John Pogue’s film, “Eraser: Reborn,” is marketed as a reboot of Chuck Russell’s 1996 film, “Eraser,” which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role. For those who haven’t seen the original film, “Eraser: Reborn” might feel like an excellent start to a franchise. But people who remember the original plot might think that the story of the new film is a boring copy with nothing new to offer, except that they have added new technology to help with the cover-ups. Narratively, the film follows a team of U.S. Marshals who work for a covert program funded by the government to protect state witnesses. Most of these witnesses have agreed to testify against the enemies of the state, who would do anything in their power to terminate these people before they could testify against them. So, the deputies are assigned to set up fake deaths for these witnesses and give them new names or covers so that criminals will stop looking for them and they can be safely brought to court on the day of the hearing.
“Eraser: Reborn” begins with Mason Pollard (played by Dominic Sherwood), a deputy who saves the life of Sugar Jax, a witness who had blown his cover and was abducted by a few thugs who wanted to kill him for testifying against them. After saving Sugar’s life, Mason shoots him with a fake bullet, thereby giving him another fake death in order to create a new cover for him so that he can easily leave the state. As soon as the film sets the premise, it quickly introduces the major conflict, which involves a woman named Rina Kimura, who is gathering evidence against a crime lord named Kosta.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Eraser: Reborn’ Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?
The FBI had planted Robyn Nhi (Rina) in the inner circle of Kosta Kimura to gather evidence against the criminal Syndicate for which he was working. The film quickly establishes that Kosta has married Rina, though he uses his wife to physically please his potential investors so that they will hand him the money without going too much into the details. Kosta has arranged a party to get some investors for a new project, and the FBI, hiding inside a van parked outside Kosta’s villa, instructs Rina to use the distraction in their favor. The government authorities want some confidential information on Kosta; therefore, Rina walks into Kosta’s office and opens his safe in order to transfer the files. However, at this point, she intentionally drops her hidden camera given to her by the FBI and quickly takes out an electronic wallet and some codes from two different shelves. She quickly closes the safe and tries to sneak away when Kosta confronts her and tries to assault her. Rina kicks Kosta out of the window, which leads to his sudden death. Kosta’s associate, Marco Sari, who is in love with Rina, tries to stop her, but she runs away and sits in the FBI van, suggesting to Marco that she has been working for the FBI for a long time.
Earlier, the Marshalls had promised Rina that they would give her a new identity and a new passport to leave the country in exchange for gathering evidence against Kosta and his Syndicate. But after Kosta’s death, they changed their conditions and now want Rina to testify at trial, which means she cannot have her passport and her freedom until she fulfils their demands. The head of the department, Keisha Rhodes, suggests Rina take federal protection until the trial and assigns deputy Mason Pollard to her for the same. However, Rina refuses to become a prisoner of the state and walks out of the office.
In the meantime, Marco, who replaces Kosta, swears to take revenge on Rina for tricking them both and killing one of his own. The Syndicate has also instructed Marco to recover “the cold wallet” that Rina had stolen from Kosta’s safe, as the wallet holds some very crucial information. Later that night, Marco assembles a team of masked assassins and raids Rina’s attorney’s house, where Rina is hiding. Fortunately, Mason, who had been keeping an eye on the apartment, quickly arrived at the scene and helped Rina fake her death in order to escape Marco and his men. After rescuing Rina, Mason once again gives her an offer to become a state witness and take federal protection. Rina steps out of Mason’s car to think for a moment, when she discreetly disposes of the seedcodes required to access the cold wallet. She then sits in the car and agrees to testify.
Mason takes Rina to Cape Town, South Africa, where he arranges a new life for her. She starts living in a new country under a new identity named Rachel Madison. However, Mason soon finds out that Rina is hiding something from him, yet he ignores the fact and doesn’t confront it because he doesn’t want Rina to feel like a prisoner. Soon, Mason learns from Keisha Rhodes about a breach in the system because of which the covers of all their witnesses have been compromised, and thus they need to create a new cover for each one of them as soon as possible. Paul Whitlock, Mason’s senior, arrives in Cape Town to protect one of his clients, but soon, Mason discovers that Whitlock has been working for Marco and the Syndicate, and thus the entire breach thing was a setup to find out Rina’s location. The film from here on follows Mason’s pursuit to protect Rina from his own people until the trial.
What Was Inside The Cold Wallet?
The cold wallet that Rina had stolen from Kosta’s safe was a polycarbonate crypto drive used to store some cryptocurrencies that Kosta used for bribes. It could only be opened by the seedcodes that consisted of 24 words that Kosta had engraved on a golden sheet. It was the same sheet that Rina had gotten rid of because she had mugged up all the 24 words. It also made her the only person who knew the seedcodes, therefore acting as an insurance policy for her safety. However, the cold wallet had a tracking code attached to it, and as soon as Rina tried to transfer the money into her account, Whitlock hacked Rina’s DAX fiat account and transferred all the money to Ocean Trace International, which was a shipping company that used to sell endangered animals on the black market. Whitlock had been on the task force that was investigating Ocean Trace and probably cracked a deal with them as well to get the money. The seedcodes and the cold wallet were the only things that were protecting Rina so far, and hence, as soon as Marco and Whitlock got the money, they opened fire on Mason and Rina. Marco finally kidnaps Rina from the bank and takes her to the dockyard, from where he had planned to sell Rina on the black market along with a rhinoceros that they had captured.
‘Eraser: Reborn’ Ending Explained: Is Rina Dead Or Alive?
The climax fight takes place between Mason and his mentor, Paul Whitlock, at the dockyard, where Mason is able to get rid of Whitlock forever. He arrived at the docks and, with the help of the two misfits, was able to take down an entire gang of thugs. During the fight, Marco was shot dead by Rina while the rhino took care of Whitlock. It attacked him from behind, pierced his guts with its sharp horn, and took him for a ride. Soon after, Keisha Rhodes arrived at the docks with the team, but it was obvious there was no one important left alive to arrest.
Some six months later, Rina appeared at the trial and testified against the Syndicate. After the hearing, Mason gave her a crypto drive that contained 644,000 dollars, probably a part of her cut from the money the authorities had recovered from the account of Ocean Trace International. And as promised, Mason also handed her a new passport with the name Robyn Nhi Nguyen written on it, which was probably her birth name. Mason tells Rina that her new resume will inform the world that she is a financial planner, which was something that Rina always wanted to be, and probably with a huge amount of money in her account, she would be able to plan her finances well. Before finally taking a leave, Rina asks Mason about the “bud” tattoo on his body, which, according to Mason, was a homage to all the people he wasn’t able to protect and, thus, they had to die a real death. His brother was one such person. As soon as Mason walks Rina to a vehicle, the vehicle blows up. No, Rina doesn’t die at this moment. Instead, it was another cover-up so that the Syndicate would not hunt for her, and she could live a peaceful life away from their threats.
At the end of “Eraser: Reborn,” we see Rina, walking inside a sewer line with Sugar Jax, who has now become Mason’s permanent sidekick. The car that blew up was probably parked above a manhole through which Rina and Sugar escaped and blew up the car later to orchestrate their fake deaths. While walking in the sewer line, Rina and Sugar spot a person coming toward them, and soon it is revealed that it is none other than deputy Mason Pollard, who has fallen in love with a witness and is ready to cross the line to be with her.
We will probably see Mason, Sugar, and Rina again in the second installment of the film if it happens. However, if it happens, I really hope that the action sequences and the CGI will be better in the next installment, as they were the most irritating elements in the entire film. Other than that, Whitlock’s character was totally messed up. He was trying to come out as the evil antagonist, yet he was either completely stupid or utterly confused. In the entire climax scene, he had some 2-3 opportunities to shoot Mason, but he didn’t. Instead of shooting him in the head, he shot him in the shoulder, and then, in the end, he tried to shoot him in the head before the rhino took him away. If he really wanted to kill him, then what was he waiting for? Additionally, Rina’s character was single layered, too, as she came off as someone who didn’t trust the cops but suddenly changed her mind when a good-looking deputy confronted her. “Eraser: Reborn” had a lot of potential and could have been better with some better character choices and direction, but we still hope that the second film (if it happens) will be able to redeem the sins of the first one.
“Eraser: Reborn” is a 2022 action thriller film directed by John Pogue.
