Some sinister corporation has developed a vaccine for developing countries. The place is run by the evil boss and his partying dumber son who's supposed to take the reigns of the corporation. In town though there is a vigilante going after bad guys who by accident starts to get closer and closer to the corporation. But there is a pretty reporter who has an inkling that something isn't right with the corporation, she also by accident comes in contact with our hero--Rendel. Another story involves some ethical employee somewhere who interviews some wicked little guy but doesn't hire him despite the warnings of the little guy. Sure enough, the little guy gets our employee fired...and then hires him at the evil corporation. The employee eventually uncovers something at the corporation which leads the boss's son the go after the guy and his family. These two stories eventually converge as Rendel goes head-on after the corporation which has hired a bunch of incompetent criminals to eliminate him.

Rendel reminds me of a long (1:45) episode of Arrow but without the charisma, not a surprise given that it's a Finnish production. Otherwise it's competent work with mostly decent action and some interesting bits in the story. Maybe the sequel won't be filmed in complete darkness which gets tiring pretty fast. With some tighter editing this movie would have improved but for an European, and Finnish at that, attempt at action, Rendel is ok.

As I understand this is an Origin and there was not a comic before the movie was conceived. Of course now, after the movie, there probably will be some comics to go with the movie. For an origin, this is more than decent. It's dark, it has weird characters and it has good action sequences in it.

The main character who embodies traits from other existing characters from comic books (like The Crow or even The Darkness, which is also a video game). Unfortunately he is a bit bland, which is probably one of the main point everyone is criticizing the movie for. And it's valid criticism, just try to avoid putting this on the same scale, when it comes to character then other movies. The special effects are more than good and it is anything but politically correct. So just sit back and enjoy this - if you can

The film opens with narration as Rendel (Kristofer Gummerus) tells us he is the "line between good and evil." The story has a plot of Rendel going after the evil pharmaceutical company VALA, testing its NH 25 vaccine on "innocent children" outside of Europe which hasn't approved the drug. It is apparently fatal and not sure what is the whole point.

There is a subplot of how Rendel came into being. We know it is a subplot because Kurikka (Tero Salenius) who is dead is now alive and well. We also are given a clue that "Rendel" may be an anagram...and it is, but we are given another source for the name.

This is a Finnish film. Rendel is similar to Daredevil. The film had a decent soundtrack and swagger. What I did learn is that the Finns are no slaves to fashion with most people having a passion for black jeans. The film is dubbed and is also subtitled, but not all speaking was subtitled and when it was it didn't match what was spoken. When it wasn't raining, it was snowing.

The film is open for a sequel. There is a reporter in the film that pops in and out but her character lacked development. The dubbing could have been better. Slightly better than Italian/Japanese imports.

Guide: F-word. Sex. No nudity