Driven to Kill (2009)

An ex-Russian mobster who is now a crime novelist must confront his past when his family is targeted by violence.

Director:

Jeff King (as Jeff F. King)

Writer:

Mark James

Stars:

Steven Seagal, Mike Dopud, Igor Jijikine

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steven Seagal	...	Ruslan
Mike Dopud	...	Boris
Igor Jijikine	...	Mikhail Abramov
Robert Wisden	...	Terry Goldstein
Inna Korobkina	...	Catherine
Zak Santiago	...	Detective Lavastic
Andrew Rasputin	...	Alex (as Alexander Rafalski)
Evgeniy Lazarev	...	Bartender (as Eugene Lazarev)
Laura Mennell	...	Lanie
Aleks Paunovic	...	Tony
Ingrid Torrance	...	Detective Norden
Sergey Nasibov	...	Ilya (as Sergei Nasibov)
Dmitry Chepovetsky	...	Stephan Abramov
Crystal Lowe	...	Tanya
Daniel Cudmore	...	Young Guy

Storyline

A former Russian mobster named Ruslan, who is now a crime novelist, returns home and discovers his daughter is marrying his arch nemesis. His past also comes back to haunt him when his family is threatened. Hungry for justice, Ruslan returns to the life he once knew...with a vengeance.

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Plot Keywords:

violence | russian | daughter | thrown through glass | female in bra and panties | 

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Taglines:

They took his daughter. So he's taking them down.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence throughout, language and some sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Canada Russia

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

19 May 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ruslan

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Echo Bridge Entertainment, Insight Film Studios, Steamroller Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Inna Korobkina plays the mother of Laura Mennell but in real life she is almost a year younger than Mennell.

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Goofs

Strip clubs in New Jersey cannot serve alcohol. If a strip club serves alcohol, the dancers must be clothed in at least a G-String and pasties.

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Soundtracks

Joy & Courage
Written by Peter Allen

User Reviews

Best Seagal in a long time

"Driven to Kill" (originally, and more appropriately, titled "Ruslan") is one of the best Steven Seagal flicks in a long time. Now, after total crap like "Kill Switch" and "Against the Dark," almost anything in focus would seem good. But D2K actually has a lot to recommend it--it has a strong, engaged bada$$ performance by Seagal, one with no obvious body/stunt doubles or voice dubbing, a straightforward story, and the kind of action you'd expect. The direction, while not splashy, is competent (a rarity for recent Seagal flicks).

Now, to be honest, it would take a few more million dollars, a lot of retakes, some recasting of supporting roles, and a car chase or two to make this into a theatrical action-exploitation flick along the lines of "Taken." But for a DTV movie Driven to Kill is actually quite exceptional. And for a Seagal DTV this is up there near the top of the heap with Urban Justice and better than Pistol Whipped. It reminds me of a Charles Bronson low budget mid-80s movie like Murphy's Law. However, the shortcomings that affect all direct to video movies with their short shooting schedules and low budgets also brings D2K down a bit as well. The biggest problem is that about half of the supporting performances are embarrassingly lame--the female police officer and the oily lawyer in particular. And there were also some really strange choices made for the film's score. Upbeat Russian folk music during dramatic and violent beatdowns? Seems odd to me. In fact, sometimes the music behind the action is so ill-fitting that it seems like we're listening to a placeholder score that the filmmakers intended to replace. They might as well have said "hey, get that old polka album--we'll use that music for the part where Ruslan cracks the guy's neck!"

But, despite these flaws, I really enjoyed D2K. It has a small scale old school action vibe that I could get into and little to none of the unintentionally comedic incompetence we have come to expect from Seagal's output over the past decade.