What a dog. Saw this on a cable station the other evening. They actually changed the title to something less memorable. Must be the network was afraid too many people would recognize the original title of this train wreck.
This movie sucked on so many levels that I'm at a loss where to begin. The acting? Well, Steven Seagal will never get an Academy Award, but his efforts here left me dumbstruck. He's a gangster of some sort. You can tell because he speaks in a stilted "street" language that makes him sound impaired. To be fair, that's not his fault. It's obviously the result of a script written by a white guy who wanted to inject ethnic credibility into a prison movie...and failed miserably. Ja Rule comes along for the ride. The best thing I can say about his performance is that he wears a tank top to show us he's tattooed and prison buff.
Speaking of which, is Steven so out of shape that he has to cover his physique with heavy coats? Throughout the entire film he's sporting some kind of jacket. It doesn't matter where he is: in prison (where they apparently have no dress code for a star of Seagal's stature), on the run from the law, or in bed with his girlfriend.
And I hate to be harsh, but Don Michael Paul's direction does nothing to help the situation. An action movie requires action sequences, not badly choreographed fights that are shot from random angles. Even the explosions - and there are plenty of explosions - are boring. Apparently, they're also invisible explosions, because no matter how many buildings and cars Steven blows up, the law can't follow his trail of carnage.
This is really bad, bad stuff. I actually felt bad for Seagal. He never made masterpieces, but this is like a stick in the eye compared to UNDER SIEGE.
This movie sucked on so many levels that I'm at a loss where to begin. The acting? Well, Steven Seagal will never get an Academy Award, but his efforts here left me dumbstruck. He's a gangster of some sort. You can tell because he speaks in a stilted "street" language that makes him sound impaired. To be fair, that's not his fault. It's obviously the result of a script written by a white guy who wanted to inject ethnic credibility into a prison movie...and failed miserably. Ja Rule comes along for the ride. The best thing I can say about his performance is that he wears a tank top to show us he's tattooed and prison buff.
Speaking of which, is Steven so out of shape that he has to cover his physique with heavy coats? Throughout the entire film he's sporting some kind of jacket. It doesn't matter where he is: in prison (where they apparently have no dress code for a star of Seagal's stature), on the run from the law, or in bed with his girlfriend.
And I hate to be harsh, but Don Michael Paul's direction does nothing to help the situation. An action movie requires action sequences, not badly choreographed fights that are shot from random angles. Even the explosions - and there are plenty of explosions - are boring. Apparently, they're also invisible explosions, because no matter how many buildings and cars Steven blows up, the law can't follow his trail of carnage.
This is really bad, bad stuff. I actually felt bad for Seagal. He never made masterpieces, but this is like a stick in the eye compared to UNDER SIEGE.