Cam Gigandet in Til Death Do Us Part (Cineverse)

Ever since Quentin Tarantino added cheeky humor to ultra violence, creating essentially a new genre, we have seen imitators and innovators mining the same ground. For every John Wick, where there is a new wrinkle or take, we get a Til Death Do Us Part, which follows the formula, but only up to a point.

It has a banger of a premise, though. A young woman (Natalie Burn) ditches the groom on her wedding day and lays low in her family vacation home. The Groom (Ser’Darius Blaine), suspecting where she is, sends his Best Man (no one has a proper name) and groomsmen to keep her there until he has time to show up and change her mind. The catch: All of them, ALL of them—bride, groom, groomsmen—are highly skilled assassins who can’t help but show off. Now that is a heck of a premise, and the film doesn’t tank it, for sure, but it doesn’t soar either.

First, there are confusing flashbacks to another story line where the couple are married and on their honeymoon, yet we know that the Bride ran away from the ceremony. This gets cleared up eventually, but it causes unnecessary confusion and, tonally, the two time lines feel like two different films scrunched together. A closeup of one of the leads at the beginning of the film conveys all the information that other story provides. Though, on the other hand, an engaged Jason Patric has a blast as a guy the newlyweds meet on their honeymoon.

The main plotline has a fairy-tale quality as the Bride sashays her way over to a pricey, large cabin in the woods strung with oodles of Christmas lights. This is where the main action resides as the groomsmen attempt to cajole her out. When that fails, the Best Man (Cam Gigandet), who is desperately upset because he had a really great speech set for the toast, decides maybe a little force is needed. But trying to get assassins to not assassinate turns out to be a bit of a kerfuffle.

Turns out, unsurprisingly, the Bride’s skills have been underestimated. The fights—the reason viewers come to a joint like this—are varied and interesting. Burn is no great shakes as an actress, but she can throw a kick with the best of them. And Gigandet is a riot. He easily pockets the film as a man who takes nothing seriously except the abovesaid speech. He seems less interested in finding the Bride as he is in her music collection. (He loves to dance and is consistently needle-dropping on the hi-fi in her home.) Most of the other groomsmen are fairly faceless, which is particularly disappointing regarding Orlando Jones, who is generally funny, but forced to play it straight.

There is so much potential good in Til Death Do Us Part that you feel actually quite bad when it stumbles. The setup takes too long, some fights are endless, and a lot of the acting is questionable. Films like this should really top out at an hour and a half, yet this one runs closer to two hours. However, if you are in the mood for a snarky bit of kick-ass action, you could do worse. Of course, you could also do better.