Ancil
Adrian Bol’s dark and brooding spy action thriller brings us to the dangerous world of espionage and high-stakes missions.
The film follows a former MI6 agent Martin Baxter (Scott Adkins), who gets forced to retrieve an important file to save his kidnapped daughter.
The English-Russian film wraps the story pretty well but still left some strings for a possible follow-up.
Did Martin manage to save his daughter?
Here is what happened in ‘Legacy of Lies’.
‘Legacy of Lies’ Synopsis and Ending Explained
Twelve years ago, Martin Baxter carried out Mission Red Star in a shady bus depot in Kyiv. His mission is to retrieve a set of files, but a sniper sabotages the mission. Martin loses the files while saving his partner Olga (Tetiana Nosenko), who seemingly dies from a missed shot.
Back in the present, Martin now works as a henchman at a club after getting out of MI6. He lives with his daughter Lisa (Honor Kneafsey), obsessed with the Keto diet and healthy eating.
Martin also competes in underground wrestling events under the name Bully Boy. His next fight would be against Richie Thai. Martin’s daughter, Lisa, thinks he should utilize the space and let Richie Thai come at him. However, Martin did not listen to his daughter’s advice and loses the fight.
Later at night, Martin meets a woman and gets in a brawl with a troublemaker at the club.
Sasha, the woman at a club, gets impressed by Martin’s fighting skills. She says that she is the daughter of Egor, a reporter Martin met back in Kyiv. Sasha asks Martin’s help to recover the files that went missing 12 years ago. Suddenly, a group of armed men appears.
Sasha escapes while Martin goes home and gets surprised to see MI6 colleague Trevor and his new sidekick, Edwards. They ask Martin to join them, but Martin chooses to flee the country with his daughter.
However, the Russian Intelligence kidnaps Lisa and forces Martin to retrieve the file. They give Martin 24 hours only to save his daughter in exchange for the missing files. Martin teams up with young journalist Sasha to retrieve the document. Meanwhile, Lisa develops a bond with her handler Tatyana (Anna Butkevich). Tatyana tells Lisa about how her mother died in a gunfight. Based on Tatyana’s story, we can deduce that Olga is Lisa’s mom. Lisa and Tatyana would get pedicures together and bet on boxing matches.
As Martin and Sasha work together, the Russians change their plans. They now wanted to get Sasha along with the files.
In a daring heist, Sasha enters the vault, and Martin goes to the backdoor. Trevor hunts them down. Unknown to Trevor, Sasha and Martin were planning to lure him all along. Trevor had the code to the locker that Red Star gave Olga before she died.
The duo forces Trevor to enter the code. Martin and Sasha then take the briefcase and run away.
Sasha wants to publish the file in the media to expose the dark secrets of the government. However, the Russians still have Martin’s daughter, and they won’t give her up unless he surrenders the file and Sasha to them.
Sensing Martin’s dilemma, Sasha shoots Martin and escapes with the file. Martin goes down into a delirious state. When he wakes up, he receives a call from Tatyana. With both Sasha and the files gone, Martin has lost his bargaining chip to save his daughter.
However, Martin finds a car rental agency ad, which leads him to Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi railway station.
Martin finds Sasha there and kidnaps her. A ghost presence of Olga persuades Martin to kill the young reporter.
In the final moments, Martin records a fake feed to trick the Russian spies and Tatyana. He made it appear that he is hiding Sasha and the files in an unknown apartment. But the truth is, Sasha was with him.
After securing Lisa’s safety, Martin and Sasha attack the Russians. However, their combined force is not enough, and Tatyana holds Sasha hostage. While telling Sasha to catch the briefcase, Martin has flashbacks of what happened in Kyiv 12 years ago.
Tatyana shoots Martin down, and Lisa fires back at her.
MI6 arrives, but Sasha dives into the water and escapes with the files again.
Is Martin Alive?
Martin survived Tatyana’s gunshot and recovers from his wound.
Thanks to Lisa and Tatyana’s gambling winnings, Martin and Lisa have enough money to start a new life. They settle in the countryside and open a restaurant named Lisa’s Vegan Snacks. Meanwhile, Lisa continues her education at a local school.
Where Are the Files?
Sasha managed to bring the lost tapes to the media, just as she planned. She became an advocate of the free press and speech. Kremlin tried to dismiss her reports as fake news, but the leak managed to cause one of the biggest public distress in Russia.
Will There Be a ‘Legacy of Lies’ Sequel?
Although there is no news about a sequel yet, the story does leave a possible setup for a follow-up film.
There are still questions left unanswered in the first film. Trevor talked about a rat in the CIA-MI6 network who may have ties with Russian Intelligence. The film never revealed who the double agent is, but we see Sasha writing Lisa about the traitor’s identity.
Also, the film’s ending seems to indicate that we will see more of Martin and Sasha. While closing the restaurant, Martin gets one last customer. He politely tells the person that they are closed but is surprised to see that it is Sasha.
The death-defying adventures they shared have developed an undeniable bond between the two. The hostage scene reminds him of Olga, and it will be hard to shake off his feelings for the young reporter.
But is Sasha really who she says she is? Or is she a spy working for the Russian Intelligence? During their reunion, Sasha seems to be in touch with the same colonel who controls the Russian Intelligence.
We will probably figure it out once a sequel gets greenlight.
