Deadlock (2021) Poster

(II) (2021)

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4/10
Dumblock
BOOKSMART13 December 2021
Deadlock is an action thriller about mercenaries that seize an energy plant and hold everyone hostage. Ron Whitlock (Bruce Willis) is a wanted criminal leading a team of mercenaries on a mission of vengeance. Bruce Willis keeps the legacy of producing bad films. 'Deadlock' is nothing more than a cliche all the way. The storyline is predictable, the cast falters and there are no prizes for predicting an end that is distinctly clear right from the start. Bruce Willis in this age plays a baddie when he can hardly get off the toilet. The cast plays their bit-part roles, but it isn't enough to lend any depth to the film. I would recommend catching up on some other decent flick instead of this damp squib.
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4/10
How long can Bruce keep on making bad movies? What happened?
frank-liesenborgs7 February 2022
"Deadlock" tells the story of Ron Whitlock (Bruce Willis), a wanted criminal, leading a team of mercenaries on a mission of vengeance. The ruthless group brutally seizes an energy plant and holds everyone inside hostage. Retired army ranger Mack Karr (Patrick Muldoon) has to save the day. The action scenes are ample but not thrilling. The storyline is very predictable and the acting performance of Bruce is again under par. I still don´t get it. It really looks like Bruce is forced to act. He just seems burnt out. On the other hand, I liked the performance of Patrick Muldoon (Mack). At least one good actor in an $11,000,000 budget movie. Don´t waste your time! Skip this movie.
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5/10
Interesting idea, horrible execution. But not Willis' worst appearance.
Top_Dawg_Critic4 December 2021
Before I checked, I assumed this was directed by some amateur unexperienced young filmmaker - or a high school drama class, and was shocked to find out that Jared Cohn has 47 directorial credits and 20 writing credits under his belt. It was so horribly directed in every aspect - from poorly executed scenes, transitions, and camera angles, with prop and set mistakes, massive incohesive and illogical plot and structure issues, failure to direct his cast, etc. This felt like a 1980's amatuer camcorder production. And the flaws are so obvious, a little effort would've gone a long way. Even the use of actual Katrina disaster clips were poorly edited in.

The screenplay (jointly written by Cam Cannon and Cohn) bounced all over the place with scenes in and out of nowhere, and the first half was convoluted in the poor attempt to create some plot twists, which even when they become evident, there's many bits and pieces missing. Most of the dialogue will make you shake your head and/or cringe. However, the use of a hydroelectric dam as the main setting for this crime thriller was well conceived and utilized, and I'm sure helped maintain the film's low budget. But the entire "payback" premise of the dam was far fetched and a cringeworthy attempt to piggy-back the Katrina disaster.

Casting and performances were ok for the most part, but very evident many actors much-needed at least some direction from Cohn. Willis' performance was actually one of his better, in his usual monthly b-film showcase appearances. Patrick Muldoon, Chris Cleveland and Ava Paloma were the only actors close to being convincing in their characters, although Douglas Matthews was on point as the comic-relief. The score wasn't bad, and even though the pacing was decent, the 97 min runtime could've used some trimming.

Nevertheless, I finished the film, and wasn't disappointed I watched it, especially since I had nothing better to do. It's a generous 5/10 from me.
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1/10
Another Bruce Willis Movie of the Week
BananaHeads3 December 2021
Great gig if you can get it. Show up on B movie set for a day or two. Utter a few lines, sit on the toilet a while and get a large paycheck.

Willis is obviously on a long money train, doing everything and anything no matter how degrading, no matter how humiliating, no matter how disgracefully bad to get paid.
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1/10
Bruce Willis becomes Stevel Segal
Xavier_Stone12 December 2021
He is putting out B or even C rated movies at a blistering pace. His name is now trashed.

Anytime I see his name now I think of Steven Segal, an actor many thought was good at action movies until he was exposed in behind the scenes footage.

Nothing to see in this film, it was my last attempt to watch a movie with him in it, and I didn't last all that long.
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1/10
Don't waste your time
rodneyashworth6 December 2021
Probably the worst plot and dialog I've seen in the past decade. Any episode of T. J. Hooker is far better than this tripe- and mercifully shorter.

As the algorithm requires 150 characters I will list things I would rather do than watch this movie again: 1) a root canal without anesthesia, 2) clean out porta-johns, 3) invest in a pyramid scheme, 4) soak in a tub of ice water for an hour.
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1/10
Another fail from Bruce Willis
Gringoen4 December 2021
Another pointless movie, with bad script, bad acting and shaky camera... Im starting to miss the B movies of the 90's. At least they mostly managed to hold the camera steady.
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1/10
Utter Nonsense!
gspliffington5 December 2021
I used to like this Willis chap many moons ago. He made movies that fired up my testosterone levels to the point I would roll over my kitchen table and shoot imaginary terrorists just before making a sandwich. Alas, those days are gone now and what we are left with is an old haggard looking man, just about delivering his lines and possibly trying not to soil himself. Over the last few years, I have given him chance after chance and feel let down every time, what a way to ruin one's legacy. This is another run of the mill 'action' movie that isn't worth your time. I was so upset, I decided to wire my butlers door handle to the electric mains just to brighten up my day. Blast and double blast!
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1/10
oh boy
windsorenquirer4 December 2021
Here we go again, I am sick and tired of seeing one guy who saves the day. Our hero kills nearly all the bad guys. So many times they had an opportunity to kill him but nooooooo.

Oh boy, it was bad. Full action, somewhat otherwise an interesting movie but this stupid formula has to end!

And that flood... they should have use a better footage.

If a city got flooded without any warning there would be panic all over, no one would walk through the flooded streets like it was normal.
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1/10
Ha ha ha
tburgess-4772629 April 2022
Can't believe there are 2 people that actually gave this a 10/10 stars and one person gave it a 7/10. Assuming those three people are either involved in the film in some way or related to someone, because there is no way this deserves higher than 4 stars.

The action is so unbelievable. Bad guys run out in the open, don't even raise weapons, just so they can get shot. One point the hero slides 50+ feet down a rope, loses grip, grabs onto stairs, while bad guys walks down stairs with a gun, gets right next to him, just so the hero can punch him and yes knock him out with one off balance punch. Bad guy didn't even raise gun, warn him, or anything, just walked up to get punched out. Then the hero goes into room, proceeds to get another bad guy in choke hold, shoots the other two bad guys in the room, then shoots the bad guy he's holding in the head without concern the bullet should've gone through the head & into the arm he was using to hold him.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.
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The jokes are back! That's great. And Bruce is playing a baddie. That's new!
imseeg2 January 2022
Okay, let's be honest, Bruce Willis is making 9 movies in 2021, some of these arent the best of the best. Unfortunately this is one of them. But, the jokes are back in this movie. That's fun.

Interesting: Bruce Willis plays a baddie this time. That's new.

Unfortunately, Bruce hasnt got the screentime we all wished for. We want to see him more, but when you make 9 movies a year, time is of the essence.

Not the best, but not the worst either.

At an (excrucially) important sidenote, let us not forget WHY we are watching Bruce Willis movies to begin with. We watch Bruce Willis movies because of DIE HARD (1988). THE ONE AND ONLY BIGGEST ACTION AMERICAN ACTION CLASSIC OF THE CENTURY.

This classic is still standing strong after more than 30 years. Millions of people still REwatch it during every Christmas holiday. Recently a petition was launched to rename Nakatomi Plaza into DIE HARD plaza.

A life time achievement award for Bruce Willis is in the making.

DIE HARD (1988) NEVER DIES but is still ALIVE AND KICKING IN 2022. Happy New Year!
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10/10
GRIPPING plot - edge of your seat action!!
n-1168118 January 2022
DEADLOCK is very entertaining and exciting to watch! Lots of action throughout, intriguing story, and depth to each of the characters. There is TONS of action/gunfire scenes, some comic relief, and emotionally triggering spots as well. It differs from other movies starring Bruce Willis, as his character is not who you think he may turn out to be. The other actors in this movie give excellent performances as well, blending the plot altogether. Definitely worth the watch, and will watch again!! 5 STARS!
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7/10
The Day They Took The Dam Hostage!!!
zardoz-1314 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The novelty of "Vendetta" writer & director Jared Cohn's hostage thriller "Deadlock" is the casting of Bruce Willis as the chief villain. The first thing Bruce's character does mere minutes into this violent melodrama is murder two plainclothes police detectives at his front door. They came to tell him about the tragic circumstances surrounding the demise of one son and the arrest of another. Mind you, Whitlock knew about the incident because he had just seen a breaking tv news bulletin about it moments before their arrival. Apparently, during a no-knock warrant raid, the local narcs shot and killed one of Whitlock's boys and arrested the other on charges of cooking meth. Actually, what neither Whitlock nor the detectives at his door know is the bust went down at the wrong residence! Meantime, before the detectives can anticipate his reaction, Whitlock whips out a pistol and shoots them both in cold blood. One of the doomed detectives pleads for mercy on behalf of his wife and two kids. This doesn't elicit a shred of sympathy from the grieving Whitlock. He pumps a few extra slugs into the detective. During his 38-year Hollywood career, Bruce Willis has played some shady characters. He was an arms dealer who abused his wife in an early "Miami Vice" (1984) episode, a deadly international assassin in "The Jackal" (1997), an aggressive general in "The Siege" (1998), a creepy politician in "The Perfect Stranger" (2008), an unscrupulous mob boss in "Setup" (2011), and a retired hitman in "The Prince" (2014). Never has Willis played a villain as maniacal as Ronald Whitlock in "Deadlock." He kills without remorse and sets out to drown untold thousands of innocent bystanders in his own grief.

"Deadlock" depicts the daring daylight hostile takeover of a south Georgia hydroelectric dam. Ron Whitlock (Bruce Willis of "Apex") and his band of heavily armed anarchists invade the sprawling facility. Naturally, Whitlock's insiders have compromised security so his henchmen and he can storm the premises without impunity. No sooner has Whitlock acquired control than he opens the flood gates. The 100-thousand residents in the rural county living downstream are about to get a rude awakening as the deluge descends upon them. Nevertheless, in their far from foolproof plan, these felons have made one big blunder. When they rounded up all the workers as hostages, they didn't know about a random welder named Mack Karr (Patrick Muldoon of "Starship Troopers"), because his name wasn't on the employee roster. The night before the takeover, Mack had made a buffoon of himself in a local juke joint. When he shows up for work, everybody ribs him about his outlandish antics. What Muldoon didn't realize is one of his friends, Boone (Matthew Marsden of "Black Hawk Down"), had deliberately slipped him a Mickey at the bar. Indeed, Mack shouldn't have been physically able to stand up, much less cruise into work in his late model pick-up truck! Ironically, Muldoon plays the same lone, charismatic hero in "Deadlock" that launched Willis on the path to superstardom with the "Die Hard" franchise. You know from the get-go Mack is a good guy. When this bachelor awakens that fateful morning in a daze, he queries his pet canine about his activities the night before. Villains never treat their pets like confidantes. Moreover, one of Mack's bosses didn't think his old Ranger buddy could muster enough wherewithal to pose a viable threat to their plans.

Although the outcome is a foregone conclusion, this above-average, 97-minute potboiler comes laden with an underlying message about the abuse of no-knock police warrants. Meantime, Cohn ratchets up the suspense with the arrival of a busload of innocent high school students who have come for a tour of the dam. Less than twenty minutes into this fracas, plant insiders aligned with Whitlock start killing off colleagues who refused to join them. Eventually, when he goes into action, Mack doesn't play patty cakes with the hijackers. Throttling the first thug from behind, Mack disarms him with ease and shoots him without a second thought. A former U. S. Army Ranger forged in the crucible of combat, Mack wields a variety of firearms like a wizard. As his deranged adversary, Bruce Willis feels he has legitimate reason for his apocalyptic behavior in the face of a despicable police cover-up. As his second-in-command, Matthew Marsden struggles valiantly to reason with Whitlock but doesn't realize the depth of his leader's wrath. "Deadlock" emerges as a respectable thriller that delivers all the standard hostage drama twists and turns that audiences crave. Not surprisingly, "Deadlock" landed an R-rating for violence, profane language, and some drug use.
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2/10
Deadloss
geraldisrael324 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
My review contains spoilers. But don't worry there is nothing to spoil here, I've given it 2 stars because I did watch it till the end, this film makes no sense, a man is killed by mistake by police so his dad hijacks a dam with 20+ mercenaries to reap his revenge REALLY, what's in it for the mercenaries who all die with rediculous ease ?

Our Hero would have killed more baddies but the movie didn't have the budget of John Wick. You have to ask yourself when was the last time Bruce Willis actually made anything good. Please Bruce you can't be short of a few quid just wait for the occasional decent part. Clint Eastwood is still going in his 90s.
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1/10
Awful
ff-481949 May 2022
Everything is wrong with this movie. At least they didnt claim to loop the security cameras. Much easier ignoring they show anything around a supposedly high security. Want to mention I've never seen a movie grind to a halt so two rangers could argue the importance of their enlistment oaths. Am I the only one offended by the costumer dressing Willis in an Arab scarf because that is supposed scream terrorist? I want to nominate the line "...Otherwise the whole dam might be underwater" for the stupidest thing ever said in a feature movie. Lastly, where would you guess operations office is that independently is contacted to open flood gates? Seems that's the place the bad guys should have attacked.
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2/10
Yet another miss
Dusan_Indjic-Luigi4 December 2021
I have this ugly feeling that last several years I saw the actor in (mostly) bad action, sometimes SciFi movies. I'm convinced he can so better then, now a "dead-loop" series of misses. Maybe his and agent's character choice wasn't good. But after some legendary protagonist characters (some time ago though, mostly in Die Hard series), I don't know...

Movie itself followed a narrow storyline with not too much to tell. I'll actually just bottom it with too much of shooting over cliche core - "difficult directorship indeed".

Same story core in another approach could be a goldmine. But, no: let's stick to the 'same old - same old'... What a waste.
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5/10
A rather generic action thriller...
paul_haakonsen21 January 2022
I have to say that when I sat down to watch the 2021 action thriller "Deadlock" from writers Cam Cannon and Jared Cohn, then I wasn't really expecting much of anything grand here. Why? Well, I can't claim to think that Bruce Willis really have been churning out all that great movies for quite a while by now. But still, it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I sat down to watch it.

"Deadlock" was actually watchable enough for what it was. And what was it? A rather generic, but straight forward action thriller. Writers Cam Cannon and Jared Cohn didn't really offer much of any thrill rides, nor did they throw any curveballs for the audience. So "Deadlock" was pretty predictable and generic. But there still was enough contents to the storyline for a single viewing.

It was nice, though, to see Bruce Willis in a role such as Ron Whitlock in this movie. That was certainly something I enjoyed and what made "Deadlock" watchable. The movie also had Patrick Muldoon and Matthew Marsden on the cast list, so there were some okay names to the movie.

There is a good amount of action in the movie, and that definitely helped make the movie watchable.

All in all, then director Jared Cohn delivered a mediocre action thriller that didn't bring anything new to the genre.

My rating of "Deadlock" lands on a five out of ten stars.
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1/10
Bang Bang Bang
malcolmreed-026357 May 2022
What a mediocre movie A poor story line below average Directing comedic one liners no concept to give any basis to the weak story . Lots of guns shooting zzzzzzzzz.
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1/10
WTF???
drodgers-393911 January 2022
I had much higher expectations considering Bruce Willis was in this film. I had questionable doubts when they movie was only priced 9.99. It without a doubt wasn't even worth that. I wonder if he watched this movie after filming and instantly regretted it. Sorry not sorry Bruce you're so much better than this C roll film. If I could give it 0 stars I would.
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4/10
Bruce, really?
albertfels8 December 2021
Bruce Willis is lending his name to many B movies these days. Does he need the money ? Why, Bruce, why ?

This movie is badly acted, the script is weak, the actors have very little talent and the shaky camera is not helping. I gave it a 4 star for effort but that is generous.
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1/10
Sucks
ssal-457605 December 2021
Bruce hasn't done a real movie in 20 years . They only use his name for a few minutes of air time. He's knocking off a dozen movies a year all B- movies. He's acting has gone done the toilet bowel . Retire Bruce ur an embarrassment to the industry. Crying out loud give me a chance an I can act circles around u Bruce.
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Decision making for Bruce Wilis movies: check IMDB user reviews first!
gitaranuhardi26 January 2022
I love this guy's movies man. Well, the old ones that is.

But after so many disappointments from his latest movies, I have this algorithm for deciding to watch his movies or not (written in the title of this review).

So, YES, I haven't watch this movie.

Its so painful tho watch someone you adore play such terrible movie.

Please oh please someone tell Wilis that this has to STOP!
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10/10
Ava Paloma actress to watch
friendjuliea19 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Who is Sophia?! Seriously the love story line between Mack and Sophia was my favorite part of this movie. And that everyone was super pissed at their friend Boon. Such a fun watch!
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6/10
Not That Bad
hackraytex6 May 2022
Bruce Willis is remaking Die Hard but he is the bad guy this time. I have seen worse. Seeing that he is having to retire now for health reasons, he is starting to take more subdued roles like Steven Seagal is. Job well done Bruce. Best wishes.
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2/10
I didn't know it was that time in Bruce's career already.
lpanthony11 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I should have known better.

The director of this movie has some of the lowest and worst rated movies on IMDB.

That should say enough. I mean he has worked with Shatner as well.

But a big name doesnt mean anything.

This movie is poorly executed, poorly acted, poor editing, poor continuity and just down right poor everything.

The "hero" is the only person I know who can take 16 rounds in a beretta and kill 30 people!! And mostly headshots. While running.

A snipe who can hit a stationary target from 200ft away.

And really?????? Bringing in your "revenge targets" one by one??? Were they trying to make it look like yumcha???

Just please don't bother. It's not even worth watching to say "yeah I've seen all of Bruce's movies"
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