DIAMOND CARTEL is one of the worst films I've seen in a while, and I've seen a lot of them. It also happens to be the first film I've seen from Kazakhstan, which doesn't bode too well. This is a messy thriller with barely any kind of plot, just various 'good' and 'bad' characters chasing each other around, before finally coming together for a big shoot-out at the climax. The Kazakh leads are terrible and wooden in the extreme and the whole film has a too-bright look to it, with CGI backdrops throughout; even the main actress looks constantly airbrushed.
Literally the only thing this mess of a movie has going for it is the cast, with lots of old-time faces showing up for cameos. The worst of these is poor old Peter O'Toole, whose swansong this is; his voice is dubbed over in a very insulting way. Michael Madsen shows up for five minutes and Don "The Dragon" Wilson sits at a table alongside Olivier Gruner and Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, perhaps remembering their '90s heydays. Armand Assante chews the scenery horribly as the villain of the piece, while Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa does his usual thing. Best of all is the great Bolo Yeung, who at least gets one (brief) fight scene. Other than the cameos and the fun ending, this film's terrible, so you have been warned.
Literally the only thing this mess of a movie has going for it is the cast, with lots of old-time faces showing up for cameos. The worst of these is poor old Peter O'Toole, whose swansong this is; his voice is dubbed over in a very insulting way. Michael Madsen shows up for five minutes and Don "The Dragon" Wilson sits at a table alongside Olivier Gruner and Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, perhaps remembering their '90s heydays. Armand Assante chews the scenery horribly as the villain of the piece, while Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa does his usual thing. Best of all is the great Bolo Yeung, who at least gets one (brief) fight scene. Other than the cameos and the fun ending, this film's terrible, so you have been warned.