Kick On (2026)
Directed by Nick Kozakis
Screenplay by Phillip Klimek
Starring Markella Kavenagh, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Jacek Koman, Ras-Samuel, Nikita Chronis, Thom Green, Eddie Baroo, & Julian Weeks.

Action / Horror / Thriller

★★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★)

In Nick Kozakis’s Kick On, which recently played Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, Eve (Markella Kavenagh) and her friends leave a club after a fight breaks out, then head to score drugs at the flat of a local gangster’s son. At the flat, they meet the man in question, Ray a.k.a Roman (Nikolai Nikolaeff), a wild, slightly unstable man who loves a snort and a drink. They all party a bit, but things go off the rails, and Roman refuses to let anybody leave before he sorts things out. This eventually turns the night into a chaotic mess of violence.

Kick On is full of brutal action and vicious kills, though it also channels the Roman Empire’s ghosts to tell its story of one angry man’s destruction that touches so many lives at once. An action film doesn’t need to do anything more than thrill to be fun, yet the best action films are those that hook audiences with interesting characters and ideas amongst the fists and weaponry. Kick On’s obsession with the Roman Empire and Dante Alighieri takes this from general fun action cinema to a higher work of art that’s smart and vicious all in one fell swoop.

Kick On is the cinematic equivalent of the viral trend a couple years ago where women were asking men how often they think about the Roman Empire, except here it’s taken to a toxic masculine extreme. Roman’s own name suggests his father might’ve had an affinity for Rome, but he himself is obsessed with the Romans, specifically Julius Caesar. In his flat, Roman has a copy of The Death of Julius Caesar (1806) by Vincenzo Camuccini hanging on his wall; it reflects his own psychology, as he’s constantly paranoid of being betrayed by those closest to him. Roman also has a Roman coin he uses, like an echo of Batman’s foe Two Face, to make decisions: “It tells you what you want even before you know it.” And, just like the Roman Empire before him, Roman experiences his own fall, albeit he doesn’t spend time fiddling like Nero while his own personal Rome burns.

In one scene, Roman, Eve, and her friends join in on a chant of “Don’t tell daddy!” after Roman asks one of his associates not to say anything about his little party to his father. Roman’s daddy issues eventually reveal the problem with empires, whether of gangsters or of nations: building relationships based on fear and toxic ideologies can and will backfire when people rebel. Ruling by fear creates a space where there’s a dearth of care. This lack of care is what leads to a brutal confrontation late in the film. The most important part of the film is how Roman and his father’s relationship, built on a foundation of toxic masculinity and fear-based respect, gives further context to Roman’s mad behaviour, like tracing back the decayed lineage of a dynasty at the head of a crumbling empire.

This is the maelstrom into which Eve and her friends have been thrown and do everything within their power to survive. Kick On is relentless action cinema that very rarely gives the audience a chance to breathe. Apart from the Roman references, Phillip Klimek’s screenplay alludes to Dante’s Inferno several times, such as early on when Roman welcomes the young folks to his “own little circle of Hell.” This idea of descending into Hell is an apt description of Eve’s life in general but especially her night out in the film. Kick On, like the best action cinema from Terminator to Die Hard to The Matrix, elevates itself above mere action set pieces, gnarly practical effects, and fun cinematography to another plane with its layered writing and compelling characters. Kozakis’s film is an electroshock to the nervous system in cinematic form.