Shakedown (2002 Video) User Reviews

Below-average action film

[gridoon2024 · 4/10 · 5 February 2008]

The only reason I saw "Shakedown" was that it has Erika Eleniak in it. She's sexy as always, but she plays second fiddle to leading man Wolf Larson. It's a pity, because she has more action capabilities than she's allowed to show here. The film largely consists of endless shootouts that quickly become monotonous - especially when most of the time you are seeing the bad guys armed with machine guns constantly missing Larson and him armed only with a revolver (that NEVER runs out of bullets) taking them all out rather easily. The earthquake effects are decent, but there is also a lot of blurry motion and poor CGI explosions. As the psychotic "spiritual leader", Ron Perlman tries, but the pseudo-religious mumbo-jumbo he has to spout is simply boring. Eleniak, Perlman or Larson (assuming he has any) completists might want to give this one a look, for others it is barely worth a rental. (*1/2)

When you like your viruses shaken not stirred.

[ragana · 3/10 · 30 April 2005]

An average TV movie quality, totally formula story of religious fanatic (Ron Perlman, who gives good "I'm not just the President of 'Psychos R Us,' I'm also a client.") who gets control of a biochemical virus (think the virus from the movie "The Rock"). Too bad for him that he also gets stuck in a bank building during an earthquake with bank robbers and the government agents trying to stop him (led by the impressively physiqued, mildly entertaining Wolf Larson, backed by Fred Dryer) along with the standard "in the wrong place at the wrong time" spunky female (the forever bland Erika Eleniak) and "lived as a wimp but died as a hero at the last minute" male (Brandon Karrer). Has the standard background story to give sympathy to the religious fanatic (wife and son killed in a police raid a few years previous).

Basically a decent rainy day movie.

Favorite line, spoken by Ron Perlman after he finds the vial of the virus hidden in Erika Eleniak's cleavage: "A woman and her mystery."

Worth a rent.

Ron Perlman buried under crap

[Zipper69 · 3/10 · 12 June 2005]

Mr Perlman gives a standout performance (as usual). Sadly, he has to struggle with an underwritten script and some nonsensical set pieces.

Larsen is in "Die Hard" mode complete with singlet and bulging muscles, I'm sure he could do better but seems satisfied to grimace and snarl through his part.

The lovely Erika is very decorative (even though fully clothed!) and shows some signs of "getting" acting at last.

SFX are mainly poor CGI and steals from other movies.

The shootouts are pitiful - worthy of the A-Team

Not even worth seeing for Perlman - AVOID

Mindless mayhem ...

[mizhelenuk · 18 July 2002]

Shakedown is B-movieland personified. Lots of shoot-em-up silliness, shouting, yelling, the occasional burst of humour, and a nonsensical script. Oh, and a number of filler shots in the way of stock footage and grotty CGI work. But never mind.

The cast try very hard to make up for it, with a personable leading man in Wolf Larsen, who turns out to have a nice line in wry humour. It's a real shame he doesn't make better films than this. Erika Eleniak looks pretty, makes an attempt at acting and portrays the tough-nut heroine quite well. But the real star of this one is Ron Perlman as the deadly intense religious nut St Joy, all blonde hair and black leather, in a role that could so easily have been ruined by over-acting. But not in the hands of the tremendously talented Perlman. St Joy is genuinely creepy, and - oddly enough - at times, even sympathetic. Then he turns the whole 'sympathy' thing on its head with his unerring brutality.

If you like mindless violence, a convoluted, badly thought-out plot and loads of mayhem, then you'll like this one. Great for an evening in with a pizza, but not much else.

DEATH'S SWEET ETHER

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 1 June 2019]

Ron Perlman is head of a cult that obtains a biological agent in a bank vault. Meanwhile a bank robbery is going on while the SWAT team is there too. This results in a three way shooting with automatic weapons and few casualties. A major earthquake hits LA and the three groups go at each other in the rubble of a building. Oh yea, there is an elevator shaft. Wolf Larson plays the good guy who manages to survive because he shoots from the open with a pistol against guys with full autos hiding behind something. A lot of been there, done that action. Perlman couldn't make it work.

Guide: F-bomB, N-word. No sex or nudity. Playboy Playmate of the Month July 1989 Erika Eleniak provides some eye candy.

Skip it, baby. (spoilers)

[vertigo_14 · 1/10 · 28 July 2005]

This is one of the worst action films I have ever seen. This is particularly due to much of the factual implausibility (like an obvious agent posing as a bank loan officer while making obvious that he is speaking to someone through a wire or the scene where the scientists assume it is safe to enter a room in which a virus has been released even though 'it has not found a viable host' does not mean that it will never find one), the cheap sets (the bank looks like it was poorly constructed to resemble a dungeon), and the bad acting. It is the story of an organized crime group that has successfully stolen a capsule of the lethal virus. However, the head honcho who decides to remove it from a bank security deposit box, does so at the same time a bank heist is going down, at the same FBI agents have been informed of this, and at the same time a terrible earthquake erupts. Needless to say, the aftermath of the quake is messy in more ways than one. However, the results do not make for an enticing action film, but instead, one that has been obviously z-grade junk from the beginning of the film. (Perhaps this is why some of the screen captures on the packaging look to be created with computer graphics rather than being actual screen captures from various sequences of the film). What the hell Ron Perlman was doing in this, I have no idea. I wonder if he was as embarrassed to be in it as I was to have watched it.

Cheesy mish-mash

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 24 October 2018]

SHAKEDOWN is a mildly odd action thriller that went straight to video on release. It's a mish-mash of genres, with a disaster backdrop and an action foreground, as Ron Perlman plays the leader of a terrorist group who steal a deadly virus and plan to release it on mankind. Oh, they also rob a bank, and a team of heroes have to take them down. This begins as an exceptionally cheesy movie that liberally borrows stock footage from the great 1974 flick EARTHQUAKE and ends up as a typically overblown DIE HARD copy. Perlman is good value, and Erika Eleniak is here too and looking as good as ever, but the script is dumb and the action rather dated.

Kick Ass Low Budget Actioner

[max-133 · 10/10 · 5 October 2002]

This is the best film to come out of Roger Corman's studios in years. Director Brian Katkin does an amazing job with no budget. Clearly, he is a director to keep an eye on. Like his first film, the little seen nail biting thriller "If I Die Before I Wake", Shakedown keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. It's a shame the budget does not support his intent. The timely plot, shot before the 9/11 homicide attacks, tells the story of a group of suicidal terrorists who steal a deadly virus, only to become trapped with a lone FBI Agent inside a building by a tremendous earthquake. While this set up may sound far fetched, (and at times, it is!), the director keeps things moving so fast you hardly have time to catch your breath. Think Die Hard meets Resevoir Dogs and throw in a little John Woo and you get the picture. If only director Katkin had Woo's budget and schedule, one can only imagine what he could do. The cast standouts are Ron Perlman (Blade 2, Star Trek Nemesis) who seethes with low key menace, Erica Eleniak (Under Siege) who brings intelligence and wit to what might have ordinarilly been just an "eye candy" role, and Wolf Larsen (LA Heat) who carries the hero role with ease. All in all, Shakedown is a fun, popcorn movie in the best Corman tradition.

The cover i always remember seeing on the shelves of Blockbuster video!!!! A Great B-movie.

[lukem-52760 · 6/10 · 7 April 2021]

This is a low-budget B-movie, cheap flick & there's nothing wrong with that as i love tons of B-movie flicks & of Course who doesn't love the legendary RON PERLMAN?

Anyway it's a disaster type Action flick & to be honest The Perl is actually really good in his role as the big religious nut villain of the movie who has a Cult of followers that will do anything he asks, he always gives a good interesting performance in almost everything he does & he makes a decent villain/bag guy here in this fun little Disaster movie made by the legendary B-movie maker company of ROGER CORMAN!!!

Perlman gives a tough guy performance as St. Joy the doomsday cult leader & like i said he's great & the opening with him talking is really cool & menacing.

Another B-movie star in this is Wolf Larson (he's very good here) who often pops up in straight-to-video Martial arts films with often long hair (Expect No Mercy) but here he's had a hair cut lol & is an undercover Virologist who's helping out the F. B. I track down a scientist who knew that is now a suspect in the taking of an extremely deadly Virus & it's Perlman's cult that want it & on top of this we have a gang of bank robbers from the ghetto who turns up at the bank where everyone turns up including Ron Perlman's cult team, the robbers, S.w.a.t, F. B.i & many civilians all show up at the wrong place at the wrong time!!! It's really great what is pulled off here with a tiny budget & it's still an exciting disaster action Thriller with so much gun-blazing action that Albert Pyun & Jon Woo would be proud!!! You really get plenty of bang for your buck as they say!!!! Everyone is shooting each other & everyone is trying to survive this crazy mess their all in & amongst this lot is the beautiful & busty Erika Eleniak (Baywatch, Under Siege, Bordello of Blood) who is really good here & very likeable in her heroic role.

"SHAKEDOWN" is a combination With the "Viral Thriller" mixed into like "Outbreak" & a "Reservoir Dogs" type situation & the disaster movie thrown in to like the 1970's Classic "Earthquake" & abit of "Die Hard" that's the Cool & very creative mixture here.

The action sequences are very good & the acting is fine especially from Wolf & Ron but the cast do a fine job with what's available & i personally think this is one of the greatest B-movies ever made!!!

"Shakedown" is so early 2000's & i love it for that & remember the video cover so well in Blockbuster video, Nostalgia for this crazy fun little action

I always remember seeing the cover in my local Blockbuster video store back in like 2002 & was always intrigued by the look of it & of Course because it has one of my all time fave actor's on the front, Ron Perlman!!!! The write up on the back always sounded so Cool too with it's Earthquake & terrorist mixed story & the promise of pure cheap B-movie fun & to be honest it delivered all that years later when i finally found it for cheap on dvd & has become one of the greatest & most fun pure B-movies of the genre!!!

We get government agents, robbers, terrorists, a Deadly Virus & an Earthquake all set in L. A & on a tiny budget but the director pulls it off pretty well with what he has to work with & all in all it's good fun.

I love many of these types of B-movie flicks & "Shakedown" is one of the very best of it's kind & very entertaining, nice late-night entertainment.

Love Ron Perlman & he did some great work during this time period of the early 2000's with this flick (Shakedown) & his scene stealing role in the Comic Book masterpiece "Blade 2" both 2002.

Typical B-movie

[SamRag · 1 June 2002]

Shakedown has all the characteristics of poorly made B-Movie, with a script which seems to have been made up as they went a long, lousy one-liners, which didn't serve the plot, and horrible filming. The only thing good about this film is Ron Perlman, which seems to be incapable of producing bad work. Erika Eleniak is always nice, though sadly she keeps her clothes on completely in this film. The story line is something along the lines of; a cult, headed by Ron's character, is trying to spread a deadly virus, which will kill everyone it gets to instantly. The showdown (which takes over the whole movie) is that the good guys and the bad guys get all stuck in a high story building after an earthquake, shooting and beating up one another. What irritated me the most was the constant shooting, where the bad guys would be shooting at the heroes, but never hitting anything, even when they are standing 1 meter in front of him with automatic gun. Each scene is also drawn out, in an effort to get the movie to a regular length.

This could have been a much better movie, but ends up being boring, not in the least funny, and not at all exciting. Unless you like B-movies with lots of pointless shooting, and no conversation with more then couple of lines, then you should stay away from this one.

Shakedown!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 7 December 2004]

This film titled Shakedown is a good one! Ron Perlman stars along with Wolf Larson, Erika Eleniak, and Fred Dryer. Perlman is is great in this film. His performance as the bad guy in this film is really good and he looks very neat! I thought the training camp scenes with him were great! All of the other actors are good in this film as well. The action is really good. Fans of shoot em up films will like the action here! The earthquake scenes are also very good and I was in awe when i saw some of the scenes! One thing I noticed in the film is strange. Its when Perlman is talking to Brandon Karrer's character. I noticed that when the musical score was playing that part there was the very same piece of music that is in Hollow Man. The 10th track is titled Find Him on the Hollow Man Score CD. If you own the CD and/or are familiar with the film then you will know what I mean. Watch Shakedown and compare it! Anyway Shakedown is a good film and is very exciting. If you like Ron Perlman and the other actors I mentioned above and want to see a good disaster action film then I strongly recommend this film!

The only reason to see this movie is Ron Perlman...

[shicovianista · 9 August 2004]

The only reason to see this movie is Ron Perlman, one of the really great actors working today, who for whatever reason just doesn't get the quality script or the big production budget he deserves. But he never lets a viewer down. Like Gary Oldman, he gives every role his considerable best. Even in HELL BOY he showed those subtle touches he can do, even when slathered all over with red makeup and with his face hidden behind a mask. He is way overdue for a good movie. Not HELL BOY II, though, for God's sake! Still, maybe HELL BOY will finally do that thing for him that he deserves. Is there a producer in the business who actually casts an actor for his talent rather than just for the money his last movie made? I'm a hopeful fan, despite some of the dreck I've watched just because Perlman is in the cast. I try never to miss Ron Perlman, or Gary Oldman, in anything they do. It would be really great if someone would cast them in the same movie. They can both do any dialect or accent and I think they'd play off one another wonderfully.

Really cool movie

[evileyefilmguy · 10/10 · 12 January 2005]

I rented this film for one reason alone. I'm a huge fan of Brian Katkin's horror masterpiece, "If I Die Before I Wake"... (the best damn low budget movie, period). I was worried when I saw that this film was produced by Roger Corman. His films usually suck and I expected this one to as well. Despite the no budget (and at times it is really obvious... weak special fx and set design), this movie kicks butt! The acting is top notch. The leads are charming (Wolf Larson) and scary (Ron Pearlman) and you really empathize with the characters. But its the action that rocks. And much like If I Die, Katkin creates such incredible tension that you're neck and shoulders ache by the end of the film... (the hostage stand-off scene is my favorite, when Pealman is knocking off prisoners one by one and the hero tries to take him out but has only one bullet with no clear shot). After listening to the director's commentary (with the film's composer, who deserves kudos as well), I really understand the problems and frustrations of trying to do good work with so many elements working against you. I wish Hollywood would wake up and give this guy a shot at a real movie, instead of turning to commercial and rock video "directors" who puke out stylish but souless drivel.

How do you know when you seen a bad movie?

[Sniggy918 · 9 July 2003]

Hello movie goers, How do you know when you have seen a bad movie? Well, I will tell you what, this movie is one of those that answers that question. One way is that who ever made this movie used scenes from two other movies: "Earthquake" (1974) and the "Great California Earthquake" (1991). Number two: when most of your special effects are computer generated, that tells you something right there. I see it like this if you don't have enough money to use for special effects, don't even make the movie! If you have computer generated graphics, make sure that they look so real, they look good! Other than that keep watching for movies that do this:_)