Ignore the poster that makes the film look like a LONDON HAS FALLEN wannabe, (there’s maybe 30 seconds of Big Ben blowing up). INCOMING takes Scott Adkins to the final frontier and puts him in a LOCKOUT wannabe filled with dubious politics and worse science.
After a terrorist attack on London members of the group responsible, The Wolfpack, are captured and taken to a secret prison on board what used to be the International Space Station. Now after five years of interrogation, (or torture, take your pick), they’ve escaped their cells. They plan to use the station itself as a weapon to destroy Moscow. All that stands between them and their goal is shuttle pilot Bridges (Aaron McCusker), Doctor Stone (Michelle Lehane SEVEN DEVILS) and CIA Agent Reiser (Scott Adkins, Accident Man: Hitman’s Holiday, ABDUCTION). But Reiser has his own agenda.
Despite its setting, INCOMING is another by-the-numbers action film. Nothing is done with the possibilities of zero gravity, decompression, etc. It does provide a reason why there are no firearms and everyone has to fight hand to hand though. Even the threat of crashing into Moscow is so underwhelming it could have been any generic race-against-time type of threat. I’m also wondering how many people outside of Russia would really care if Moscow was vaporized. It’s not like Putin has been endearing himself or his country to the West lately.
It is interesting to see Adkins playing a character who’s not an obvious hero. Reiser’s motives and loyalties are kept unclear for most of the film. You’ll probably guess before the big reveal but it’s nice seeing him play somebody with some shading to them.
The fact that distributor XLrator Media saw fit to hide the film’s actual plot, (early pre-production art highlighted the outer space setting), should have been a hint that INCOMING had some major issues. Indeed the plot is so full of holes that it’s impossible to take seriously. For example, apart from the prisoners, there’s one other person on the station full-time, their interrogator. No security, no medical personnel, no maintenance people, nobody. That pretty well kills the film’s credibility right from the start.
If all you’re watching for is the fights then this will keep you happy. And then be fair that’s what a large portion of a film like this’ audience is tuning in for. But if you demand a working plot to go with the action, you may want to look elsewhere, it’s not like Adkins doesn’t have a large body of work to choose from.