This is just one of those films where you cry out 'Please let it end!'. I mean, everything about the movie was absolutely abysmal. But let me start from the top.
Plot. There was none. The kidnapping of Jake Hopper's daughter is just another lame excuse for Steven Seagal to go on another of his ass-kicking adventures. Apart from that the 'plot' is completely predictable with Jake wreaking havoc in Thailand whilst leaving hundreds, if not thousands, of enemy corpses sprawled in a bloody trail throughout the film.
The most awful aspect of this film, however, is Steven Seagal himself. His lack of acting talent and facial expressions, of which he has just one, never ceases to amaze me. In this film he has made an extra effort to be exceptionally bad, especially in his action scenes, during which he unleashes his super-powers which involve a sophisticated cat fight technique (which I assume is meant to be kung-fu), a power punch (specifically designed to send helpless enemies flying 20 feet across the room) and deadly lightning speed accuracy which his favourite pistol which seems to have an immaculately large clip size considering the number of negligent enemies he managed to shoot without having to reload it at any time during the film. The only thing that Steven Seagal lacks, in fact, is a change of clothes, as the only clothing we see him wear is his trusty brown leather shoes, jeans and sensei top combo, which remains spotless despite the blood spewing out from dying enemies.
Another factor is the special effects of the film, which is limited to spilled ketchup leaking out in a tap-like fashion to represent blood and Steven Seagal jumping through paper thin walls, one of which was the iron side panelling of a train. The rest of the action in the film is left up to a group of actors just as awful as Steven himself, but with added stupidity. I could bet that a five year old playing Cowboys and Indians in his back yard could make a better impression of dying compared to that in the film. The hordes of enemies have no organisation whatsoever and more or less run at machine gun fire head on, and are surprised to be cut down. And then, just as the final nail in the coffin, we witness the blatantly predictable and cheesy death of Jake's best friend Sunti, of which no-one can realise that he was even hurt until before he was dead.
The movie is also not without its astonishing selection of completely random scenes that leave you wondering 'why?'. Most notable of these is the scene where a girl walks in front of Jake's car causing him to stop. She starts walking away and Jake instinctively follows her into a random house (I mean, why wouldn't you?). Here the girl removes her top and pours water over her bare chest to reveal her magical water tattoo consisting of five or so incomprehensible characters which Jake seems to understand. This is clearly just a poor excuse at a topless scene for the film, which has absolutely no relevance whatsoever. Another similar event is the introduction of magic and voodoo at the end of the film, which has no impact on the action scene, but succeeds solely in making the film just that extra bit more unbearable to watch.
Seriously, for the love of God, don't watch this film unless you are strapped down to a chair with your eyes forced open. For a proper gun and kung fu action film just pop down to your local DVD rental and get a classic Jackie Chan movie, and save yourself an hour and a half of your life, which you will most probably sorely regret once it is this film is over.
Plot. There was none. The kidnapping of Jake Hopper's daughter is just another lame excuse for Steven Seagal to go on another of his ass-kicking adventures. Apart from that the 'plot' is completely predictable with Jake wreaking havoc in Thailand whilst leaving hundreds, if not thousands, of enemy corpses sprawled in a bloody trail throughout the film.
The most awful aspect of this film, however, is Steven Seagal himself. His lack of acting talent and facial expressions, of which he has just one, never ceases to amaze me. In this film he has made an extra effort to be exceptionally bad, especially in his action scenes, during which he unleashes his super-powers which involve a sophisticated cat fight technique (which I assume is meant to be kung-fu), a power punch (specifically designed to send helpless enemies flying 20 feet across the room) and deadly lightning speed accuracy which his favourite pistol which seems to have an immaculately large clip size considering the number of negligent enemies he managed to shoot without having to reload it at any time during the film. The only thing that Steven Seagal lacks, in fact, is a change of clothes, as the only clothing we see him wear is his trusty brown leather shoes, jeans and sensei top combo, which remains spotless despite the blood spewing out from dying enemies.
Another factor is the special effects of the film, which is limited to spilled ketchup leaking out in a tap-like fashion to represent blood and Steven Seagal jumping through paper thin walls, one of which was the iron side panelling of a train. The rest of the action in the film is left up to a group of actors just as awful as Steven himself, but with added stupidity. I could bet that a five year old playing Cowboys and Indians in his back yard could make a better impression of dying compared to that in the film. The hordes of enemies have no organisation whatsoever and more or less run at machine gun fire head on, and are surprised to be cut down. And then, just as the final nail in the coffin, we witness the blatantly predictable and cheesy death of Jake's best friend Sunti, of which no-one can realise that he was even hurt until before he was dead.
The movie is also not without its astonishing selection of completely random scenes that leave you wondering 'why?'. Most notable of these is the scene where a girl walks in front of Jake's car causing him to stop. She starts walking away and Jake instinctively follows her into a random house (I mean, why wouldn't you?). Here the girl removes her top and pours water over her bare chest to reveal her magical water tattoo consisting of five or so incomprehensible characters which Jake seems to understand. This is clearly just a poor excuse at a topless scene for the film, which has absolutely no relevance whatsoever. Another similar event is the introduction of magic and voodoo at the end of the film, which has no impact on the action scene, but succeeds solely in making the film just that extra bit more unbearable to watch.
Seriously, for the love of God, don't watch this film unless you are strapped down to a chair with your eyes forced open. For a proper gun and kung fu action film just pop down to your local DVD rental and get a classic Jackie Chan movie, and save yourself an hour and a half of your life, which you will most probably sorely regret once it is this film is over.