Review of .357

.357 (2013)
4/10
Low budget actioner fails to impress
17 September 2015
Jade (Laurie Love) survives a murder attempt on her wedding night,by the gang she has run away from.Her husband wasn't so lucky. Pawning her wedding ring for a .357 pistol,she writes the names of the culprits on the bullets in blood and goes hunting.Aiding her in her quest for revenge is Hammer (Fred Williamson),who trains her to become a lean mean fighting machine,and kick some serious ass.

As with most low/no budget movies (or lo-no's as I now call them)I really don't expect anything spectacular.In recent years I have become quite a fan of them because up and coming directors/actors can often bring something new and interesting to the table.Unfortunately,as with many of them,this one falls way short of the mark.

As a revenge flick,it has a simple plot and has quite a lot of action and blood letting (the effects are quite decent).It actually has (in places) a kind of comic book feel to it in it's delivery.

However,with the cast,apart from two of the main characters,everybody else comes across as a bit bland and boring.As a standout,Brian Ames steals the show as a decent villain,and Fred Williamson really doesn't have to do much to look good in any movie.Unfortunately he really doesn't do much of anything at all here,but it's nice to see him being given some screen time.

Laurie Love appears totally mis-cast here.She certainly looked the part but just doesn't for me come across as a decent action heroine.

The action scenes are sadly some of the worst choreographed I've ever seen.The shootouts have the bad guys standing still whilst being shot at,and the fisticuffs are very much "Ok I've hit you now I'll stand here while you hit me" kind of thing.There was no fluidity to the scenes to make them look remotely convincing.

Director Brian Skiba appears to have made a step up recently to TV movies and hopefully with a bigger budget and better cast he can produce better results because,despite the above comments,it's obvious he has a lot of potential.I genuinely wish him good luck with that.

Overall,fans of low budget actioners who aren't bothered about the quality of movie they're watching,will love this one.

I just expected a bit more....
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