Bushwick

In this video-game-style action flick, Lucy (Brittany Snow) and her fiancé arrive at the titular Brooklyn subway stop only to find that the neighborhood is under violent military siege. The boyfriend is quickly killed, but Lucy links up with a well-muscled janitor (ex-pro wrestler Dave Bautista), and together the pair make a run for it, along the way encountering black-garbed killers, looters, and self-styled resistance fighters—as well as plenty of corpses. The identity and motive of the invaders are revealed about halfway through in a script that is rather behind the political curve (Bushwick would have made much more sense in the pre-Trump era). But even though co-directors Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott's film is absurd on virtually every level (Lucy morphs with uncanny speed from a girl who knows nothing about guns into a hellion who can take out several foes with a single bullet), video-game aficionados will likely enjoy the way much of the action is filmed as the intrepid duo and comrades they add along the way continually run forward, picking off enemies as they go (the quieter, more introspective interludes, however, are hobbled by silly dialogue and bad acting). A slickly-made but brainless exercise in violence that will likely appeal to only the most undemanding action movie fans, this is optional, at best. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (8 min.) and photo galleries. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for a kinetic but empty action film.] (F. Swietek)