Renegades - Renegades (2017)

As a seasoned cinematic observer, Steven Quale's Renegades (2017), a Luc Besson-produced endeavor, is a curious amalgam within the action-thriller genre. While Besson’s narrative fingerprints are discernible in its high-concept premise involving a sunken Nazi gold heist, the execution often feels like a missed opportunity for true cinematic distinction. Quale, leveraging his visual effects background, orchestrates some undeniably stunning underwater sequences. The submerged world is rendered with a palpable sense of tension and scale, marking a technical highlight that truly captivates. However, the film struggles on narrative depth and character development above sea level.

Sullivan Stapleton leads with a serviceable blend of grit and charm, yet his character, like many others, remains largely archetypal. J.K. Simmons, a stalwart of gravitas, injects welcome bursts of his signature dry wit, elevating otherwise standard military exposition. The ensemble, including Sylvia Hoeks, performs competently, but the script rarely grants them substantial dramatic arcs. The film attempts to marry a historical backdrop of World War II with a contemporary heist, but this thematic fusion often feels superficial, lacking the gravitas to fully explore the moral ambiguities of war spoils. Ultimately, Renegades positions itself as a robust, albeit conventional, action spectacle, relying heavily on its underwater set-pieces rather than pioneering new narrative territory within its crowded genre. It's a popcorn flick that entertains on a superficial level, but doesn't linger long after the credits roll.