It’s a brave man who steps out from behind the camera and takes control of his own movie. That’s exactly what visual effects artist Nick Sasso did when he decided to write, direct, edit and also star in Haymaker his very first feature.  Sasso needs to be applauded for both his effort and determination which enabled to him attract some remarkable talent to taking cameo roles.

Haymaker is the story of  Nick a retired martial arts fighter (Sasso) now making a living as a night club bouncer. One night he rescues the transgender star performer Nomi (singer Nomi Ruiz) who is being sexually assaulted.  In return she asks him to be her bodyguard.

That involves escorting around the globe to where ever she is appearing. or even to LA’s Rodeo Drive when she wants to flash her wealth around. Nomi plays hot and cold with her new employee, but he only plays cold.  Sadly that’s because Nick is very short on facial expressions.

He soon gets restless and abandons Nomi in Greece to run off to Thailand and takes up with the Martial Arts again.  He wants to see if there is one last fight in him, and for some inexplicable reason when Nomi reunites with Nick, she wants to find is there is any life left inside in him too.

They are an unlikely pair and with zero chemistry between them the story never really stands a chance.  Neither of them are actors, and Sasso’s permanent deadpan look falls very flat which makes this very tough to sit through. 

It is mostly pretty to look at though as  Nomi’s tours the globe and we get a mini-travelogue