Ruthless
Directed by Art Camacho
Written by Art Camacho, James Dean Simington, Javier Reyna, and Koji Steven Sakai
Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Jeff Fahey, Melissa Diaz
Rated R
Runtime: 1 hour, 32 minutes
Available on Digital and on Demand December 15

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

Harry (Dermot Mulroney), the mild-mannered wrestling coach at the center of the muscular action thriller Ruthless, is more reckless and relentless. Irked by a young man in a movie theater who won’t accept his girlfriend’s “no,” Harry breaks the kid’s arms outside the cinema to teach him a lesson. It is extreme but amusing—Harry hopes the guy has health insurance—and indicative of director Art Camacho’s broad, no-holds-barred style.

However, before the opening credits are over, Harry’s daughter has been brutally assaulted and dies. The young man arrested for the crime has been sent to jail for life.

Piecing his life back together, Harry connects with Catia (Melissa Diaz), a student of his who, he learns, is being physically abused by Tom (Mauricio Mendoza), her mother’s boyfriend. Scenes of Tom hitting Catia, and Catia punching Tom back are hardly subtle, but neither are the episodes where Harry breaks Tom’s arms and fingers. Anticipating Tom’s need for painkillers, Harry sends Catia out to get some ibuprofen; a latter scene of Tom duct-taped chasing pills with whiskey is also played for laughs.

While Tom should have learned how to treat Catia, he assists Sergio (Rafael Cabrera) in trafficking Catia to Dale Remington (Jeff Fahey), where she, along with other young girls, will be auctioned off to the highest online bidder in Las Vegas. When Harry discovers this plan, he sets out to break every bone—and every law—he can to rescue Catia. Harry’s efforts are being tracked by Det. Chuck Monaghan (Niko Foster), who helped put away Harry’s daughter’s killer. There may even be a connection between these two crimes.

Mulroney is the key reason to see Ruthless because he plays Harry with grit and a scrappy determination that belies his characters’ polite demeanor. It is charming to see him ask Tom to talk man-to-man before brutalizing Catia’s abuser. Moreover, some of the best scenes have Mulroney trash talking with Martin (Texas Battle), his boxing trainer who beats up Harry in the ring, but Harry refuses to tap out. The aging Mulroney—Harry mentions he is 57 several times in the film—seems to enjoy being a B-movie action star and acquits himself well in the fight scenes. Camacho, who has been a fight coordinator and stuntman, helms the action scenes better than the dramatic ones.

Ruthless picks up some steam as Harry heads to Vegas to infiltrate Remington’s human trafficking ring, and while scenes of the auction are not very suspenseful, the action that transpires as Harry dispatches a series of guys as he tries to save Catia is equally compelling and cheesy. (Camacho’s film revels its low-budget-ness. Remington’s “luxury” Vegas hotel is anything but.)

Harry may take things seriously, and Mulroney’s flinty performance makes that appealing, but no one else involved in the film seems to. Mendoza, in particular, is a hoot as Tom, and Jeff Fahey hams it up as Remington.

Ruthless is enjoyable for folks who want a low-rent version of Nobody.