*MINOR SPOILERS*
How in the world was this ever conceived, let alone be considered for a theatrical run?! Yes. It is true. Seagal's star was staring to wane, but after Segal made a brief comeback with Exit Wounds, Seagal had a chance to become a top action star again; well. He blew it big time with Half Past Dead, and they decided to send this movie straight to video; smart choice geniuses! I'm actually a fan of Steven Seagal when he's motivated, and that is very rare these days. The movie looks and feels incredibly cheap; despite that it had a healthy budget of around $16,000,000 it takes place in Warsaw Poland, and the atmosphere feels absolutely miserable. It's dull as dishwater to watch, since there isn't much action to speak of until the end and when it happens, most of it is in slow motion with very poor editing. It came off incredibly corny. It also tries to throw in a half-assed subplot with a Mother & Daughter to no avail. Not convinced on how bad this is yet? I'll continue. There is a scene where Steven Seagal is forced at gun point, and he and a villain head to the bathroom with a package. The package explodes while Steven Seagal is relieving (peeing) himself in a urinal Seagal manages to hurl himself threw a glass window with fire from the explosion engulfing him, and he escapes completely unscathed (!)
Steven Seagal is god awful here. He is completely out of shape, and has a baggy trench coat on to hide all the flab in his gut. Not only is his voice dubbed on occasion, but he is blatantly annoyed about the whole thing, with a look on his face that screams "Let's get this over and done with!" Seagal has never been great at emotion, but at least he had solid intensity. He shows off emotion here with plenty of inconsequential mumbling. He was sleepwalking here, and was very lazy to boot by doing minimal fighting scenes; I don't blame him for being unhappy with this film, but show some professionalism! Max Ryan is way too OTT as the villain. He has a cigarette dangling from his mouth in every scene! He was extremely annoying. Anna-Louise Plowman is pretty to look at, but that's it. The film didn't do enough to make me care about her, or her daughter.
Note: I couldn't resist adding some memorable cheesy lines
Meredith (Anna-Louise Plowman): May I ask Who's Calling? Jonathan Cold (Steven Seagal): No thanks. I'll call back later
Jonathan Cold: I'd say the only thing unexpected is that I'm still alive
Jonathan Cold: You kinda look like Ray Charles (referring to Mr. Mimms Sherman Augustus) then again Ray probably can't shoot as good as you, right?
Final Thoughts: Seagal has done many terrible DTV films over the years, and this is undoubtedly one of the worst. It's not as bad as Attack Force or a couple others, but it's still abominably bad. Even if you're a die hard Seagal fan, I can't on good conscience, recommend this to you. It has very little action, and you'll most likely be bored to tears. Stay away!
1/10
How in the world was this ever conceived, let alone be considered for a theatrical run?! Yes. It is true. Seagal's star was staring to wane, but after Segal made a brief comeback with Exit Wounds, Seagal had a chance to become a top action star again; well. He blew it big time with Half Past Dead, and they decided to send this movie straight to video; smart choice geniuses! I'm actually a fan of Steven Seagal when he's motivated, and that is very rare these days. The movie looks and feels incredibly cheap; despite that it had a healthy budget of around $16,000,000 it takes place in Warsaw Poland, and the atmosphere feels absolutely miserable. It's dull as dishwater to watch, since there isn't much action to speak of until the end and when it happens, most of it is in slow motion with very poor editing. It came off incredibly corny. It also tries to throw in a half-assed subplot with a Mother & Daughter to no avail. Not convinced on how bad this is yet? I'll continue. There is a scene where Steven Seagal is forced at gun point, and he and a villain head to the bathroom with a package. The package explodes while Steven Seagal is relieving (peeing) himself in a urinal Seagal manages to hurl himself threw a glass window with fire from the explosion engulfing him, and he escapes completely unscathed (!)
Steven Seagal is god awful here. He is completely out of shape, and has a baggy trench coat on to hide all the flab in his gut. Not only is his voice dubbed on occasion, but he is blatantly annoyed about the whole thing, with a look on his face that screams "Let's get this over and done with!" Seagal has never been great at emotion, but at least he had solid intensity. He shows off emotion here with plenty of inconsequential mumbling. He was sleepwalking here, and was very lazy to boot by doing minimal fighting scenes; I don't blame him for being unhappy with this film, but show some professionalism! Max Ryan is way too OTT as the villain. He has a cigarette dangling from his mouth in every scene! He was extremely annoying. Anna-Louise Plowman is pretty to look at, but that's it. The film didn't do enough to make me care about her, or her daughter.
Note: I couldn't resist adding some memorable cheesy lines
Meredith (Anna-Louise Plowman): May I ask Who's Calling? Jonathan Cold (Steven Seagal): No thanks. I'll call back later
Jonathan Cold: I'd say the only thing unexpected is that I'm still alive
Jonathan Cold: You kinda look like Ray Charles (referring to Mr. Mimms Sherman Augustus) then again Ray probably can't shoot as good as you, right?
Final Thoughts: Seagal has done many terrible DTV films over the years, and this is undoubtedly one of the worst. It's not as bad as Attack Force or a couple others, but it's still abominably bad. Even if you're a die hard Seagal fan, I can't on good conscience, recommend this to you. It has very little action, and you'll most likely be bored to tears. Stay away!
1/10