''Renegades'', known as ''American Renegades'' in the United States, is a 2017 English-language

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Steven Quale Steven Quale is an American film director, known for ''Final Destination 5'' and '' Into the Storm'', as well as his earlier work as a second unit director for James Cameron on ''Titanic'' (1997) and ''Avatar'' (2009). Filmography Director * ''D ...

and written by

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Associated with the '' Cinéma du look'' film movement, he h ...

and

Richard Wenk Richard Wenk (born May 6, 1956) is an American film screenwriter and director best known for his work on ''The Equalizer'' film series (2014–2023). Early life Wenk was born in 1956 in Metuchen, New Jersey. He graduated from Metuchen High Sc ...

. The film stars

Sullivan Stapleton Sullivan Stapleton (born 14 June 1977) is an Australian actor who is best known for his roles in the television series ''The Secret Life of Us'', '' Strike Back'' and '' Animal Kingdom''. He also starred in the NBC crime drama '' Blindspot''. S ...

J. K. Simmons Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor. Considered one of the most prolific and well-established character actors of his generation, he has amassed over 200 screen and stage credits since his 1986 debut. He won th ...

and

Charlie Bewley Charles Martin Bewley (born 25 January 1981) is an English actor and producer best known for his role as the vampire The Volturi, Demetri in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' films, Galen Vaughn on ''The Vampire Diaries'' ( ...

, and follows a team of

Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main funct ...

who are asked to salvage

Nazi gold Much of the focus of the discussion about Nazi gold (, "stolen gold") concerns how much of it Nazi Germany transferred to overseas banks during World War II. The Nazis looted the assets of their victims (including those in concentration camps) to ...

stored in a bank vault in a submerged town at the bottom of a Bosnian lake. It was released on 1 September 2017 in Germany and 29 August 2018 in France and in the United States on January 22, 2019 on Blu-ray and DVD by

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Studios Corp. (simply known as Lionsgate Studios) is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was f ...

Plot

In August 1944, in

Nazi-occupied France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

, the German military decides to move captured treasure, paintings, and about 25 tons of gold

ingots An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedure of sh ...

from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to a safe location. The gold is then transported to the small Bosnian town of

Bosansko Grahovo Bosansko Grahovo ( sr-cyr, Босанско Грахово) is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Bosansko Grahovo in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in western ...

, where it is put into the bank vault. German forces arrest all the townspeople while a little boy escapes as they execute the townspeople.

Yugoslav partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

find the little boy. In 1995, during the

Bosnian war The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, a team of

U.S. Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main fun ...

disguised as journalists leads a covert operation to successfully capture and extract

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби Босне и Херцеговине, Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, босански Срби, bosanski Srbi) or Herzegovinian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, � ...

General Milić, who is responsible for numerous atrocities against ethnic minorities in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. However, the team is compromised and is forced to escape from his second-in-command Petrović and the pursuing Serbs in a

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

, causing extensive damage throughout the city. Back in the base, the team is reprimanded by their commanding officer, Rear Admiral J. Levin, for their actions and put on a three-day leave. A team member, Stanton Baker, has a romantic interest in a local waitress, Lara. After spending a night together, a couple of thugs led by Lara's brother Milenko enter and demand something from her. Luckily, Stallon's team leader, Matt Barnes, arrives to fight off the thugs, and Lara then reveals that the thugs are after the gold ingot she is keeping, worth about $150,000. She explains that her grandfather was the little boy who survived the civilian massacre in Grahovo by German forces. He stole a gold ingot and buried it before he was found by the partisans who blew up the nearby

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

and flooded the town as revenge for the massacre. Her grandfather retrieved the gold and shared his story with her. She reveals that there were at least 2,000 gold ingots worth at least $300 million, which would help her benefit the Bosnian people to rebuild their war-torn country. She found the vault, but the lake was miles behind enemy territory controlled by Petrović, who has been attacking

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

forces hunting the SEAL team. Despite being ordered to be sent home for their safety, the team decides to retrieve the gold. Using their connections inside the base and around the nearby town, they obtain the necessary equipment and transport it to the lake. Meanwhile, Milenko and his thugs search her flat, find the gold, and show it to Petrović, who decides to stop the SEAL team from extracting it. He learns the location from Lara's map. The SEAL team and Lara establish an air pocket inside a church and break into the vault, only to discover that it contains only ten gold ingots. However, Barnes finds a covered opening in a wall where the remaining gold is hidden. They then transport the gold to the surface using an air-filled cargo parachute. Petrović and his forces arrive at the lake and send divers after them before sending grenades to explode below and force them to the surface. Petrović and the Serbian forces corner the team and Lara. However, a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

Super Stallion, sent by Levin, arrives just in time to defeat the enemy and kill Petrović. The team extracts the gold and is safely flown back to base. Levin confronts the team for breaking military regulations but decides not to punish them because they did manage to kill Petrović. The

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

awards Lara with the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. Half of the gold is returned to France, while the other half is sold anonymously. The money is distributed to the team, with Lara receiving most of the sum. However, the team members decide to give Lara their shares and head to the bar in celebration.

Cast

as Matt Barnes *

as Rear Admiral J. Levin *

as Stanton Baker *

Clemens Schick Clemens Schick (born 15 February 1972) is a German actor, model, political activist and human rights advocate. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1998, including leading roles in both German and international productions. He has ap ...

as Petrović * Diarmaid Murtagh as Kurt Duffy * as Boris *

Sylvia Hoeks Sylvia Hoeks (; born 1 June 1983) is a Dutch actress and former model, best known internationally for her roles in ''Blade Runner 2049'' (2017) and '' The Girl in the Spider's Web'' (2018). Early life and education Hoeks was raised in Maarheez ...

as Lara Simić *

Joshua Henry Joshua Anthony Charlton Henry (born September 2, 1984) is a Canadian-American actor and singer of stage and screen. He is best known for starring as Billy Bigelow in the third Broadway revival of ''Carousel'' and as Haywood Patterson in Kand ...

as Ben Moran *

Dimitri Leonidas Dimitri Leonidas (born 14 November 1987) is an English actor, best known for his roles in the films ''The Monuments Men'', and ''Rosewater'' (both 2014) and the television series ''Riviera'' (2017–2020). Early life Leonidas was born on 14 Nov ...

as Jack Porter *

Ewen Bremner Ewen Bremner (born 23 January 1972) is a Scottish actor. His roles have included Shawn Nelson in '' Black Hawk Down'', Julien in '' Julien Donkey-Boy'' and Daniel "Spud" Murphy in '' Trainspotting'' and its 2017 sequel '' T2 Trainspotting''. E ...

as Jim Rainey * Peter Davor as General Milić

Production

On September 30, 2014, it was announced that

EuropaCorp EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP. until 2022) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full-service independent studios that both produce and distribute ...

had hired

to direct the Navy SEALs action thriller ''The Lake'' from a screenplay written by

and

. On March 2, 2015,

was set to play the lead role.

and Diarmaid Murtagh were added to the cast of the film.

and

also joined the cast of the film. Filming began on April 30, 2015. It took place in Croatia (in Hum,

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...

Ogulin Ogulin () is a town in central Croatia, in Karlovac County. It has a population of 7,389 (2021) (it was 8,216 in 2011), and a total municipal population of 12,251 (2021). Ogulin is known for its historic stone castle, known as Kula, and the nearby ...

and

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, and at the Lokve and lakes), Germany and Malta. The film received funds of €5 million, from the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), as well as €275,000 from the Bavarian Film Fund (FFF Bayern).

Release

In March 2015, EuropaCorp set the film for a July 15, 2016, release. In February 2016, the film was pushed back to January 20, 2017. In May 2016, the film was pushed back to January 27, 2017, and again in early November 2016 pushed to February 3, 2017, and the title of the film was changed to ''Renegades''. In January 2017, the film was pushed back again to September 1, 2017. In July, the film was moved from September 1, 2017 to an undetermined release date. Lionsgate Home Entertainment released the film on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

on January 22, 2019 under the title ''American Renegades''.

Reception

Box office

''Renegades'' has grossed $2.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $77.5 million.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds a 11% rating based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10. ''Renegades'' was panned by critics for its far-fetched narrative, script, lack of action and "

gung-ho ''Gung ho'' () is an English term, with the current meaning of 'enthusiastic or energetic', especially overly so. It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, ( zh, hp=gōnghé, l=to work together), sho ...

" themes. Several critics compared the film unfavourably to the 1980s action television series ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

''. However, the performance of J.K. Simmons was praised.

References

External links

* * {{Luc Besson 2017 films 2017 action thriller films 2017 action adventure films 2010s war adventure films American war adventure films American action thriller films French war adventure films French action thriller films French action adventure films Films set in 1944 Films set in 1995 Films set in Bosnia and Herzegovina Films set in Serbia Films shot in Croatia Films shot in Germany Films shot in Malta Films about United States Navy SEALs EuropaCorp films Babelsberg Studio films Films directed by Steven Quale Films produced by Luc Besson Films with screenplays by Richard Wenk English-language French films English-language German films German action adventure films German action thriller films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s French films 2010s German films Bosnian War films American World War II films French World War II films German World War II films Films with screenplays by Luc Besson English-language action adventure films English-language action thriller films