37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good seagal movie., February 28, 2005
I've seen every seagal movie. I've loved some, I've hated more. I wasn't going to rent this one because first reviews in seemes like it was pretty bad, but because I have my movie pass at blockbuster, and because since the stupid no more late fees thing there's like no movies to rent in stock anymore, I decided to try it. Turns out, it was actually ok. It wasn't great. As some other people mentioned there weren't a lot of fight scenes, but there were quite a few, some very reminiscient of out for justice.
The plot was fragmented, it was like the writers took an idea for a story, broke it down into a dozen seperate parts, wrote them on a piece of paper, tore the paper up into little pieces and put them in a box. Then somebody randomly pulled out pieces of the story and that's the order they decided to shoot it in. A LOT of it didn't flow very well, and a LOT of it didn't really make sense, you were like "huh" a lot of the time. Just like every seagal movie, they had to somehow squeeze in a story involving a love interest, a past CIA mission, Yakuza AND Tong (there's always an organized crime link), lots of shooting, a new rookie partnet, somebody close always gets killed, AND for some reason swordfighting.
And at least it appeared that he read all his lines in this one. It was an enjoyable movie, worth renting, but probably not worth buying unless you're a die hard seagal fan. I suppose if you weren't a fan, you probably wouldn't even be reading this anyways. I don't think you'll be disapointed, of course, you also won't be impressed! Hope this review helps.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Judged unfairly by most..., July 12, 2007
This is the first Steven Seagal movie I've ever seen, I bought it at Kmart for 5 dollars on sale. Normally, I wouldn't have bought this movie, but I was in the mood for an action movie (cheesy or otherwise) and for only 5 bucks it seemed like a good buy.
After reading the reviews and watching the movie, I must say that I don't have the buyer's remorse. It wasn't the best action movie I've ever seen, but it's a far cry from being the worst.
Although it was direct to video here in the states, it did show up in theaters abroad, and it's not low budget either. It's filmed rather well, has an okay story, and the acting is good.
While the villans in this movie are all overly cliched Japanesse Mob bosses and henchmen, and it doesn't really fit that Travis Hunter (Steven Seagal) seems to know everything about the Japanesse underworld even though he did grow up in Japan, the movie flows pretty well and (although a little sad) had a good ending.
Maybe it's just because this is the first Steven Seagal movie I've ever seen, so I can't compare it to his other movies, but I liked this movie, and I don't regret buying it. Heck, I can even see myself watching it again...
Now let's talk about the rating...
I usually don't agree with the MPAA's ratings, namely because they're always a bit off in my opinion. Yes, this movie is rated R and that is a proper rating due to the ammount of swearing & violence. However, on the back of the box, it also mentions nudity and sexual situations, which aren't that prevalant... It should've said "brief partial nudity" due to the fact that the only nudity you actually see depicts 2 women swimming topless in an oversized fish tank at a club, some 50 feet away from the camera for about 10 seconds.
Also, there's only one sex scene, and it's down right mild compared to the scenes you'd see in other R rated movies. Honestly, it's about 7 seconds long, showing Hunter and his fiancee kissing each other, then it shows the sun rise outside of their house, them waking up together, then it jumps to another scene.
The violence, while there aren't alot of fight scenes in this movie, is still enough for it to merit an R rating. And the F*** word is spoken many times throughout the movie.
Pros: A good action movie, can be a little corny at times, but still good.
Good acting.
Well coriographed fighting sequences.
Good musical score for the most part.
While the story & villans are slightly generic, you won't find yourself saying, "It's been done."
Cons: Camera has been sped up slightly to make the action appear more exciting, but it doesn't work...
The main bag guy, Kurado, is WAY too overly cliched. A young, arrogant, overly aggressive man, who makes Hunter's job alot easier by killing most of his own men!
Why does hunter know everything about the Japanesse underworld? I'm an Italian-American, and I don't know anything about the American underworld except for what I've seen in the movies...
On the cover, it shows Hunter walking away from an exploding area with a grenade launcher strapped to his back. (neither of which appear in the movie... No explotions, no grenade launcher.)
Overall, I think this movie was judged unfairly by others... Although it's no 5 star blockbuster, this is a decent action movie in my opinion, and worth the cheap price they're asking for it if you're in the mood for an action movie.
Overall rating: 3.8 Stars
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