I’ve got you babe – Movie of the week

If the Wachowskis decided to remake Groundhog Day they might well have come up with something like this.

Boss Level is the latest in a recent spate of time loop films; think Looper, Edge of Tomorrow, Source Code and the excellent Palm Springs. However for this film, Joe Carnahan (who also co-wrote) has tried to up the ante and as well as oodles of gratuitous violence (lots of which is very satisfying), he has added an end-of-the-world scenario to make things feel a tad more serious.

Roy (Grillo) is the man stuck in this particular time loop and he must live the same day over and over until he beats the Boss Level and saves the world – and his kid – and his relationship with his ex.

Fielding off machete-wielding assassins and helicopter gunships before his morning coffee had become something of a routine for Roy and it isn’t until he starts to up the aforementioned ante that things become interesting.

All in all, Boss Level walks a fine line between farcical and seriousness but somehow, it works and Carnahan manages to balance the plot unerringly well for the duration. The result is a hugely fun film with bags of heart and no small amount of dark humour.

Grillo as the leading man brings a certain believable badassery to proceedings and with a host of wacky villains to vanquish and with a grisly Mel Gibson as the big boss at the end, this is retro platform gamer revamped for the Playstation generation.

It’s not deep and it’s pretty predictable but when things are this much fun – who cares?

• Boss Level is showing now on Amazon Prime