He Who Dares is a British action film directed by Paul Tanter that was released by StudioCanal in DVD format on April 7th, 2014. In this movie, a team of SAS is sent to a booby-trapped office building in an attempt to save the daughter of the British Prime Minister taken hostage by a terrorist group. One by one, the SAS and the terrorists are killed, leaving only one team member left. Despite a low budget and unknown cast, does the film still manage to capture viewers’ interest? Read on for a synopsis and review of He Who Dares.
The film begins on Christmas eve, when a group of armed terrorists invades a nightclub and proceed to commit murder and kidnap the daughter of the British Prime Minister, Alice, and her friends. One of the people who rushes to her rescue is Christopher, a member of the SAS who drops everything, even his marriage proposal, to save her. Holt, the leader of the terrorist group, then takes Alice and crew to an office building and ties them up there. Meanwhile, Holt orders his team to plant bombs on every office parking area column.
Although the police had arrived on the scene, they could not do anything until the SAS, led by Christopher, arrived. Holt kills all the employees in the two offices that are still working that night, except for one female employee whom he releases to convey a message to the police. However, she is shot dead by Holt just as she exits the building. The SAS team soon splits and comes across a woman who they believe is a hostage, but who turns out to be a terrorist member who promptly kills all the SAS members in front of her.
Meanwhile, another SAS team engages in a gun battle with Holt and his gang members, resulting in all the terrorists being killed and one SAS member being severely injured. As Christopher and his team continue to search the building floor by floor, they come across another woman who had paralyzed the other SAS team, sparing only Christopher. Looming nearer to Holt’s lair, Christopher manages to release Alice and her two friends, and chases Holt into an underground tunnel wearing a police uniform. When Holt shoots a policeman in a coffee shop and flees, will Christopher be able to catch and take him down?
He Who Dares is a movie that combines The Raid: Redemption in 2011 with Die Hard in 1988. The SAS team that invades the office building is a feature borrowed from The Raid: Redemption, while the threat of terrorism on Christmas, combined with a heroic and reckless law enforcement action, is a feature of Die Hard. Nonetheless, we don’t get to see anything new in this movie that runs for one hour and twenty-two minutes. Everything is borrowed from previously successful action movies. As an action film, He Who Dares fails to deliver the satisfaction viewers crave. Fight scenes have a simple choreography that fails to be exceptional, and the bombing threat from the terrorist gang is not given special attention. To add one more spoiler, Christopher chooses to chase Holt instead of diffusing the bomb. We might presume that Holt holds the bomb’s trigger, so it could be stopped if he were taken down. However, this is not the case, and the bomb explodes. Nevertheless, the bomb’s explosion doesn’t harm anyone. The building stands strong, and no one is killed, which leaves a gaping plot hole that is highly implausible and thus exposes the poor screenplay by James Crow and Paul Tanter.
Overall, the most disappointing aspect of the movie is the portrayal of the SAS. Aren’t they supposed to be the elite fighting force of the British army? Yet, they appeared to be naive and didn’t achieve anything significant, which is the opposite of what they are known for.
