ABSOLUTE DOMINION

Stars Désiré Mia, Andy Allo, Mario D’Leon, Alex Winter, Patton Oswalt, Junes Zahdi and Julie Ann Emery.
Writer/Director: Lexi Alexander

Rating ★ ★ ★

Remember that school-yard discussion that went, “Get every country’s best fighters to just bash it out, instead of always going to war!”? Cult fave writer/director Lexi Alexander (THE PUNISHER: WARZONE; GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS) takes that prognostication a step further in ABSOLUTE DOMINION, posing the question, “Let’s end all religious wars, and just have muscly reps from each faith fight until one man’s beliefs are left standing.”

Which is bonkers, of course, but the former stuntperson/kickboxer-turned-filmmaker works hard to find both a logical and spiritual connection between religion and full-contact fury. She films action well, and actors like Alex Winter and Andy Allo (the film’s MVP) commit to the more soulful moments of their director’s HUNGER GAMES/MORTAL KOMBAT riff.

Newcomer Désiré Mia (pictured, top) makes for a striking presence in his feature acting debut, a film lacking the carnage and anarchy (and budget) of Alexander’s past features but not without its own likable energy.