Steven Seagal films are slowly becoming something of the porn flicks of the action genre ... you pretty much know what you get bi-anually when you're holding a Seagal DVD in your hands (do they actually make it into the cinema in the US? In Europe they tend to go straight to plastic ...).
Well, of course the film needs to start off with the Seagal character being a soldier trying to rid the world of the danger of opiates by gunning down some opium-bandits in the jungle. The opening scene virtually adds nothing - apart from establishing the aging Seagal as veteran - but, probably as manditory as the lion roaring at the beginnings of old MGM movies ...
From there it goes to Cyber-Tokyo of 2004. It is there revealed that Seagal has actually grown up in Tokyo - not just Tokyo but the China Town of Tokyo. Viewers are more likely to buy a rotten fish, than that ...
Sad is such: when dwelling over Yakuza-classics such as 'Yakuza' (with Robert Mitchum) to 'Black Rain', the Yakuza gangstaz here are portrayed more like Ottaku. Cyber-freaks, Amikan-oh-wanna-be punks who pretty much imitate, well, villains from earlier (and better) Seagal movies. No more 'asian mystique / philosophy within the scoundrel', the days of the clean-cut, samurai sword swinging gangsters are gone. Well, until the end, where naturally suddenly all thugs (and heroes) swing those shiny Japanese blades, having all over suddenly replaced (or lost?) their 20th century guns. Can you imagine how the film ends? If this film had a budget, it might well have become Steven Seagal's 'Terminator 3' ... & Adios, mujajos. But I figure, Seagal still has two, three good years ahead of him. Which would translate into 4, 5, 6 or even 7 more flicks in which he gets to mime the unbeatable hard-ass. Ah, but fortunatley, all times go by and there are often ways to avoid the next Seagal-flick ...
Well, of course the film needs to start off with the Seagal character being a soldier trying to rid the world of the danger of opiates by gunning down some opium-bandits in the jungle. The opening scene virtually adds nothing - apart from establishing the aging Seagal as veteran - but, probably as manditory as the lion roaring at the beginnings of old MGM movies ...
From there it goes to Cyber-Tokyo of 2004. It is there revealed that Seagal has actually grown up in Tokyo - not just Tokyo but the China Town of Tokyo. Viewers are more likely to buy a rotten fish, than that ...
Sad is such: when dwelling over Yakuza-classics such as 'Yakuza' (with Robert Mitchum) to 'Black Rain', the Yakuza gangstaz here are portrayed more like Ottaku. Cyber-freaks, Amikan-oh-wanna-be punks who pretty much imitate, well, villains from earlier (and better) Seagal movies. No more 'asian mystique / philosophy within the scoundrel', the days of the clean-cut, samurai sword swinging gangsters are gone. Well, until the end, where naturally suddenly all thugs (and heroes) swing those shiny Japanese blades, having all over suddenly replaced (or lost?) their 20th century guns. Can you imagine how the film ends? If this film had a budget, it might well have become Steven Seagal's 'Terminator 3' ... & Adios, mujajos. But I figure, Seagal still has two, three good years ahead of him. Which would translate into 4, 5, 6 or even 7 more flicks in which he gets to mime the unbeatable hard-ass. Ah, but fortunatley, all times go by and there are often ways to avoid the next Seagal-flick ...