Previously served his country as an army captain, Eddie (Antonio Banderas) is unable to find a job. He gets to the point of desperation, where he will take any position that he can get. He soon accepts night work as a security guard at a local shopping centre. After being shown around and meeting his fellow staff, Eddie begins his shift. Everything seems dull and straightforward until he discovers an 11-year-old girl banging on the shopping centre front doors. Eddie soon discovers an unknown gang is targeting this young girl. Once he lets her into the shopping centre to save her, it’s up to Eddie and his fellow security team members to not only protect the girl but also survive the night.

The 1st thing I enjoy about this film is the concept and how simple it is. Once upon a time, I personally had my own movie idea once about a security guard in a shopping centre fighting crime (and my vision was going to be better than Paul Blart: Mall Cop!). But even if the plot sounds cheesy, there’s always something fun when a film like this introduces isolation, a hero trying to survive the night and fighting off multiple bad guys.

Eddie is an excellent main character. Heck, even the leader of the unknown gang, Charlie, even surprised me with Ben Kingsley playing a bad guy. But other than these two actors, the film sadly could have been so better.

Eddie’s team members are just downright frustrating and corny. The characters are either scared or cocky; they don’t listen, and they end risking lives or making poor choices. How did these people ever get the job of Security guards in the first place? And to make matters worse, our new hero is more aware of what to do than anyone else. Unfortunately, the 11-year-old girl who is afraid for her life also hurts the film. During one scene, I couldn’t understand why this character was stressing to Eddie that she is a tough girl and doesn’t need to be treated like a young kid, but then requires a pinky swear after most other conversations. Even worse, during a critical moment, the young girl (who people are risking their lives for) makes poor decisions, hurting others. These types of issues are due to the film’s dialogue and poor script writing for all surrounding characters.

While some action moments do occur with fun, bullets and punches, ‘Security’ took the path of creating “Home Alone” type traps. Even though shops are closed, enough materials are lying around for a security staff member to make a bomb, Wait what???

Overall, this is a B grade film that showed potential but ended becoming more painful to watch due to the surrounding characters. Some of the ways the hero took out the gang members are also asking the audience to accept too much. Actor Antonio Banderas proves once again that he is still fit for duty, but otherwise, I can’t help it but think this film could have been a better film.

4.6/10

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Review Written by Peter Walkden