Welcome back to another quick-round of bits here, and once again it's another series of Steven Seagal DTV offerings.
Belly of the Beast-
After his daughter and her friend are kidnapped in Thailand, a former thief reunites with an old friend to rescue her from the terrorist gang holding them captive. An absolute blast of a film, probably one of Seagal's finest in his entire career and one that holds so many good points it's an absolute blast. The amount of fighting in here is absolutely the best part, which has a rather large amount due to the number of confrontations due in large part to a frenetic, relentless pace that never stops and keeps moving on to the next fight, which keeps this from being dull. The quality of the fighting is great as well, with ninja attacks, one-on-one fighting and a rather enjoyable finale all make for some incredibly fun times before it even gets to the other action as there's a ton of shoot-outs and gunfights in here. It's almost as much as the normal fist-fighting especially in the final raid on the compound which is just pure action overload. Sure, Seagal's stunt double needs to to be given billing as having been given a substantial part of the film (and is all the more obvious due to performing stunts Seagal never did before, as he leaves the ground and throws jumping, spinning kicks for once) and the plot is paint-by-numbers standard action fare, but this was a lot of fun regardless.
The Keeper-
Forced out of duty, a former police officer is hired by an old friend to bodyguard his daughter after her boyfriend gets involved with a criminal gang that's moving in on the family business. Surprisingly decent affair that's actually not that bad, but frankly suffers from a rather banal attitude in the beginning where he goes through the usual meeting-and-winning-over the reluctant prospects of his new employees, which doesn't have a lot of action and tends to get rather boring quickly when it goes by without really showcasing why they even need him there or letting him do something to prove why he's as good as they say he is. It does get better in the later stages, as that's when it brings him into the fold after the kidnapping and eventual rescue, which isn't handled all that badly even though it never really reaches a fever-pitch the way it could've. It's still pretty fun, but there's not a whole lot else about it.
Driven to Kill-
An ex-Russian gangster heads off with the reluctant groom of his daughter to seek revenge on the group that left her in a coma on their wedding day. Probably number two on the best-of Seagal list, this one was pure fun and definitely had plenty going for it, with numerous shootouts, confrontations and fights, which is nice considering that the rapid pace makes this one as much fun since there's no stopping for much of anything. It moves along more with the gunfighting aspects more than anything which is nice since it's a great break from the fighting and lets Seagal do a lot more on-screen work instead of relying on his double to carry the movie, and it doesn't help that we get quality as well as quantity in that department, especially the final shootout in the hospital though it's spread throughout the film as well so it's not all that bad anyway. There's even some nice fighting thrown in as well so it's not all one-dimensional, and that makes for a rewarding film.
Kill Switch-
After one too many bodies by the same criminal show up, a detective decides to become a vigilante to find the murderous mastermind creating havoc in a small city. Rather disappointing misstep here, as this one doesn't feel much like an action movie and instead comes off more like a police procedural drama without anything that keeps it interesting, which means this one is just mostly boring without all that much going on. There's a few decent shootouts to mistake one into thinking it's an action film, but that doesn't happen enough to really make it feel all that action-packed. It's almost the wrong kind of movie for Seagal to be in as there's only a few chances for him to really let loose or do much of anything, and it's really not his kind of film at all. A rather big misfire.
Born to Raise Hell-
A European Task Force bands together with a criminal gang to catch a former associate looking to move up in the underworld by targeting the man's family. Far more enjoyable effort than expected, resulting in a lot of good stuff here as the fact that the film manages to make the resulting alliance between the two opposing sides come as a result of the action, rather than just for the sake of it, and it comes at the end of the film rather than all the way through, which is where it really makes some good points by focusing on the action rather than talking it all out, a really good move. Again, the focus on gunplay allows Seagal a lot of time in the film without his stunt-double, though he does get to do that from time-to-time, though the one part of the film really built for such an encounter is wasted by the inability to let one performer certainly gifted in such an area not do anything, which would've put this one over the top in his rankings, but instead doesn't really detract from a great overall movie.
Belly of the Beast-
After his daughter and her friend are kidnapped in Thailand, a former thief reunites with an old friend to rescue her from the terrorist gang holding them captive. An absolute blast of a film, probably one of Seagal's finest in his entire career and one that holds so many good points it's an absolute blast. The amount of fighting in here is absolutely the best part, which has a rather large amount due to the number of confrontations due in large part to a frenetic, relentless pace that never stops and keeps moving on to the next fight, which keeps this from being dull. The quality of the fighting is great as well, with ninja attacks, one-on-one fighting and a rather enjoyable finale all make for some incredibly fun times before it even gets to the other action as there's a ton of shoot-outs and gunfights in here. It's almost as much as the normal fist-fighting especially in the final raid on the compound which is just pure action overload. Sure, Seagal's stunt double needs to to be given billing as having been given a substantial part of the film (and is all the more obvious due to performing stunts Seagal never did before, as he leaves the ground and throws jumping, spinning kicks for once) and the plot is paint-by-numbers standard action fare, but this was a lot of fun regardless.
The Keeper-
Forced out of duty, a former police officer is hired by an old friend to bodyguard his daughter after her boyfriend gets involved with a criminal gang that's moving in on the family business. Surprisingly decent affair that's actually not that bad, but frankly suffers from a rather banal attitude in the beginning where he goes through the usual meeting-and-winning-over the reluctant prospects of his new employees, which doesn't have a lot of action and tends to get rather boring quickly when it goes by without really showcasing why they even need him there or letting him do something to prove why he's as good as they say he is. It does get better in the later stages, as that's when it brings him into the fold after the kidnapping and eventual rescue, which isn't handled all that badly even though it never really reaches a fever-pitch the way it could've. It's still pretty fun, but there's not a whole lot else about it.
Driven to Kill-
An ex-Russian gangster heads off with the reluctant groom of his daughter to seek revenge on the group that left her in a coma on their wedding day. Probably number two on the best-of Seagal list, this one was pure fun and definitely had plenty going for it, with numerous shootouts, confrontations and fights, which is nice considering that the rapid pace makes this one as much fun since there's no stopping for much of anything. It moves along more with the gunfighting aspects more than anything which is nice since it's a great break from the fighting and lets Seagal do a lot more on-screen work instead of relying on his double to carry the movie, and it doesn't help that we get quality as well as quantity in that department, especially the final shootout in the hospital though it's spread throughout the film as well so it's not all that bad anyway. There's even some nice fighting thrown in as well so it's not all one-dimensional, and that makes for a rewarding film.
Kill Switch-
After one too many bodies by the same criminal show up, a detective decides to become a vigilante to find the murderous mastermind creating havoc in a small city. Rather disappointing misstep here, as this one doesn't feel much like an action movie and instead comes off more like a police procedural drama without anything that keeps it interesting, which means this one is just mostly boring without all that much going on. There's a few decent shootouts to mistake one into thinking it's an action film, but that doesn't happen enough to really make it feel all that action-packed. It's almost the wrong kind of movie for Seagal to be in as there's only a few chances for him to really let loose or do much of anything, and it's really not his kind of film at all. A rather big misfire.
Born to Raise Hell-
A European Task Force bands together with a criminal gang to catch a former associate looking to move up in the underworld by targeting the man's family. Far more enjoyable effort than expected, resulting in a lot of good stuff here as the fact that the film manages to make the resulting alliance between the two opposing sides come as a result of the action, rather than just for the sake of it, and it comes at the end of the film rather than all the way through, which is where it really makes some good points by focusing on the action rather than talking it all out, a really good move. Again, the focus on gunplay allows Seagal a lot of time in the film without his stunt-double, though he does get to do that from time-to-time, though the one part of the film really built for such an encounter is wasted by the inability to let one performer certainly gifted in such an area not do anything, which would've put this one over the top in his rankings, but instead doesn't really detract from a great overall movie.
Comments
Post a Comment