You can’t fault Ruby Rose for trying to establish her credentials as an action hero, but it’s an entirely different question as to whether or not audiences are buying into it.
The star was effective as a foil to Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 2, even though she wasn’t required to utter a single line of dialogue, while her one-season run headlining Batwoman ended in a blaze of controversy. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, and The Meg saw further associations with spectacle-driven fare, and one of her two 2021 efforts scored a respectably average 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it wasn’t Vanquish.
Released just a month after SAS: Red Notice, the movie stars Rose as a former drug courier forced to carry out a series of dangerous tasks given to her by a wheelchair-bound and very corrupt former cop, who she was working for as a caretaker. With her daughter held hostage, the reformed criminal faces the toughest night of her life.
Morgan Freeman is as reliable as you’d expect in a rare antagonistic role, but everything else about Vanquish is painfully derivative and relentlessly mediocre. A 5% on RT and a 12% user rating speaks volumes, but as per FlixPatrol, it’s somehow managed to land a spot on the Netflix most-watched list.
