At 64 years old, Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh remains one of the finest action stars in the game, armed with a unique set of skills that she unleashes on a smorgasbord of thick-accented goons in “The Surgeon,” which is basically “John Wick” by way of “The Pitt.” Written and directed by Roshan Sethi, himself an actual doctor (the closing credits even include the “M.D.” after his name), “The Surgeon” turns medical expertise into an action-movie superpower, finding increasingly inventive ways for Yeoh to dismantle people with surgical precision.
Yeoh is firing on all cylinders here, taking out goons not through brute force but by knowing exactly which nerve to sever, ligament to slice or organ to squeeze. A fun running visual shows us what she’s doing from the inside out, briefly turning her victims into skeletal diagrams as she inflicts some particularly nasty damage. At one point, she shoves a scalpel up a bad guy’s nose before informing him that the liquid coming out isn’t snot, but brain fluid. You can imagine the Toronto world premiere audience losing its proverbial shit.
“The Surgeon” also teaches us more about human anatomy than anyone buying a ticket probably bargained for. I now know what remedies are available should I somehow find myself with my anus pulled out of my ass, along with the horrifying revelation that squeezing certain internal organs can be one of the fastest and most painful ways to die. Educational!
Yeoh plays Eliza, a world-renowned surgeon who has practiced medicine for 40 years and is finally ready to retire. Her insurance company even calls early in the movie to ask whether she wants to insure her hands, an offer she dismisses without much thought. That quiet retirement doesn’t last long. Eliza is abducted at gunpoint by an entourage of thugs and ordered to operate on their terminally ill mob boss, Sean (Martin Freeman), whom they believe only she can save. Watching over the procedure is Cole (Yuri Kolokolnikov), one of those brooding Russian heavies whose presence immediately suggests that Eliza isn’t simply going to be allowed to walk out the door when the operation is over.
Sethi takes full advantage of his medical background during these early stretches, grounding the movie’s increasingly ridiculous violence in enough procedural specificity to make you squirm. The practical effects certainly help. When Eliza goes to work on Sean, “The Surgeon” isn’t particularly interested in sparing anyone with a weak stomach.
Backed by a soundtrack littered with classic needle drops, including plenty of Thin Lizzy from Eliza’s preferred playlist, it doesn’t take long for her to realize the writing is on the wall. If she wants to get out alive, she’ll have to apply 40 years of medical knowledge to something other than saving lives.
That’s where “The Surgeon” finds its groove. Yeoh has a blast turning these mobsters into anatomical playthings, utilizing her martial arts background in tandem with Eliza’s medical expertise so that practically every major organ, nerve and body part becomes a potential weapon. She’s not simply throwing punches or firing bullets. She’s practicing weaponized medicine, and the specificity of that idea gives the action a personality beyond the usual procession of faceless henchmen getting pummeled. It’s funny, creative and frequently disgusting, sometimes all within the same sequence. Major credit goes to stunt coordinator Laurent Demianoff, who finds ways to incorporate Yeoh’s physicality without losing sight of what makes Eliza different from every other reluctant action hero.
Running a tight 92 minutes, there’s hardly an ounce of fat on this thing. Ironically, “The Surgeon” is at its best when it’s most contained, using the operating room and Eliza’s medical knowledge to impose rules on the mayhem. The movie gets a little more conventional once it leaves that controlled surgical environment behind, particularly when the final showdown relocates to a domestic setting. As the surroundings become more familiar, some of the novelty that made the earlier action so gleefully inventive goes with it.
Still, Yeoh is more than up to the task, and Freeman has fun hamming it up as the man presiding over the whole bloody ordeal. Their opposing energies work well together, with his increasingly unhinged presence bouncing nicely against Yeoh’s cool, clinical precision.
Anyone who comes to “The Surgeon” for Michelle Yeoh dismantling bad guys in ways that would make a medical textbook blush is going to get exactly what they paid for. Sethi understands that the pleasure isn’t simply watching Yeoh kick ass. We’ve seen her do that before. It’s watching her find an entirely new and appropriately gruesome way to do it.
Maybe just don’t see it on a full stomach.
THE SURGEON held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Sony Pictures has acquired the film and will release it at a future date.