this movie play their parts well

It's certainly not Jason Bourne & it shouldn't be expected to be so , and Not the same budget but you still get a Bourne / john wick feel And MB G wagons & night club scenes would have required somewhat of a budget It can in parts move at rapid pace & asked yourself if you must have left the room for a minute , but as I've said the drama, twists & action will keep you on board for the full 1.5 hrs I enjoyed it and would recommend a watch if you purely want to watch action with some Drama.

I know from the start that this movie Legacy of Lies(2020) will not be a full course of Scott just kicking ass and taking name but another chance for him to flexing his acting skills after the jaw-dropping performance in Avengemenet (2019) yet in the end, this movie still feel underwhelming as hell. It got a couple of exciting scenes that will entertain you for the first half but the latter half was a bunch of boring spy mumbo jumbo stuff that I just hardly care about.

Watched this film but regretting the waste of time. I could have watched a freshly painted wall dry for better entertainment.

Not sure who casted this film but they really shouldn't be in their job after this shambles.

Cliches galore - designer suits for the baddies, kidnap a chatty kid, OTT fight sequences, dodgy accents, daft US agent, silly enemy agents...

Don't bother with this...!

The action was just that - non stop action. The plot - limp. But my main issue - I'm getting so very tired of trying to find a single british or american action movies without russians as the mad badguys. Stigmatizing 150million people this way is both dangerous, unfair and utterly stupid.

"Legacy of Lies" doesn't bring anything new to the action / spy sub genre. It is a messy film with the story that isn't really the focus, it's just the increasingly banal glue that sticks the big action set pieces together. The emphasis is very much on the action, but there isn't quite enough of it to keep the pacing moving along, so the movie has a tendency to drag a lot (runtime: 101 min). Director must have just really wanted to get some female nudity into the film, presumably to pep up the non-action scenes. There is also a last minute scene that just felt unnecessary, but does set the film up for a sequel. Stupid movie.

It was just 'meh'. U know like every other movie. Go watch it if u don't believe me

What irritated me about this film was the details. A completely unnecessary sex scene. Don't get me wrong I'm opposite of a prude but it was just there to establish what a real man he is. Also the the journalist that managed to change her hairstyle when being chased by mi5 and the CIA. Stupid really. Lacked umph and was a film version of BBC spooks.

The plot is superbly interesting that will keep you engaged till the end. Moreover, twist and turns will keep you on the edge. As a matter of fact, when the emotional turns and twists are well crafted, a film is sure to win your heart, so is Legacy Of Lies. Cinematography was to up to mark. And, honestly, the choreographer did a splendid job.

Scott Adkins was nothing short of spectacular as he has always been. After Accident Man, this one gave me the feeling that Scott is on the right track, and he should keep doing films like this. It's fair to bless this one with a 8.

Despite of bad rating, i dont know why people do that, the movie is not a crap, good action flick with good story that would keep you entertained through the whole movie, i just dint like the end, it could have been way better but its over all a nice action film that wont disappoint you!

I like Scott adkin movies ,but this sent me to sleep halfway through. Poor effort from all involved.

Ever tried mashed potatoes without a little salt and butter? Well "Legacy of Lies" is its cinematic equivalent.

Its utterly uninspiring stuff that has a drab story line, "ho hum" action and generally, mediocre to bad acting.

The only bright spot being the character of the young daughter, who deserves to be in much better films, than this one.

3/10.