Another futuristic tale that shares its distrust of governmental authority is Afterburn, which discards its pseudo-science-fictiony premise pretty quickly to get to pure and obvious action.  The content and style of this post-apocalyptic scenario is pretty similar to those which populated drive-ins in the 1980s in the wake of Mad Max and its sequels.  And while things haven’t changed much in the convening forty years, at least Samuel L. Jackson has been promoted to “King.”

J. J. Perry’s movie posits that a solar flare has burned much of the Western Hemisphere, so much so that governments have fallen and the world is now run mainly by warlords.  One of them, “King” (Samuel L. Jackson), pressures his best finder, Jake (Dave Bautista) to travel to ravaged Europe to find and recover the Mona Lisa.  Once there, of course, things go wrong and Jake finds himself aided by patriotic mercenary Drea (Olga Kurylenko), who is as tough as he is.  Together they locate the Mona Lisa, but that is where their paths diverge . . . until they don’t.  Lots of explosions commence.

I was hoping for a stronger science-fiction angle, but after a brief prologue, that hope faded quickly.  This is an action movie, pure and simple.  Jake and Drea are gifted a bulletproof pickup truck, which they drive around with the side windows continually open during lengthy chases and firefights.  Just where do they get the gas for this thing?  And while the warlord Volkov (Kristofer Hivju) has been searching for the Mona Lisa for years it takes Jake mere minutes to literally de-cipher a map to determine where it is hidden — and the chase is on.  Volkov has a train and an army; Jake and Drea are more mobile but perhaps may not be quick enough.

Despite this film’s dopiness it is certainly watchable.  Jake is a humble guy, and his reluctance to want to traipse into hostile territory is very convincing.  Bautista, best known as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy saga, is a likable actor, physically imposing, and not annoying to any extent.  It could be argued that he should show more emotion than he does.  His mellowness reflects the ultimate impact of the movie, which is rather tame.  ☆ ☆.  4 February 2026.