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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Everybody Wanna Be A Tough Guy, But Nobody Wanna Pay The Price", June 3, 2009
Forget that Kill Switch and Against the Dark ever happened - it's just not worth remembering those two catastrophes when you can group together the overall string of recent victories for Steven Seagal's DTV career that are Urban Justice, Pistol Whipped, and now "Driven to Kill". Wait, don't get your hopes too high - it's not quite as good as either of the two, but is nonetheless one of the best things that Seagal's done in the last half-decade.
Ruslan Drachev (Seagal) is a former member of the Russian mob and current crime novelist whose daughter Lanie (Laura Mennell, "Watchmen") is set to marry the son of his arch nemesis, the mafia kingpin Mikhail (Igor Jijikine, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"). However, before the wedding can take place, his daughter is attacked and left in critical condition; Ruslan suspects Mikhail, and sets out on a trek of vengeance with the aid of Mikhail's son and his daughter's fiancé Stephan (Dmitry Chepovetsky, "ReGenesis").
The pressing questions that make or break a Seagal film: 1) is the story coherent, 2) how obvious is Steven's stunt double, and 3) how much of his voice is dubbed? I'm happy to say that in the case of all three, Seagal has improved: the story is straight-forward with virtually no subplots, Steven's voice is not dubbed at all as far as I can tell, and his ever-consistent stand-in (Dian Hristov) is not even listed in the credits; there aren't a lot of instances in the film where it seems to indicate that it's someone other than Seagal doing his own work to begin with, so if he is using a stunt double, it's not very often and it's been covered up very well.
Yes, Seagal is sticking to his higher standards: he seems more alert and in better physical shape, his role is fairly intriguing, and his fight scenes are generally well-choreographed and surprisingly vicious. He has seven of these - four shootouts and three hand-to-hand fights: the gunfights are largely old hat (save for the machinegun battle at the end), but when he's using his fists (and feet - he actually kicks above his head once), Steven stabs a guy in the face with broken glass, beats a fellow literally to tears, cuts a man to ribbons in a very bloody knifefight, impales a man's head on a spike, stabs a mercenary in the neck and forces him to bleed to death, and stabs/shoot his final opponent through the eye. This older, more sadistic Steven is loads more fun to watch than the supplier of endless "pattycake battles", even though he uses next to no martial arts. There is some unnecessary and unwanted quick-cut editing to these fights, but the fact that it's clearly Seagal doing his own work saves them from being any less impressive.
There are some silly editing techniques used in other parts of the movie to kill time, but the important scenes remain untainted. The supporting cast works well: Jijikine as the head villain, Robert Wisden ("Da Vinci's Inquest") as the two-faced husband of Ruslan's ex, and Chepovetsky as Ruslan's quasi-sidekick/pupil all do good jobs as immediate co-stars, while Inna Korobkina, Laura Mennell, Ingrid Torrance, and Aleks Paunovic all make up a good supporting base. The casting of actual Russians helps a lot in setting an atmosphere for the film, since there's a lot of Russian being spoken and it all sounds authentic. Seagal does his best with his own version of a Russian accent, and while it's nice to see him make an effort the second time around (see Half Past Dead), it's far from passable and he drops it every now and then.
There's some definite ego masturbation for Seagal and I wish there had been more fistfights and/or some innovation in the gun battles, but regardless of these qualms, the film is still proof that Steven Seagal is not done showing that he can be a force in the action realm. It's not quite as no-nonsense as "Urban Justice" or as sophisticated as "Pistol Whipped", so it just misses a four-star rating...but only just. Distancing himself from Sony has paid off for Seagal, and fans ought to take notice ASAP.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Driven to Drink., May 18, 2009
Our favorite pony tailed fading action star returns in what seems to be his 400th release of the year and sorry to say, this one doesn't return his status back to those wondrous days of old. With a career that has spiraled from solid action star status to 'what the hell?' mediocre and cheap action vehicles made by people who shouldn't be allowed to direct traffic, let alone movies - The Lord is seriously in need of old resident studio Warner Bros. coming back to save him and give him another shot at the big leagues, because these new movies are dull time wasters that offer nothing and deliver less.
In his latest adventure, The Fat Lord plays Ruslan. An ex-russian mobster who is now a successful novelist(!) who is called back into supersonic action when his daughter has decided to marry the son of his arch nemesis. In a plot device too stupid to expand upon here, his ex wife is murdered and Ruslan puts his daughter into hiding, thus allowing him some spare time to go out on a revenge trip and exact some justice onto the mobsters who have dared cross our portly avenger. This unique scripting makes a mockery of the movies tagline: 'They took his daughter. So he's taking them down'. As nobody in the film takes his daughter anywhere (for the record, its actually The Lord that takes her) - thus, rendering his macho posturing pointless.
My main concerns with his latest output are the lack of finesse and style in both the action sequences and his performance. We all know real violence is ugly, but movie violence is supposed to be fun and exhilarating. However, in his latest mini epic - Seagal comes off just like a lowlife thug who swears and hits everyone in sight - most of the time for no reason whatsoever, except that may have looked at him the wrong way. Y'know, just like a regular real life thug. The hero like status of old has slowly slipped away to be replaced by a dull guy who only uses his fists and spits venomous bad language as if he were on shore leave from the navy.
Another problem with the picture (apart from the terrible acting, the pointless story and the awful fight choreography - is that enough?) is Seagal's insistence on his exceptional luck with the ladies. In the first 10 minutes alone, he is promised two offers of lady love involving three different women (I know I may be jealous as I haven't had that much action in my entire life, let alone 10 minutes) - but, it all seems out of place and frankly quite silly. Add to this , Seagal's terrible mock russian accent which I had to keep rewinding to hear again what he was saying, which combined with his recent dependence on mumbling through the script - they may as well release these films as foreign language movies.
All in all, another tepid release. Granted, its a step up from 'Against The Dark' and a few of those other awful nightmares that I have tried to suppress from my memory - but, coming shortly after 'Urban Justice' its more of a step back than a giant leap forward. Its a shame really, as I still have a soft spot for the big guy and even though he has blue hair that resembles a birds nest if it were caught in a paint balling incident, his movies are less than eventful and even as a direct to video release - he is being outflanked by contemporaries Van Damme and Lundgren. I have my fingers crossed that his next effort will do the trick, but I seem to be doing that everytime I eject the last one. If you are a fan, you won't have any choice and will most probably buy, but approach with an open mind and don't expect too much and you may enjoy it. If you are looking for a decent, B-movie actioner - you are going to be disappointed. Another missed opportunity. Here's to next time, eh Steve?
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Seagal looks withdrawn, not a valid Blu, May 15, 2009
My customers keep hoping for Seagal to return to his glory days, but unfortunately the last few films have made it to where people will not even rent his stuff now. This one won't necessarily help, but it doesn't hurt his chances too much either.
Standard story: He is retired from being a mean guy, something bad happens to someone he cares about, the close up of his eyes becoming angry, then lots of bad guys meet their end. To be clear, this had the most gratuitous close-up of his face I have ever seen - it scared me. What bothered me the most is he seems tired. Not sure how else to word it, I don't think his heart is in these.
The Blu quality was below average. Plenty of grain, focus issues and other tech problems. I love DTS, but this wasn't mixed well. The fake sounds of Seagal beatings detracted from trying to watch. No special features to speak of. Can not recommend this as a Blu purchase over the DVD quality.
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