Shane Dax Taylor’s 2023 action/thriller The Best Man stars Dolph Lundgren, Luke Wilson, Nicky Whelan, and a host of other stars, but it barely delivers on the promises. An age-old story about retribution during a happy occasion that makes the occasion go horribly wrong serves as the plot of the movie, and it goes exactly how you’d imagine. It’s sad to see Dolph’s caliber wasted downing drinks and shooting at enemies with no room for growth for him or any of the characters involved. Here’s the detailed recap and ending of The Best Man.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘The Best Man’?
A group of special ops agents rescues the daughter of a rich businessman from her kidnappers, and a year later, one of the rescuers is all set to marry the woman they rescued. In the secluded hotel where the wedding is about to take place, a group of well-armed terrorists intrudes, and for the groomsmen, it’s a blast from the past. What happens when the unsuspecting wedding guests are faced with bulletproof vest-clad terrorists with a grudge?
Rescuing Brooke
Four men, Cal, Bradley, Anders, and Axel, extract a kidnapped woman named Brooke and make their way to their escape van, but the kidnappers catch up to them and open fire. The driver, Zeke, is killed with a bulllet to the head, while another agent named Axel is shot twice and has a head wound. As the kidnappers close in on them, realizing that Axel can’t survive with the bullet wound to the head, the group leaves.
The Wedding Preparations
A year later, Cal drops by his cousin Bradley’s place and invites him to his wedding with Brooke, the woman they’d rescued, and asks him to be his best man. As the group shows up at the hotel, Brooke’s dad Chuck announces that he’s gotten all the hotel guests to leave so that only the wedding party stays for the wedding. The manager, Aaron, informs the party that there’s no cell service, but the hotel has Wi-Fi, something that Chuck’s other daughter, Hailey, really appreciates. Chuck wants to see the saferoom, and Aaron guides the group to the secured room, together with Chuck’s personal bodyguards. Meanwhile, at the bar, Cal meets Anders, and the two reminisce about their past. As it turns out, Anders has taken up heavy drinking.
Cal entrusts the wedding rings to Bradley and asks him to keep the prized possessions safe before Bradley is whisked away to the pool by Hailey. The two jump into the pool and start kissing, soon forgetting all about the rings. On the morning of the wedding, Anders and Chuck get recklessly inebriated, and the father of the bride can barely even stand, let alone walk to the altar. Hailey and Bradley wake up at the last minute and rush to the ceremony, but Bradley can’t find the rings, so he goes back, and Hailey follows him.
The Intruders
Aaron lets in a group of armed mercenaries wearing bulletproof vests and masks, who immediately get rid of the kitchen staff and set up C4 on the exits. Their leader is none other than Axel, who’s alive and back with a vengeance. The mercenaries open fire at the altar, and most of Chuck’s bodyguards are the first to die while Cal, Brooke, and the others flee. Anders, who had gone to wash off the hangover, hears gunfire, sneaks into the casino to find a mercenary attacking Cal, and shoots the bad guy. However, the bulletproof mask means he only knocks out the attacker out while the group escapes. After finding the rings by the pool, Bradley and Hailey are making their way to the altar when they hear gunshots and explosions, and all the former special ops start picking off the terrorists one after the other.
Axel’s Plan
Axel grabs Chuck and demands $7.5 million from the businessman in exchange for both his daughters’ lives, and he shoots the elderly guy in the stomach to prove just how serious he is. Axel plans to drag Chuck to the saferoom to wire money to his account, but by then, Anders has taken Brooke to the saferoom, pretending to be one of the terrorists. When Anders’ secret is exposed, Marshall, who was keeping watch from the saferoom begins brutally beating Anders until Brooke blows the antagonist’s brains out. In the gunfight, the manager, Aaron, who’d been held hostage in the saferoom, gets his head blown off as collateral. Anders leaves Brooke in the saferoom to go help others, and the wounded Chuck is brought in soon after. Brooke is made to open the door, and Axel blows Chuck’s ear off before forcing his account password out of him. Axel withdraws $7.5 million from Chuck’s account and takes Brooke away as bait to get the other men to come out of hiding, leaving Chuck to die.
‘The Best Man’ Ending Explained: What Happens To Brooke’s Family?
Bradley has a fight with Axel’s main muscle, Viktor, who throws the best man off the second-floor roof, but Bradley survives with a fractured arm. Bradley returns to ambush Viktor, who’d knocked over Cal, and the groom’s cousin snaps Viktor’s neck. Anders, Cal, and Bradley unite and head to the source of Brooke’s scream as Hailey rescues Chuck from the saferoom. Axel threatens to kill Brooke if Anders doesn’t put down the M-16, and Cal insists his friend lower his weapon. The moment Axel lets Brooke go to aim at Cal, the groom pulls a John McClane from Die Hard and whips out a hidden pistol to blow Axel’s brains out for good this time. Chuck and Hailey make it to where the men are, and the whole group embraces them as they manage to survive the attack.
The Best Man is the kind of movie that an actor like Dolph Lundgren has to accept simply because of the paycheck; that’s all there is to this film. Someone from the past returns to exact revenge on a group and causes problems, but in the end, the good guys defeat the bad ones, and the day is saved. The story is as old as time but is still being rehashed time and again to keep actors employed and to fill up the B-list movie section. Off the top of my head, I could point out several things that make the movie a poor rendition of an action thriller. Let’s see: horrible acting, poorly choreographed action sequences, a lack of skilled direction, and, of course, a story that stopped being original in the ’80s. What do you get when you put all these together? A poor movie that you should probably skip.
