James Bamford’s Jade is an unapologetic throwback to the DTV actioners that flooded the market in the 90s, mixed in with a touch of blaxploitation goodness, with Bamford clearly taking inspiration from the likes of Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974).
Opening with a colorful animation sequence where we are informed of Jade’s (Shaina West) background, it’s not long until the film transitions to live action and we are brought into the modern day. After a family tragedy, Jade finds herself at a low ebb. She doesn’t get much time to feel sorry for herself though, with her getting in between shady businessman Tork (Mickey Rourke) and gang leader Ortiz (Marcos Vincios Maciel) and their hunt for a mysterious hard drive.
Not knowing what it holds, Jade comes into receivership of the drive and ends up having to fight off an assortment of gangsters, bodyguards and corrupt cops if she’s to survive the night. Her only allies are her dead brother’s pregnant girlfriend Layla (Katherine McNamara) and Interpol agent Reese (Mark Dacascos), who she knows from years before.
No matter what else can be said about him, director James Bamford is certainly prolific. Already with an extensive career in stunt work, he has put out no less than 5 directorial efforts in little over a year.
Actually, Jade it turns out is his feature directorial debut, with him reportedly shooting the film back in 2022. For whatever reasons, some of which become clear when watching the film, it was shelved until now. In fairness, while it certainly has issues in the script department, I thought Jade to be a more enjoyable experience than some of Bamford’s recent output such as Shadowland (2024) and Man With No Past (2025).
Whilst the likes of Man With No Past could be considered a more ambitious undertaking, it ends up a disappointment due to the film’s resources being unable to reach its lofty ambitions. With Jade this is much less of an issue, with it mainly being a small scale revenge tale.
The majority of the film takes place over one night and only in a few locales which restricts the possibility of Bamford over extending his reach. Of course, it’s still obvious that the film is a low budget affair. It carries most of the hallmarks we have come to suspect with it having a clear digital look as well as employing the use of digital gunfire and blood effects. Bamford does work in some way in overcoming the digital look by employing filters to give Jade a more gritty look. It works in some scenes better than others, but the attempt is appreciated.
I also appreciated some of the editing techniques employed throughout the film, giving proceedings a sense of energy with Bamford and his team shooting much of the action in long takes, albeit joined up by some digital trickery. On occasion the joins are more than noticeable, but they don’t overtly disrupt the flow of the action.
In terms of the action, it fares better when it focuses on hand to hand combat rather than gunplay. The gunplay has something of a cheapness to it due to use of the aforementioned digital gunfire and blood, whereas the fight scenes rest solely on the physical talents of the performers.
And to be honest, it will be the action that will hold your interest, as there is very little in terms of the plot or character that makes Jade stand out. Character development is thin at best, which accompanied by some cliche driven dialogue knocks points off the completed film. Considering Jade is the work of three writers, including Bamford himself, I would have expected the screenplay to have more thought put into it.
Another drawback is how tonally inconsistent the film is. It goes from being a deadly serious actioner to being almost a pastiche, with one scene even having the words “Fatality” spray across the screen in blood when Jade slits her opponent’s throat. The scene is made further satirical by the inclusion of a voice off screen exclaiming “Fatality” similar to the Mortal Kombat games.
With the film having such an inconsistent tone, it is hard to get fully invested in what is unfolding on the screen. The fight scenes may be enjoyable but I found it hard to fully care about their outcome, no matter the hard work of the performers.
Regarding the performers, Shaina West does well in her debut role, injecting a good deal of personality into her character as well as excelling in the film’s action scenes. This is unsurprising, as similar to director James Bamford, West has an extensive background in stunt work.
West certainly fares better than screen veteran Mickey Rourke who is merely going through the motions. For anyone that grew up watching him put in awesome performances in classics like Rumble Fish (1983), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) and Angel Heart (1987) will probably find it hard to believe this is the same actor. I don’t mean to do Rourke a disservice as he has proven in the latter stages of his career that he can still give award worthy performances. One just has to look at his fantastic work in The Wrestler (2008) or even his small role in The Expendables (2010) to see how commanding a presence he can be. Unfortunately he doesn’t bring that same level of quality to Jade.
Any Mark Dacascos fans will also probably end up disappointed, although with him it’s more to do with his limited screen time rather than the quality of his performance. In fact, Dacascos’ character gives the film a much needed emotional kick, with his character Reese being the closest Jade has to a proper family. He gets a nice scene with West towards the end of the film which further emphasizes their connection, with Dacascos understatedly selling the warmth between them.
Dacascos does get one brief action scene which shows he still has the moves, it’s just a shame there isn’t more of it. Here’s hoping that he is better utilized in the upcoming Kickboxer: Armageddon where he will be starring alongside fellow martial artists Alain Moussi and Scott Adkins.
Then there’s Katherine McNamara who also appeared in Bamford’s Air Force One Down (2024). With that film she was the lead rather than merely playing a supporting character as she does here. She does well enough in her role, but SPOILER ALERT her portrayal of a supposedly pregnant woman gave away a too obvious twist later in the film.
It may seem like I’m being particularly hard on Jade, but there is definitely enjoyment to be had. It’s an undemanding watch that has a handful of decent fight scenes, and considering it clocks in at under 90 minutes, there are much worse ways to spend your time.
Plot: 2/5
Acting: 3/5
Action: 3/5
Overall: 2.6/5
