Black Lotus
Short description
Matteo Donner is a former special forces officer struggling with guilt following the death of a close friend during a shared mission. After spending time traveling the world, he returns to Amsterdam and becomes embroiled in a conflict with local organized crime. The plot follows Donner as he engages in a violent struggle through the city streets to rescue his deceased comrade's kidnapped daughter from a criminal syndicate.
The film was directed by Todor Chapkanov, following his previous work on Monsterwolf, Miami Magma, True Bloodthirst, Viking Quest, and Boyka: Undisputed IV. It precedes his 2026 film Mirror. Written by Tad Daggerhart, the production features a cast including Rico Verhoeven, Frank Grillo, Marie Dompnier, Pippi Casey, Rona-Lee Shimon, and Kevin Janssens. The movie was a joint effort between production companies in the Netherlands Antilles, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
Released on April 12, 2023, the action thriller has a runtime of 93 minutes. Audience reception is mixed, with a rating of 4.4/10 on IMDb based on 3,200 votes and a higher score of 6.5/10 on TMDB from 206 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- The scene with the tourist boat full of people on one of the Amsterdam canals is a copy of an exactly identical scene in Dick Maas's thriller "Amsterdam Nightmare" (1988) – down to the nuns. Maas himself plays one of the tourists on board in "Black Lotus."
- This was Rico Verhoeven's (who played Matteo) first leading role after many supporting roles in various films and series. He is also credited (for the first time) as one of the producers. Thanks to Verhoeven's efforts, a significant portion of the film takes place in his native Netherlands, and Frank Grillo was invited to play the antagonist. While working on the project, Verhoeven drew inspiration from Tony Scott's action film "Man on Fire" (2004).
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