User Reviews

Seagal looks like he is returning to form after nearly seven or so risible films made in the mid-noughties.

Seagal plays Sallinger or Ballinger depending on where you join the film, an ex cop who gets betrayed by his partner at the beginning, nearly killed, and has to nurse himself back to help, all the while complaining about taking pills and not having long enough jackets.

He gets a call from a mate in Texas, who offers him a job and a hat to look after his daughter after there was a kidnappimg attempt on her. The rest is pure filler, there is something to do with uranium, and the girls boyfriend being a bit of a idiot, but it's all down to the action.

Part Hard to kill (the first act), part The Hard Corps, and mostly Man On Fire, this has to be Seagals best film in over five years.

The story is good, Seagal looks like he is putting some effort into his role finally, and their is no evidence of a stunt double or voice double this time.

It still looks cheaply made, but at least it wasn't filmed in Romania. There are a few plot holes, especially at the beginning, why is his Niece actually in the film? there is no point, and we never really get to know how well Sallinger knew his partner.

The action scenes are okay, a lot more exciting than Seagal previous efforts, and the bad guys really know how to fall after being shot.

So it's not the greatest film in the world, but for Seagal, it's a triumph, it's a shame to know he never put in this much effort with Sony, then he would be more respected.

The Keeper starts in Los Angeles as undercover cop Roland Sallinger (Steven Seagal) & his partner raid a drug dealers hideout, after a shoot-out in which all the dealers are shot dead Sallinger's partner would rather take the two million dollars in cash than turn it in & shoots Sallinger who refuses to take part in the theft. Sallinger survives the shooting but is badly injured & is forced to retire, as luck would have it Sallinger's old partner Connor Wells (Stephy DuVall) who has become a wealthy businessman in Texas wants Sallinger as a bodyguard to protect his daughter Nikita (Liezl Carstens) who recently narrowly escaped being kidnapped. Sallinger agrees & is on the first plane out there, once there Sallinger takes over all the security as a mob boss Jason Cross (Luce Rains) orders Nikita to be kidnapped so h can hold her to ransom & get his hands on some land that is worth millions but he hasn't counted on Sallinger...

Executive produced & directed by Keoni Waxman as far as straight to video action thrillers starring Steven Seagal this one isn't too bad actually, I mean it's no masterpiece or anything anywhere near it but it passes the time & isn't as awful as many of the films Seagal has starred in during the past ten years or so. The script is fairly routine & uninspired stuff with the standard tough cop character up against some bad guy's with some personal motivation thrown in for good measure as his friends daughter gets herself kidnapped but it tells it's story effectively enough with a decent pace & even has a few good action scenes as well. There are moments that lower things a peg or two like doctor's thinking Seagal is in a coma at the start even though he's awake or his double crossing partner not making sure Seagal was dead in the first place but overall The Keeper is fairly coherent unlike some of Seagal's more recent output. There's not much else to say, if you have seen any of Seagal's straight to video films then you will probably have sufficiently low expectations to go into The Keeper & be pleasantly surprised if not exactly blown away with admiration.

The action is better than most of the stuff Seagal has done recently, sure he still looks a little overweight & wears a long coat to try & hide his girth but the fights are brutal with Seagal breaking arms & dishing out some serious beatings like he used to during his glory days during the 90's. There's not that much action elsewhere though, there's a half decent car chase & an explosion at the end but it's mostly fights & shoot-outs. There's a little nudity, a lot of violence & a bit of blood too. The Keeper also features Steven Seagal in an over-sized cowboy hat, that scene alone makes this worth a watch.

Even though the IMDb says The Keeper had a budget of about $10,000,000 I find that hard to believe, it's quite well made & competent if nothing else but hardly spectacular. Filmed in New Mexico despite being set in Texas. The acting is alright, no-one is going to win any awards but do passable jobs while Seagal just mumbles his way through his role as usual.

The Keeper is a reasonable action thriller that I didn't think was brilliant but at the same time didn't think was terrible, it certainly passed the time & is a lot better than most of Seagal's recent output which has generally been awful. Better than expected for sure, don't expect a masterpiece & it passes the time harmlessly enough.

A few years back,Seagal proved he still had it with "Urban Justice". Why can't he continue with that kind of quality? This film was nothing more than a poor episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" . The fight scenes were mediocre because of the jumpy camera that serves to confuse you into thinking you're seeing some moves. The car chase was pathetic.I admit that some of the action scenes were very good,but the editing and the shaky camera ruined this film. Seagal needs to shape up. He owes it to his fans to see Jenny Craig. The only great acting was done by the chick who played the kidnapped daughter. The chick who played his LA cop friend was a horrible actress.

"Sweepers" director Keoni Waxman keeps the serviceable Steven Seagal thriller "The Keeper" from bogging down in "Con Express" scenarist Paul A. Birkett's formulaic but entertaining yarn. An honest L.A.P.D. detective, who has been put-out-to-pasture, serves as a bodyguard for one of his oldest friends in Texas after an attempt is made to kidnap his friend's adult daughter. Obviously, Waxman and Birkett must have seen Seagal's second theatrical release "Hard to Kill" about a cop who gets shot, winds up in a coma for seven years, and then makes a miraculous recovery to take down the dudes that did him dirty. The rest of the story concerns our hero's efforts a la "The Bodyguard" to protect a woman from evil kidnappers who want to use her to extort millions from her father.

Roland Salinger (Steven Seagal) and his partner Trevor (Brian Keith Gamble of "Felon") stumble onto about $20-million of illicit drug money after they blast a room full of villains to death. Trevor wants to appropriate the dough. He claims that nobody will care. Appropriately, Roland is surprised by his partner's attitude. He is more surprised when Trevor puts two slugs through his chest. Unfortunately for Trevor, he doesn't finish the job. Nevertheless, Trevor is so certain that Roland is kaput that he calls in a 911 "an officer down" alert. Imagine Trevor's considerable shock when he learns later from a uniformed cop on the scene that Roland has a pulse. Trevor decides to finish off Roland at the hospital. Before Trevor walks into Roland's room, Roland's niece enters and inquires about her uncle's condition. Roland steals a revolver from his niece's purse while she is looking the other way and talking to a nurse. At this point, nobody knows for sure that Roland will recover from his wounds. Roland conceals the firearm under his hospital gown. After his niece leaves, Trevor slips into the room and tries to suffocate Roland with a pillow Imagine Trevor's surprise when the indestructible Roland plugs him twice. The way that Waxman and Birkett set up and pay off this scene is as adequate as Roland's stamina is remarkable.

Gradually, Roland recovers his lethal skills. Waxman turns Roland's recovery into a montage of our hero slinging knives into a board. Naturally, as Roland recuperates, the knives hit the board and stick in it instead of bouncing off it or other knives. Although Roland makes a miraculous recovery, the L.A.P.D. mandates that he take early retirement. Not long afterward one of Roland's best friends who he calls "a stand-up guy," Conner Wells (Stephen DuVall of "Driven to Kill"), asks him to act as a bodyguard for Nikita Wells (Liezl Carstens of "Jordan") his party-hardy daughter. Earlier, Nikita and her obnoxious boyfriend, Mason "The Storm" Silver (Arron Shiver of "Swing Vote"), were leaving a party when a group of assailants posing as paparazzi surrounded Nikita's limo and opened fire on her bodyguard, Jorge (Tomas Sanchez of "MacGruber"), killing him in a brief firefight in an underground garage. One of the first clues that Mason is a villain occurs when he gets out of the limo to talk to the paparazzi and then flees to hide in a corner of the garage as they try to kidnap Nikita. Of course, Nikita doesn't realize what an obnoxious jerk that Mason is or that he is a part of a conspiracy to abduct her. What nobody knows is that Mason is tied in with Conner's old nemesis, career criminal Jason Cross (Luce Rains of "Appaloosa"), who wants to steal the deeds to all of Wells' real estate holdings. Indeed, Mason has been trying to arrange things so that Conner's men can kidnap her Nikita. Eventually, we learn that uranium has been discovered on Connor's depleted oil well lands and the avaricious Cross wants the property. During this second quarter of the film, Waxman cross-cuts between Roland's recovery and Nikita's botched abduction. Indeed, Waxman does an adequate job of pacing the action and preparing us for what inevitably lies ahead.

Nothing incredibly surprising occurs in "The Keeper," but it is always fun to watch Seagal decimate the opposition. The shoot-outs are sufficiently bloody and brutal, and Liezl Carstens qualifies as a sympathetic by flighty heroine. Waxman plays everything pretty straightforward, and Seagal doesn't utter any ironic one-liners. Seagal's varies his dialogue delivery between urban funkiness to a whispered business-like rasp. This doesn't necessarily mean that Seagal gives a flawed performance. There are times when he speaks the lingo of those around. Later, when he ends up in Texas, he doesn't make with the funky dialect. The close-quarters combat scenes are edited so that everything occurs so rapidly that you may miss a punch or two if you aren't looking. The sequence in the hospital when the nurses are rushing Roland into surgery is rather well-done in terms of angles and coverage. "The Keeper" is not as much fun as "Urban Justice," but it surpasses many of the martial arts star's earlier straight-to-video releases where his voice was dubbed in by other actors.

...and you never were much of an actor in the first place.

This movie features a much older, chubbier Steven Segal hashing out the same basic threadbare plot lines he has become known for, with no facial animation and (NEW) no real action (but there is some really quick camera-shot gimmicks?) Come to think of it, he doesn't really move quickly at ANY point in this movie. (In the outtakes I would expect to see many shots of Segal zipping around, climbing in and out of in those little lot buggies?) The amazing thing is how they somehow were able to burn through a $10,000,000 budget. What did they spend it on? Even Segal drives around in a '80s era truck, and most of the other vehicles were little better. One modification my boyfriend would like that was on that truck: that windshield that can stop multiple bullets?

Anyway, disappointing all round.

Just watched THE KEEPER and was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it wasn't 'Out For Justice', but it was a lot better movie, than it's distributors give it credit for (can't believe they printed an earlier draft of the script on the back cover......don't the people at OPTIMUM have proof-readers for these things?)

THE PLOT:

Anyhow, the story gets straight to the action, with Seagal as Roland Sallinger, a cop with 25 years on the force, teamed up with an over-ambitious (and greedy) partner. After a drug bust, Sallingers partner is Keen to pocket the drug money. Sallinger (a good cop) hates this idea, and is promptly shot by his crooked partner (who then phones it in a gang-shooting)....Only thing is, Sallinger is rushed to the hospital, wounded, but not dead. The crooked partner turns up at the hospital looking for Sallinger, who has a visit prior by a female colleague (and lifts her gun from her handbag, in order to defend himself) As the lady cop leaves the hospital, she realises her gun is gone, and races back to Sallingers ward. The crooked cop tries to suffocate Sallinger with a pillow, and is promptly shot with the gun Roland stole (never take a pillow to a gunfight, i say!)

Much time passes, and we witness Sallinger (banished from the police, due to injuries) taking medication, lifting weights, throwing knifes (we also get to see his many, many awards, medals and trophies, earned during the line of fire) We also notice a picture of him and a wealthy Texan millionaire (but more on that later.....) As he mends his injuries, aided by his female colleague, the scene shifts to the glitzy night-life, of a wealthy young (Paris-Hilton- like) heiress (named Nikita) who's saddled with a playboy boxing womaniser (NOT a football player, as the cover states) who we know from the outset is rather crooked, as he flees the scene of an attempted kidnapping on the heiress. Sallinger is slowly getting better, when a surprise phone call, from his texan millionaire friend, asking him to fly over and help him with a problem. Feeling better, Roland agrees, and is met at the airport by a cop, who warns him from causing trouble, and reminding Sallinger that he's no longer a cop anymore. A mutual respect is brought about, and Sallinger and the cop, part ways. Driven to the Millionaires ranch,Roland also strikes up an off-beat friendship with the chauffeur, andis quick to help out en-route, defend the drivers sister against twogangster types. Sallinger kicks the s**t out of them, and finally meets up with his millionaire friend. He explains that his daughters life is in danger, and would Sallinger be her bodyguard? Roland agrees (but senses that his friend is not giving him all the 'intel' required) Sallinger has the security updated/modified/changed at the ranch, and puts his 'bone-breaking' skills to good use, on his first nights work (as he defends the Heiress, against two heavies at a bar) whilst Nikita's boyfriend is smooching with another girl in a back room. Nikita feels safe with her new bodyguard, and she regains her confidence again. But unbeknown to her, her cheating boyfriend has been 'leant-on' by her earlier (would-be) kidnappers, and plans to assist them in her kidnapping, next time they are out alone. Sallinger almost thwarts this kidnapping, but is arrested, after a crunching car-chase, and brutal shoot-out, leaving the kidnappers to get away with Nikita, and sending a ransom note to her wealthy father. I've gave away enough for you to guess that Sallinger, won't stop until he saves the girl, and kills the bad guys.......

THE ACTING:

Seagal is fine (although some of his dialogue is quiet) but i didn't notice any dubbing (other than the opening scene....which was an overhead shot of a car) He drops a few 'F-Bombs' from time to time, and is basically a (soft-hearted) bad ass throughout.The supporting cast are capable enough (no big names) but efficient enough, to keep ones interest. The Chauffeur gives the best secondary performance (emoting a lot, just through his looks and gestures)

ACTION:

Once again, i wasn't expecting UNDER SIEGE 2, but thankfully the movie had a fair few shoot-outs (about 3) a few fights (mostly a few quick moves) but brutal enough, and well spaced out (about 4) and a half decent car chase.

VERDICT

THE KEEPER was a good solid DTV movie. A lot better (and easier to understand, than say) KILLSWITCH or AGAINST THE DARK And coming after DRIVEN TO KILL, it's fine as a companion piece to both URBAN JUSTICE and PISTOL WHIPPED. Fans of non-stop action, might feel a little short-changed (but luckily, this has a coherent plot to fall back on, and it's pace rarely sags) But fans of Seagal himself, will enjoy this modest thriller (especially if they enjoyed MAN ON FIRE?

My rating 8 out of 10

If you have seen on Seagal film, you have basically seen them all. Steven Seagal, a student of the Arnold Schwarzenegger school of bad acting, plays a typical Steven Seagal in a picture with no plot twists and nothing to make us think. Early in film Seagal is double crossed by his partner (cop) who shoots Seagal. Forced into medical retirement he takes a job guarding the beautiful daughter of a wealthy business man and former police buddy.

Bad guys want to kidnap said daughter. They succeed and Seagal goes "walking tall" to go get her back. No plot twists. Nothing unexpected. Just a plain action flick of one "superhero" ex-cop beating up the bad guys. The movie was in serious need of a writer, not only for plot, but a few clever lines.

F-bombs, silicon nudity

A dirty cop, turns on his own partner, Roland (Steven Seagal), shooting him for not agreeing to take some drug money during a bust, not knowing that the bullet to the chest wouldn't in fact kill him, returns to the hospital to finish the job and isn't successful. With help from his girlfriend Regina, Roland will have to recover from his injuries. Forced into a police mandated retirement, an old friend, Conner Wells(Stephan Duvall) from his past(both were cop partners in Texas) calls on Roland to protect his daughter, Nikita(Liezl Carstens) from a rival, Jason Cross(Luce Rains)who is after his land's rich uranium. Cross attempted once before to kidnap Nikita, failing after she narrowly escapes so Conner calls upon Roland's services to help keep her safe. When, after much in the way of security fails, Nikita is finally captured by Cross, Roland will go after all of them, with a little help by chauffeur driver Manuello(Johnny Hector)and his two cousins. Detective Simon Pacheco(Kevin Wiggins)hopes Roland will allow him to do his job and finally put away Cross for good..it's all the dead bodies Roland leaves around that bothers Cross.

While not exactly the most original or imaginative storyline for an action film, there seemed to be more budget for THE KEEPER in that we get plenty of blood shed, shootouts, and an entertaining car chase with plenty of gunfire involved. And, Seagal does have two instances where he engages in hand-to-hand fisticuffs with Cross' men, not to mention he shoots a hell of a lot of people..plenty of squibs put to good use in THE KEEPER. While I'm not sure if the opening twenty or so minutes was really needed(seems like a slight rehash of HARD TO KILL), with a wasted Trine Christensen as Roland's confident, Regina, there to provide comfort and support after his being injured by his SWAT partner, THE KEEPER does show Seagal in a different kind of role, as a security bodyguard, albeit with special training in combat techniques. Carstens is a knockout as the daughter Roland must protect. Arron Shiver is the slimy boxer, Mason, boyfriend to Nikita, and actually working for Cross behind trainer Conner's back. It's too bad Roland couldn't kick Mason's ass at the end for his betrayal of Conner.