PLOT: A trained assassin with a grim past hunts down the men who killed her mentor.

REVIEW: It seems that unless an action hero has both a dark past and a revenge mission to be sent on that unearths said dark past, they can’t really be called an action hero. The recent run of John Wick movies has taken the formula and propelled it through increasingly bloody and inventive outings. But then there are movies like The Protégé from director Martin Campbell and starring Maggie Q, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson, which dig into every modern action movie cliche while hoping that a few solid lead performances and a couple of cool action scenes can mask the fact that we’ve seen this kind of movie a hundred times before.

The good news is that if you’ve seen previews for the movie and think watching Maggie Q slap around some fools is more than worth your time regardless of things like plotting, character development, and all that other stuff – then congrats – because that’s exactly what this is. Q plays Anna, who was found as a child in Vietnam by Jackson’s Moody, who in turn saw she had a gift for murdering bad dudes and took her under his wing to become a full-blown assassin. Years later they’re murdering people for massive sums of money, with Moody hanging back as cover fire as Anna uses hidden blades and general ass-kicking to kill whomever she’s paid to kill. In between being the Grim Reaper, she owns an exotic book store in London, where she continues to clean up by charging people like Keaton’s mysterious Rembrandt hundreds of thousands for an original Edgar Allen Poe book.

But suddenly, the revenge mission is thrust into gear when Moody is killed, sending Anna down a path to find out who killed him and why. From here on out, to try and dig into the story and analyze would be a pointless process, as that previous sentence just about sums up what you’re likely to see. There are the Big Bads who operate out of high rises, wear nice suits, and occasionally munch on cigars (Patrick Malahide, Ray Fearon), and a forgettable mystery that slowly unfolds. Despite appearing on the surface to play like her journey will force her to reflect on her dark past in Vietnam, very little of the story offers Anna (and thus Q as an actress) room to feel complex as a character by fleshing out any flaws, regrets, or anything that makes this feel like an actual journey for her beyond having to kill more and more bad guys. The villains are garden variety heavies for her to stop, her early moments with Moody are sweet and charming but don’t offer much in the way of emotional depth, so she’s merely being bounced from one scene of ass-kickery to another.

Where things do get a bit more interesting is in Anna’s scenes with Rembrandt, who has been hired by the Big Bads to hunt her down, all before the two form a connection. Maybe it’s just because everything else around them is of the traditional action-thriller formula, but I always looked forward to seeing these two on-screen together. Keaton and Q’s dynamic is all one-upping and slick tête-à-têtes, loaded with sexual tension, which is entertaining to see progress. Their exchanges break up the monotony, and Q and Keaton seem to be having a fun time get to stretch some muscles other than the ones they use for punching a bunch of dudes.

The action is what most people will be coming for, and in that realm, Campbell – who is no stranger to crafting action set pieces around stars and icons like Jackie Chan (The Foreigner) and James Bond (GoldenEye, Casino Royale) – does a reliably good job delivering on the ass-kicking. Q is a fantastic athlete and Campbell throws her into several fights that showcase her skills. Should you expect the inventiveness of other modern action flicks like John Wick, Atomic Blonde, or this year’s Gunpowder Milkshake? Absolutely not. These beatdowns pack a solid punch without ever being too stylish – perfectly able to satisfy undemanding action fans while not fully blowing the hair back. What’s always fun is seeing Keaton get in on the action, too, throwing down against a few foes with energy and a bit of brutality. It’s great to know he’s still got it, what with him re-donning the Batman suit and all.

But when Q and Keaton aren’t lighting things up with fists or their “Just kiss already!” chemistry there’s the stark reminder that, plot-wise, absolutely nothing of value is happening. All attempts to make Q feel like a rich character are wasted, and even some story beats seem cut for time despite leaving big logic gaps – like when Anna is taken prisoner, beats up some of the guards, runs out, but with the next scene being the Bads (who were presumably watching via security cams) wondering how she could’ve escaped their hideout. By the end, when we’re given a full picture of just how grim Anna’s past is, the moment teeters on unnecessarily gross (for a variety of reasons) other than emotional resonant, and it doesn’t add more knowledge about Anna other than some extra bloody details about her childhood.

The Protégé runs the gamut of being a slick, formulaic, and sometimes stupid action thriller – and perhaps that’s exactly what you’re looking for. When not having some fun with the action sequences, I was essentially checked out. The stars deserved to be in a better movie, or at least even a good one, but in Campbell’s hands, it’s at least competently crafted enough to not make them look downright awful. This isn’t the birth of the next great action series that Millenium Media or distributor Lionsgate is probably hoping will come out of it, but for action fans, there are worse ways to spend 100+ minutes, but also far better ones.