This is the Review for 10 Dead Men taken from UK magazine COMBAT, published June 2008. This review is totally independent and from a magazine established over 40 years in the UK. I have full righst to reproduce this work here.
EXCLUSIVE ADVANCED FIRST LOOK REVIEW by Will Strong
Ryan (Brendan Carr - Rise of The Foot soldier) a former mob enforcer gone straight, is called upon by an old friend to perform one last hit in payment of a long forgotten blood debt. The job goes badly wrong and Ryan is captured, tortured, forced to watch his girlfriend murdered before his eyes, brutally shot and left for dead. Betrayed, broken and burning with vengeance, he embarks on a bloody one man rampage to exact revenge on the 10 men who destroyed his life.
Directed by cult filmmaker Ross Boyask (Left for Dead), produced by Modern Life?'s award winning Phil Hobden (also Left for Dead and 2003's The Johnna Man), and with an all star cast featuring the likes of Terry Stone (Rolling with The Nines), Lee Latchford Evans (Steps) and Pooja Shah (Eastenders), 10 Dead Men is that rarest of commodities - a quite superb British action film.
Right from the get-go it simply does not stop - its all here in full Technicolor folks- gun battles, explosions, seriously evil bad guys, and some of the most blistering hand to hand combat you will see all year. Every fight is brilliantly choreographed, dazzling to the eye and so bone crunchily real I lost count of the amount of times I found myself wincing!
Special mention must be made about two action sequences in particular. The first takes place in a derelict house between Carr a henchmen. In feats of incredible agility, Carr runs up a walls, backflips, high kicks and punches his way through a scene that puts the fights in the Bourne films to utter shame. The other is the finale where he tools himself up and launches a one man assault on the last remaining members of Stone's gang basically this is a free for all where just about anything goes and was so enjoyable that it had me grinning all over like a schoolboy .
It isn't just the action that is good - the performances' too are all excellent - Carr in particular gives real depth to the virtually wordless Ryan, and matches this with some astounding martial arts prowess that would give the likes of Jet Li and Tony Jaa a run for their money. In addition, Pooja Shah as Ryan's doomed girlfriend, Ben Shockley as a bent copper and (shock!) ex-Steps crooner Lee Latchford Evans as a vicious henchman are all great value. Kudos also to Keith Eyles - exceptional in the role of the psychopathic 'Project Manager' - a man so evil he'd give Freddy Krueger nightmares.
Boyask's direction is sure handed, very creative, and shows a real talent that must have Hollywood calling any day soon. Special mention must go to his handling of the numerous action sequences on show (particularly the finale) which rivals that of John Woo and Corey Yuen for sheer ballistic excitement. Furthermore his and Hobden's script is razor sharp, evoking fond memories of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Lethal Weapons' Shane Black in his 80's heyday.
There are some criticisms' - a running narration by Doug Bradley (Hellraiser) is a bit on the smug side and gets somewhat intrusive in parts, the great Terry Stone (superb as Mob boss Hart) is wasted in two somewhat throwaway scenes, and the plot is little bit too much like the Punisher and Commando in places. Carr also has virtually no lines in the entire film and whilst I could see that with the character of Ryan, Boyask and Hobden where trying to envoke the strong but silent type heroes of old ala' Mad Max or John Matrix, they really should have given Brendan Carr a lot more lines to say.
However, these are minor issues in an otherwise cracking film. Ross Boyask has taken a giant leap from 2004's impressive Left For Dead, and crafted a film that could well see him and his team go on to even bigger and better things in the near future.
So in summary - well directed, great writing, incredible fight scenes and a star making performance from Carr all adding up to one of the best British action movies of the decade.
Action rating: 5 stars out of 5
See this if you liked: The Punisher, Kill Bill, Commando, Kiss Of The Dragon and The Transporter.
Ten Dead Men will be released in late 2008, for more see www.tendeadmen.co.uk
EXCLUSIVE ADVANCED FIRST LOOK REVIEW by Will Strong
Ryan (Brendan Carr - Rise of The Foot soldier) a former mob enforcer gone straight, is called upon by an old friend to perform one last hit in payment of a long forgotten blood debt. The job goes badly wrong and Ryan is captured, tortured, forced to watch his girlfriend murdered before his eyes, brutally shot and left for dead. Betrayed, broken and burning with vengeance, he embarks on a bloody one man rampage to exact revenge on the 10 men who destroyed his life.
Directed by cult filmmaker Ross Boyask (Left for Dead), produced by Modern Life?'s award winning Phil Hobden (also Left for Dead and 2003's The Johnna Man), and with an all star cast featuring the likes of Terry Stone (Rolling with The Nines), Lee Latchford Evans (Steps) and Pooja Shah (Eastenders), 10 Dead Men is that rarest of commodities - a quite superb British action film.
Right from the get-go it simply does not stop - its all here in full Technicolor folks- gun battles, explosions, seriously evil bad guys, and some of the most blistering hand to hand combat you will see all year. Every fight is brilliantly choreographed, dazzling to the eye and so bone crunchily real I lost count of the amount of times I found myself wincing!
Special mention must be made about two action sequences in particular. The first takes place in a derelict house between Carr a henchmen. In feats of incredible agility, Carr runs up a walls, backflips, high kicks and punches his way through a scene that puts the fights in the Bourne films to utter shame. The other is the finale where he tools himself up and launches a one man assault on the last remaining members of Stone's gang basically this is a free for all where just about anything goes and was so enjoyable that it had me grinning all over like a schoolboy .
It isn't just the action that is good - the performances' too are all excellent - Carr in particular gives real depth to the virtually wordless Ryan, and matches this with some astounding martial arts prowess that would give the likes of Jet Li and Tony Jaa a run for their money. In addition, Pooja Shah as Ryan's doomed girlfriend, Ben Shockley as a bent copper and (shock!) ex-Steps crooner Lee Latchford Evans as a vicious henchman are all great value. Kudos also to Keith Eyles - exceptional in the role of the psychopathic 'Project Manager' - a man so evil he'd give Freddy Krueger nightmares.
Boyask's direction is sure handed, very creative, and shows a real talent that must have Hollywood calling any day soon. Special mention must go to his handling of the numerous action sequences on show (particularly the finale) which rivals that of John Woo and Corey Yuen for sheer ballistic excitement. Furthermore his and Hobden's script is razor sharp, evoking fond memories of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Lethal Weapons' Shane Black in his 80's heyday.
There are some criticisms' - a running narration by Doug Bradley (Hellraiser) is a bit on the smug side and gets somewhat intrusive in parts, the great Terry Stone (superb as Mob boss Hart) is wasted in two somewhat throwaway scenes, and the plot is little bit too much like the Punisher and Commando in places. Carr also has virtually no lines in the entire film and whilst I could see that with the character of Ryan, Boyask and Hobden where trying to envoke the strong but silent type heroes of old ala' Mad Max or John Matrix, they really should have given Brendan Carr a lot more lines to say.
However, these are minor issues in an otherwise cracking film. Ross Boyask has taken a giant leap from 2004's impressive Left For Dead, and crafted a film that could well see him and his team go on to even bigger and better things in the near future.
So in summary - well directed, great writing, incredible fight scenes and a star making performance from Carr all adding up to one of the best British action movies of the decade.
Action rating: 5 stars out of 5
See this if you liked: The Punisher, Kill Bill, Commando, Kiss Of The Dragon and The Transporter.
Ten Dead Men will be released in late 2008, for more see www.tendeadmen.co.uk