Ron Perlman is The Baker, a literal baker who was once some kind of special forces badass and jumps back into action when his limo driver son (Joel David Moore) is murdered by vicious mobsters. It's familiar territory in the action genre; usually guys like Steven Seagal or Jason Statham go in for this sort of thing but it's refreshing to see a fantastic character actor like Ron, usually sidelined in smaller roles, get a front and centre action lead. He has good chemistry with his now orphaned granddaughter (Emma Ho) he must look after and some well acted scenes with the bad guys, both the head mafioso (Harvey Keitel) and his put-upon lieutenant (always nice to see Elias Koteas). I wish I had better things to say about the film as a whole because the intention is there, but the execution ends up being pretty sloppy and doesn't really flow from scene to scene. It's a shame because Perlman is terrific, there's a really stirring score and some genuinely effective cinematic moments. It's just not consistent enough though, which ends up being really frustrating.
Review of The Baker
