Scott Adkins Quietly Built One of the Best Action Trilogies of the Past Decade

Say the name Scott Adkins three times in the mirror, and he’ll appear and Guyver kick the shampoo out of your hair. Jokes aside, most fans think of Adkins’ turn as Yuri Boyka in the Undisputed films or Killa Harkan in John Wick: Chapter 4 whenever the action star is mentioned. That might change, though, if the world finally sits up and takes notice of the One Shot series, which has quietly become one of the best action movie trilogies over the past decade.

What the hell is One Shot, you might be asking? It’s an idea conceptualized by British filmmaker James Nunn, who wanted to make a movie in – ahem – one shot. Like a play, the plan was to film everything in real time rather than edit and piece together the movie in post-production as is the case with most other films.

However, as Nunn explained in Adkins’ The Art of Action podcast, there was a quick realization that it might not be entirely possible – or safe for that matter – to do this. “For the safety of everyone and everything else on set, because it’s not just you kicking and punching,” Nunn said. “It’s also people falling on the floor, people doing high falls, explosions, fire, VFX, SFX, things like that. So once you take into account all of those elements, doing it in one [shot] became impossible.”

Even so, Nunn and his crew film the scenes in such a way that you don’t realize the cuts happening in front of your eyes. The transitions feel seamless, as if the story happens in real time. You get the sense that you’re there with the characters and following them through whatever’s happening in the moment and in the thick of the action.

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Speaking of action, with the likes of Adkins, Michael Jai White, Tom Berenger, and Dolph Lundgren appearing in the trilogy, there’s been no shortage of gunplay and fistfights to savor. Since it falls under the concept of “one shot,” the fights aren’t broken up by quick cuts and shaky cam to hide the stunt doubles. Instead, the choreography is on point and lets the actors unleash a set of believable and thrilling battles that convince the audience this is the real deal.

None of this would matter if the stories suck, though. While this trilogy is unlikely to be nominated for any writing awards, it understands that simplicity is the key to its success – especially with the concept of everything happening as the audience sees it.

In 2021’s One Shot, Navy SEAL Jake Harris (Adkins) and his team need to extract a prisoner from a secret site, but naturally, this isn’t a simple task. In 2024’s One More Shot, Harris returns to accompany a suspected terrorist; however, he comes under attack at the airport. Finally, in 2026’s One Last Shot, Harris is meant to stop a former SEAL and friend, Elliot Carter (Steven Cree), who has taken hostages and control of the U.S. missile defense network.

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Spoiler warning: The following paragraph discusses the ending of One Last Shot.

All of these films take place largely in one setting, adding to the on-screen tension and enabling Nunn’s “one shot” concept to be executed like pop-up action stories. At the same time, there’s genuine character development in Jake Harris. While he starts off as a loyal and highly competent soldier on a mission, he grows disillusioned by what he’s asked to do. His conscience weighs heavily on him, as he realizes that there’s not too much difference between the bad guys and those issuing instructions to him. At least the end of One Last Shot offers Harris some closure, since this man has only wanted peace and quiet with his family.

While there’s been no shortage of action films in the past decade, and John Wick has more than helped to reinvigorate mainstream love for these slobberknockers, the One Shot trilogy has been a breath of fresh air in terms of originality and execution. This isn’t high cinema or something appealing to those crusty-faced Film Twitter “connoisseurs”; it’s just bloody good fun! If anything, it makes you hope for a fourth film that should be titled One Final (Really, This Is the Last One) Shot.

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One Last Shot arrived on digital and DVD on September 22, 2026 and it’s available to watch now on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.