James Nunn makes action thrillers with a practical feel for physical performance. We recommend One Shot to genre enthusiasts for its urgency and Scott Adkins, though the continuous-shot approach makes the thin writing harder to overlook.
Fi1m perspective
In One Shot (2021), the gun battles and the conversations have to share what looks like one uninterrupted stretch of time. James Nunn uses that continuous-shot approach to give familiar action an urgency it might otherwise lack. We were tense during the fighting because the choreography kept the pressure on without an apparent cut to offer relief. It is decent, carefully staged work, worth an evening for an action enthusiast rather than a reason to convert to the genre.
His feature debut, Tower Block (2012), co-directed with Ronnie Thompson, established an interest in contained thrillers. Solo action films followed, including Eliminators (2016) with Scott Adkins. By One Shot, Nunn was building the action around Adkins and the demands of the continuous-shot format. Shark Bait (2022) takes his interest in survival onto the water, while One More Shot (2024) carries the continuous-take format into an airport. He keeps returning to people under immediate physical pressure.
Adkins is the important partner here: Nunn has worked with him repeatedly, tailoring extended sequences to his physical performance. In One Shot, that attention to the practical business of staging a fight is the strongest reason to keep watching. The trouble is that the gun battles repeat themselves enough for some of the urgency to fade, even while the effort remains evident. A long sequence still needs variety, and Nunn does not always find enough of it to justify keeping us there.
The greater limitation is what happens when the characters speak. One Shot has thinly drawn people and stiff dialogue, and the same approach that sustains the fighting obliges us to sit through those exchanges on the way to the next confrontation. Nunn also has a story credit, so the writing cannot simply be treated as somebody else's problem. We would send action enthusiasts to One Shot for Adkins and the staging; anyone hoping to care much about the characters should be more cautious.
Biography
James Nunn is a British film director and writer. He was born on 24 October 1985 in Sutton, Surrey, England.
Nunn made his feature directorial debut with Tower Block (2012). He has since directed a series of action and thriller films, frequently collaborating with actor Scott Adkins. His credits include Eliminators (2016), One Shot (2021), for which he also received a story credit, Shark Bait (2022) and One More Shot (2024).
