Customer Reviews

The Fifth Commandment

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Fifth Commandment was a fun, somewhat mesmerizing film. The cinemtography was awesome, giving a really immersive feeling, although there's a blue tint to it that occassionally threw me off, but it was still a beautiful film to watch. And that's something really special coming out a straight up action movie.

The story follows an assassin who is troubled with his choices in life who is contracted to kill a troubled young pop star. The problem is that his adoptive brother, who his adopted father told him was dead, turns out to be part of her bodyguard troupe. So he passes the assignment, and protects his brother and the target from the next duo of assassins who are given the job leading to the main conflict of the movie.

And the conflict was top notch. Every burst of gunfire felt powerful, the car chase sequence jarring, the fistfight sequences grueling and damaging. All of it was choreographed and filmed expertly, and there was plenty of it at just the right pace. It's everything an action junkie could ask for. The finale even takes place in a FLAMMABLE MATERIALS WAREHOUSE!

The story and characters give the film a sort of classic 70s grindhouse action feel too, so this separates it from being a run of the mill action movie. Even though the story's not all that gripping, and the dialogue is 100% typical action movie lines (no one-liners but lots of melodrama) it all meshes. It's a really, really fun film and definitely packed full of grade A action.

The soundtrack is great too. It calls back to the glory days of the late 90s/early 00s when anytime something exciting started to happen exciting songs would start playing. So leading into almost every fight we get some bass-heavy music or excitable violent rap songs playing. It may sound, tacky, but it's not overused and the songs are very well chosen and fit nicely.

All in all, a very solid action flick.

Choking with laughter as I read all the other reviews here on this flick I wondered, gee, were we watching the same movie? Had I traveled to an alternate dimension? Come on now. If you're a guy between 18 and 34, you'll enjoy the booty shaking, brawls and bikinis - but there's not all that much of these scenes. However, "The Bangkok Bad Guys" have some fine cutlery. As far as the martial arts, no way is Bokeem as good as he wants to be, Rick certainly fulfilling that part nicely, and Dania? I just wanted to reach into the screen and smack her a couple of times - figuratively speaking, of course. I kept wondering, is it her or her character that felt like someone scratching fingernails on a blackboard...I wasn't impressed. No specific reasons - she didn't act well in this film, the voice over for her oh-so-fake concert was off track, her character actually made me angry a couple of times with the complaining, she's an acceptable singer - not a great one, and did I mention she was actorically challenged? (Yes I made that phrase up) Many scenes had clothing as the main character - for instance, Dania's undies had a great loooong shot, during a chase scene Bokeem's jacket would be around Dania's shoulders, then not, then back again, him finally removing it and re-placing it once more at a Buddhist temple. Yep, two professional assassins and a whining female stop to stroll leisurely through a temple. A big one. And the bad guys still lurking aren't considered, but Bokeem putting his jacket around Dania's shoulders again was. That jacket should have had a mention as a cast member. Oh well. Now the main bad guy, the one who was responsible for Rick and Bokeem's pseudo brotherhood? His acting? Oh, dear. His beard was a fairly good one though. Plus, I'm not going to even mention the actor's name who played Rick and Bokeem's father image - he's been in some fair to good movies in his time, even though he resembles Huggy Bear in the beginning of this movie. Maybe if I don't mention him, he'll not have been in this flick. Wow. I'm actually hoping I traveled to some other dimension and the reviews I read complimenting this flick so highly are from another place and time.

I'll watch an old Chuck Norris flick from the 70's, turn off the sound, put on a current CD, and get a better movie experience than this. All I kept doing was checking to see HOW much LONGER it was GOING to TAKE before it was OVER. And please, when reading this, bear in mind I really love martial arts movies - and martial arts, for that matter. I was disappointed in this, though again, Rick was excellent in a couple of fight scenes. Rick led the pack as far as acting quality, and that meant someone with a can of hairspray, off camera, spritzing his eyes in order to make it look as though he was on the verge of crying.

I bet I get cyber-throttled for this review - but it's my take, not everyone's. I always welcome other opinions. Not that my mind would be changed...I'd still recommend this; hey, wait for this one to hit the cable, folks. Be well - everyone.

Rick Yune has all the makings to be a good action hero: he's good-looking, legitimately athletic, and can act Van Damme under the table. "The Fifth Commandment" should have been the ultimate expo of what he can do in a starring role, opposed to the supporting parts he had in Ninja Assassin and Die Another Day, but I'm sorry to say that his first solo vehicle is lacking. At first glance, it's a promising DTV film that avoids several of the more obvious mistakes plaguing the genre, but at some point, you realize that it's only going to get so good and no better. I really hope that Rick gets a few more chances to refine his craft in starring situations; he really could be the next big thing, but for now, this one will have to stick with a limited audience.

The story: an orphaned boy is brought up by an aged master assassin (Keith David, The Thing) to learn the trade of killing; now a man, Chase (Yune) finds himself being hunted down by the murderer of his parents (Roger Yuan, Shanghai Noon) for interfering in his plans to assassinate a struggling pop singer (Dania Ramirez, Heroes).

Man, I like this cast for some reason. Ramirez has the potential to get on your nerves when she starts whining and causing scenes, but you can push her into the background for most of the movie. Roger Yuan, veteran of B-movies, makes a great villain opposite of the inimitable Keith David, whose very presence in any film seems to better it by at least 10%. He really gets to milk his crotchety mentor role here, gets the best lines of the movie, and proves himself to be a badass even at age 52, so count your blessings. Bokeem Woodbine, who's as serviceable in low-budget fare like this as he was in Ray, plays Chase's brother with charm and flair as the opposite side of the coin. Yune doesn't exactly have his work cut out for him as the two-note hero, but proves himself capable of versatility and generally makes it work. Yes, the ensemble is definitely the best feature, here.

Production values are surprisingly strong throughout the picture: in a rare feat for the low-budget medium, director Jesse Johnson (Pit Fighter) goes beyond the bare necessities and skips superficial cover-ups and shortcuts to give the movie a legitimately stylish look and tone. However, in a special features interview, Yune admits that frequent rewriting of the script was required, leaving it less streamlined and offering a head-scratching scene wherein Chase discovers that his brother isn't dead like he had been told...but the audience was never made aware of this presumption priorly, so there's a bit of head-scratching. Also, the whole point of what Keith David does in the ending also continues to baffle me, but you'll have to check that one out for yourself. The fight scenes are the biggest letdown of all: shootouts are old-hat but generally passable, but three of the four hand-to-hand battles fall resoundingly short of matching the rest of the production quality via an overkill of quick-cut cheat editing...just like any old Steven Seagal movie these days. The final fight between Rick and Roger takes a noticeable leap forward in quality, helping to end the movie on a high note, but it's not great enough to make up for the laziness of the other encounters.

It goes without saying that Rick Yune is destined for greatness, even if he stays within the DTV realm, but only if he can get over the debilitating slip-ups that plague this movie in the future. You can definitely go worse than this one with your low-budget movies, but if you're looking for a solid action movie, consider this one merely reserve material.

Cold blooded killers are found everywhere in films. No doubt they exist in the real world as well. The biggest difference I would think would be in finding the cold blooded killer who has a moral code, who changes his mind midway through a job or who turns one down. Such is the case in the film THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT.

Chance Templeton (Rick Yune) is a high profile assassin. There are few if any out there better at their work than Chance. As the film starts we see how good he is with the extermination of one target. Showing no emotion, Chance moves on to his hotel room and word of his next target.

But this is when conscience kicks in. The next target is a pop singer who, for whatever reason, has been targeted to be killed in Bangkok. Chance's reason for turning down the job? The man in charge of overseeing her protection is Miles Templeton (Bokeem Woodbine), chances brother.

Though not truly brothers, these two were raised as such. Miles' father Max "Coolbreeze" Templeton (Keith David) was a hired assassin who failed to reach one target, a man who killed both of Chance's parents. Murdered before Chance's eyes, Max took the child with him and raised him as his own. And Max trained both of his son's in his profession.

Chance takes it upon himself to visit his brother at work and a warm welcome starts between the two. That all fades when he lets Miles know about the contract and his refusal to take it. Instead, they both realize that someone else will seal the deal and now must work together to prevent this from happening.

A side piece between the two that talks about Miles change of life, how he joined the military and made something of himself more constructive than destructive is used to show the bond between brothers as well as the differences. It also gives Chance an opportunity to change his own life should he choose to do so.

The pair take to protecting the pop star, a spoiled brat if there ever was one (can we say cliché character) named Angel (Dania Ramirez). The attempt is made in the middle of a crowded performance hall. The one plot question here is, if this star can afford this sort of protection shouldn't she be performing in a much larger arena instead of what appears to be a large club? In any event, during the attack, Chance kills one of the would be assassins, a woman.

What isn't known at first is that the woman and her partner were married, a pair of assassins who are as fatal as Chance. Worse yet, the man is Z, the same man who killed Chance's parents years back. While Z has no idea who Chances is and vice versa, they are now locked in a grudge match as Z holds back nothing to find and kill the men responsible for his wife's death.

As they hit the streets in an attempt to save Angel's life, Miles and Chance find the streets of Bangkok not so welcoming. Instead word bets back to Z and they are tracked down. Fighting in the middle of the streets, Miles is killed and Chance and Angel are on the run again.

Eventually the person responsible for paying Z to take out Angel is revealed and while not surprising what happens to him is. It all leads to a final showdown between Chance and Z that offers a well done fight sequence.

The movie is one that will be loved by action fans who clamor for the next big thing. Die hard action fans care little about plot devices, logic and over used stories. They wait for each moment of thrills, fights and explosions. All can be found here. And actually put together in an entertaining package.

Rick Yune, who's been seen in THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and DIE ANOTHER DAY, will be recognized by fans and should become a major force in the action film business if he's given a chance. And he rightfully deserves one based on his past work and the amount of effort he's placed here as writer/producer/star of this piece. His acting is fine, his martial arts moves slick and his ability to create a screen presence well done.

Surprising to me was Bokeem Woodbine. I've long been a fan of his since a film he did called CAUGHT UP. It's nice to see him in a vehicle he seems to handle with ease. What surprised me were the martial arts/fight sequences he has. It's a side I've never seen on display with him and he does a stand up job.

This film may not be for everyone but martial arts and action fans will want to add it to their rental list if not their own collections. It delivers the goods though with a plot seen before, but that never stopped a good action film before and won't in the future. Instead, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

It is a very good DVD. Very much worth the price. I really enjoyed the movie. Action packed with martial arts and the husband and wife villian should have had more action together.

After watching this, I was going to never even look at it again and give it only a 2 stars review. So why the 4 stars?

I watched the special features.

On the evidence from this film, Rick Yune is not a talented actor, nor a talented martial artist. However, he has real heart! You should hear him talk about his passion for creating this film, for driving everything forward in the face of adversity, for wanting to produce something that his friends could be proud of. And not least, for wanting to create an experience that would touch people. (Sentiments echoed by director Jesse Jackson.)

Sadly, the film simply doesn't live up to that. But when you've heard his words, it's impossible to look at the film in the same light. For instance, there's a car chase. A very forgetable car chase. Nothing at all that would make you tell your friends that they just had to see it. Nothing about it would even be worthy of mentioning! So why do I mention it? Because it's only in the interview section you learn of the production problems they had which led to the car chase being filmed in the way it was.

That explosion in the intro which looks like over-the-top CGI - watch it, listen to the interview, and then judge it!

My greatest disappointment was in the martial arts department. Or, to be specific - the lack of such. With mentions of Ong Bak on the cover, I was expecting something..., well, just something. There's VERY little. And what there is, isn't filmed/edited well at all. It's very difficult to follow the action, which watching martial arts is all about. There's a half decent fight at the end, but really, the rest is mainly just shooting, but with the odd angle of an elbow strike, cut to a backfist, cut to... YOu know what I mean.

Again, the interviews - they purposefully tried to film in a different way to please both Asian and Western audiences - sadly it didn't work!

The fighting itself - again they tried to portray a different style of combat that hadn't been seen before. Sadly, maybe the reason it hadn't been seen is that it simply isn't that thrilling, that cinematic. Or simply that they choreographed/filmed it badly. Who knows.

However, now I know what they were trying to do, I have a greater appreciation of the final results.

I will watch this film again, but this time with a greater appreciation.

So, the film gets 2 stars for content, 1 star for passion, 1 star for trying to be inventive against the odds.

The Fifth Commandment is "Do not kill". That is all they did in this fast moving action packed movie. It was fabulous.

Action packed from start to finish. I loved this movie, the fight scenes were the best.

I don't like the movie.
1. Its quite bad as far as the plot goes.
2. The martial art scenes aren't all that great for someone who's watched the Jet Li, Donnei Yen or Tony Jha movies out there.
3. The gun fighting scenes look like something out of the 80s, when all the villains chasing Sly line up in front of him so that he could shoot three with one bullet.

You can see it on TV, or onlne, once, but owning it doesn't make sense.

Hi, i find this movie. The fifth commandment that means in BUDDHISM; do not drink. And the actor RICK YUNE better than another time; R. WONG. THE PHOTOS IS SUPERBS 2. Thank.YOUR KOMARITH.