Roy Pulver wakes up every morning and has to dodge the machete wielding assassin that attacks him in bed. He then has to avoid the helicopter with the gatling gun that trashes his apartment. Then there's the two female assassins chasing him all over the city and the martial arts woman who keeps chopping his head off. Oh yes, Roy Pulver dies every day and wakes up to start it all over again. And he has no idea why.

BOSS LEVEL is far better than it has any right to be. The GROUNDHOG DAY, repeating time loop storyline has been done to death and then some more in just about every science fiction show for years and this film brings absolutely nothing new to the genre at all. That said, it does what it does with verve and brio and a total lack of apology.

There is so much action and the action plays out again and again and again, but by having a whole bunch of assassins after Roy, it doesn't get stale. The opening sequences, where we see how he handles the day perfectly up to midday and then flashback to some of the earlier, less successful efforts, sets up the scenario with brevity and a lot of wit. It lets us know what we're going to get right from the start.

Cleverly, it then subverts those expectations by going back to the day before the repeating day to give a little background and then introduces a whole new plot strand regarding Roy's disaffected son, all whilst gradually gathering the clues he needs to find a way out of this day. Inevitably, that way is going to be a whole lot violent than anything Bill Murray had to do.

Frank Grillo has the necessary action chops to pull all this off and manages the quieter moments with his son equally well, giving the man a little heart. Naomi Watts doesn't have to try very hard as the scientist wife whose research lies at the heart of the issue and Mel Gibson gets to spout some moustache-twirlingly villainous lines. In fact, the villains are the main problem in BOSS LEVEL. The assassins are all a bit cartoony and undermine the threat a bit, even when they are slicing off his head dozens of times in a row. There's quirky and there's silly and sometimes these stray across that line. The film can also afford to throw away the likes of Michelle Yeoh and Ken Jeong in little more than cameos.

The plot is flimsy at best, and if it was played out in chronological order would not be engaging, but the bouncing around between the different 'attempts' (is it a video game or is it really happening?) freshens and livens it up. The pace at which Roy learns what he needs to know and puts it to use is fast, but never rushed. There are also some side alleys to go down as well. All of this in less than a hundred minutes. Some films would feel either undernourished or overstuffed, but BOSS LEVEL is neither. It's never rushed, but there's nothing there that doesn't need to be. In these days of bloated running times, some films could learn a thing or two.

BOSS LEVEL knows what it wants to be, has no pretensions about being anything more and is all the better for it. Yes, you've seen this story so many times before, but not often has it been done as well as this.