Five Fingers

Rating

Director

Laurence Malkin

Screenplay

Chad Thumann, Laurence Malkin

Length

1h 27m

Starring

Mimi Ferrer, Laurence Fishburne, Touriya Haoud,Isa Hoes, Antoine Kamerling, Colm Meaney, Ryan Phillipe, Anton Sinke, Said Taghmaoui, Gina Torres, Delilah van Eijck, Jeroen Zuidwijk

MPAA Rating

R

Review

There is a cottage industry in Hollywood that generates thrillers for expired action stars and former hearthrobs. Five Fingers is on the better end of those typically unmitigated disasters.

In the late 1990s, Ryan Philippe was a major cinema heartthrob, starring in prominent features like Crimson Tide, White Squall, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and his most famous role in Cruel Intentions. Yet among these early works, there were signs of a young actor desperately trying to carve out a niche as a major lead player. He never quite managed it. While he appeared in a number of prominent films, they were never successes because of his talent or popularity.

It comes as no surprise then that films like 54 and the all-but-forgotten Five Fingers established that he didn’t have what it took to carry a film. The story surrounds a Dutch national taking $1 million to start a food program in Morocco. As he’s abducted on the bus out of Morocco where his girlfriend (Touriya Haoud) lives, he and his associate (Colm Meaney) are abducted by a band of Muslims led by Laurence Fishburne. As Fishburne and company attempt to extract vital information from the young man, the narrative flips and we discover there’s far more darkness in this seemingly light-hearted jazz pianist than meets the eye.

Philippe was always a passable actor and that’s the type of performance he gives but Fishburne and Meaney are both skilled thespians even though neither have a stellar record of role selection. These performances are one-dimensional. Even at the various changes in direction, the audience can’t quite believe that any of them are who they say they are and that breaks the film’s suspension of disbelief. None are egregiously bad but it’s not the performances that drag the picture down.

Independent films don’t have big budgets and that’s clear from the slapdash work on the production elements of the film. The sets look shabby and inauthentic while the photography goes for a grainy, documentarian look that doesn’t work. This is a film that splurged pulling in “big” name actors and then skimped on the indie vibe hoping to pick up attention for its story and stars rather than its design work.

Without revealing the twists, the film is surprisingly adept at setting them up. Setting up the chapter surrounding each finger’s removal keeps the tension somewhat high but does foreshadow events later to come. There are times when the filmmakers (writer/director Laurence Malkin and co-writer Chad Thumann) aren’t able to keep various balls in the air but they generally keep things interesting. Although the final turn isn’t unexpected, the journey is surprisingly engaging.

Five Fingers isn’t exceptionally graphic but if even the suggestion of violence makes you squeamish, this isn’t for you. For everyone else, this is a pleasant time-waster that could have worked far better in more skilled hands.

Review Written

June 23, 2026