Shrapnel (2023) User Reviews

Straightforward shootouts from 35 minutes onwards.

[imseeg · 5/10 · 24 October 2023]

Probably best suited for the fans of this B-movie action genre, for those who just prefer violent good guy vs bad guys shootouts and that is exactly what you are gonna get.

The good: from 35 minutes onwards, it's basically contineous shootouts between Jason Patric and a Mexican drug kartel who has kidnapped his daughter.

The shootouts are okay-ish, but nothing terrific, especially since Jason Patric survives every hailstorm of bullets and kills everybody with a single shot himself. A bit laughable, but then again this is a B-movie. Treat it as such and it'll be a nice pasttime.

For those (like me) who are a bit impatient, skip the first 35 minutes, nothing much happens at the start...

Had potential to be better

[dubond · 5/10 · 9 August 2023]

"You promised to keep us safe. You didn't."

Shrapnel is directed by William Kaufman and stars Jason Patric and Cam Gigandet.

After releasing The Channel earlier this month William Kaufman is back with a revenge thriller in the vein of Taken and Rambo: Last Blood. Unfortunately I didn't think this was as good as The Channel but that was sort of a high bar to live up to well at least in terms of DTV movies. I didn't think this was a total misfire either there are definitely some redeeming qualities here.

I actually thought this movie was too short surprisingly and I feel like this could've benefited from actually showing Sean's (Jason Patric's) daughter getting kidnapped in the beginning or maybe a few more scenes between Gigandet and Patric to further flesh out their relationship. Unfortunately this also suffers from pretty weak writing and I blame Chad Law and Johnny Martin Walters for that. Johnny Martin Walters only other writing credit is a Steven Seagal movie from 2019. Chad Law is actually a pretty prolific writer in the DTV space having written last year's Ryan Kwanten led Section 8, as well as this year's Tubi Original The Getback and the abysmal movie The Flood starring Nicky Whelan. Luckily Law's writing is better here but it's still not great.

For the positives I thought Jason Patric was good here and he actually sold the emotional scenes pretty well. Cam Gigandet is also pretty good here and adds some charisma to this that's needed but he unfortunately barley has any screen time. Kaufman does what he does best and turns this into a pure home invasion shoot em up during the last 15 minutes which was the best part of the movie for me. All the action scenes here are good and Kaufman is the main reason for that but I feel like they were lacking compared to The Channel. With a better script and more emotional depth for the characters this could've been way better.

The Mexican Mafia aims worse than Stormtroopers

[kuner-59029 · 4/10 · 26 October 2023]

In many ways, this is Rambo 5 on a budget. It starts out decent enogh. Jason Patric's daughter is abducted in Mexico. But he's a badass ex-marine, and won't give up on her without a fight. So far so good. Up until the first action scene, the writing and acting is pretty strong. The film spends time setting up the Cartel as all powerful antagonists, and they have corrupt cops on their side, too. The acting by the Cartel members and the cops is good. Jason Patric and his army buddy are good as well, but the actress playing his wife is awful.

The first action scene is set up almost like the finale of Rambo 5... and then it all goes downhill.

This film fails at what it wants to be. It could have worked as a gritty crime thriller, but it wants to be an action film. When you make an action film, you have to get the action right. The action scenes are amateurishly filmed, cheaply made, with all muzzle flares, bullet impacts and even the blood cgi. The destruction of the house looks fake, as do the impacts in cars and walls. It's an instant let down. Beyond that, the bad guys have the worst aim of any movie badguys ever. Even Star Wars Stormtroopers don't aim this badly. There are multiple scenes where Jason Patric is right in the line of fire at barely 5 meters apart, yet somehow every bullet misses. Once that first action scene happens, the movie loses all its momentum.

It's a pity, because the setup was done well. Gritty B-movies like this can work, see the recent Mob Land. But for that to happen, directors and producers need to come to terms with their budgetary limitations and work around them. It is better to have less action but done right than to have a lot of action done badly.

Totally unrealistic

[silverton-37959 · 3/10 · 10 October 2023]

Some of the story passed the smell test, but the gunfights were laughable. There were about 18 cartel gunmen crammed into three SUVs, all of them armed with automatic weapons, attacking a house where our hero and two women lived. The hero had what looked like a .45/70 lever action rifle that would throw a man several yards when it hit him. The hero switched off to his AR15 for the rest of the fight once he had let them into the house with him.

The hero killed 12 of the gunmen, one after the other. The cartel gunmen didn't score a single hit on any of the three defenders while the hero made headshot after headshot under heavy fire from "the cartel that couldn't shoot straight". Only the bad guys ever had to change a magazine. The hero had a magical magazine in his AR15 that must have held 80 rounds.

To make it even worse, the sheriff shows up alone with a 12 gauge pump that held 20+ rounds, and managed to kill one bad guy who shot the sheriff's car up, managing to miss the sheriff completely. The sheriff was killed by the surviving bad guys before his shotgun ever ran out of rounds. It was funny up until then , but it got too ridiculous. Of course there was a car chase that was worse than the gunfight at the house.

Next, the hero teams up with his ex-military pal and they drive to the cartel boss's house....that's where I had to just turn it off. Three stars is very generous. It wasn't that funny, after all.

badly written action B-thriller

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 26 October 2023]

Former Marine Sean Beckwith (Jason Patric) is searching for his missing daughter in Mexico. Max Vohden (Cam Gigandet) is his war buddy.

I come into this knowing that it's a B-movie. When the daughter says "You promised you'd keep us safe. You didn't.", I realized that this is going to be badly written, too. This is an old school Rambo action flick where the good guys take out dozens of bad guys. Sean is never going to get killed and the daughter is certain to be rescued. That's the part which seems to be annoying most critics. I'm not as annoyed with that. It doesn't help that car doors and flimsy walls become bulletproof in this world. It's all badly written. Sean should have taken the cartel brother hostage and make a prisoner exchange. Instead, two guys are going into Mexico to take on the cartel home base. Of course, nothing can go wrong.

Barely watchable shoot-em-up

[carlos-pires · 2/10 · 24 October 2023]

Zero originality. Zero imagination. Did this have a script? You can't tell. Looks like an exercise in trying to rewrite and reenact a small piece of "Rambo: Last Blood".

Obviously low budget. Barely sufferable acting all-round. The lead's dead eyes are a monument to total lack of acting ability. The mother just had her first-born child kidnapped by a Mexican Cartel and is completely unfazed throughout the whole movie. Zero depth.

The usual shaky-camera to provide some fake tension.

As fake as the stellar reviews around here...

The only thing that makes this barely watchable is the fact that from mid-movie on there are always people shooting at each other in several different ways, although again in stupid ways: for instance, the sheriff trying to shoot bad guys with a shotgun from 50 yards, while the bad guys are shooting him with an assortment of military-grade automatic weapons.

There are also a ton of other stupid things, and goofs (like the extra van that you can only see in some shots in the car chase scene).

Bottom line: watch this if you are in the mood for a mind-numbing action sequence of people killing each other.

How to use a moderate budget

[hifiman-62270 · 7/10 · 19 October 2023]

So impressed by this. Simple story but well told. Great pace . Good enough acting and well staged action sequences. Small criticism is the sound during gunfights seemed at odds with action on the screen but more than watchable. Maybe it was the platform I watched it on(sky cinema) I'd recommend this as a brisk. Brain out , 89 minute action movie that for sure has you rooting for the hero not the Mexican cartel. Satisfactory ending. Don't expect a big budget hollywood blockbuster and accept it's a better "B" movie than we have a right to expect and you will be absolutely fine. Probably made for the catering bill on a marvel bill. Impressive.

Worse than expected

[HorrorFilmHellion · 2/10 · 26 October 2023]

Shallow, and very poor camera work turned this into a disappointment. Starting off ok with the shallow part- sets up the story to go rescue a daughter, but right off the bat the camera is zoomed in and bouncing around even with 2 people talking in an office room. Because of that I knew this was going to be really awful when the action started... and it was. Quite a bit of Spanish in parts, but my subtitles were coming across in simplified Chinese, so that didn't help matters a whole lot. And of course, it is so low budget that every henchman is wearing a full ski-mask, hat and goggles, or bandanas so that you can't tell it is the same 5 cannon fodder bad guys in every scene. I guess if you like low budget B action flicks that you really can't focus on anything going on, or don't really care about anything going on due to hollow scripting and acting, then you might enjoy. Not my cup of tea.

Better then expected

[ropelawshiel · 6/10 · 6 October 2023]

It would be best if you first switched off any expectations of reality. This is a B move, and with that mindset, I enjoyed it. It does take around the half-hour mark to get the action going, and it doesn't spend time introducing the viewer to the victim; Shrapnel expects that we understand and move on. This is well done, with lots of splatter and a little torture. Having watched Equalizer 3 recently, I thought if the script and production had been a little better, you could swap Jason Patric for Denzel Washington, and Shrapnel would have been a better Equalizer 3. But Jason Patric holds his own. Leave any reasoning at the door, and if action revenge is for you, then I expect you will enjoy it.

Pure B grade movie

[shuvra124 · 1/10 · 1 January 2024]

Pure B grade movie, without any reason start shooting. All action scene just focus on actor's face, sometimes they trying to show other scenery, but alas they don't have that much creativity to do so. No story line, no acting skill. Just some serious face and they talk and talk. Oh one more thing, they hire some actor from other country, 40% of time they speak garbage language, any english speaker can't understand a single word! So first fluent in english also abjhab language, then watch this movie :D

There was 2 female character, they just act they are afraid, and bed partner! Oh they have a sex scene too :D.

Excellent Action Thriller

[ivandster · 8/10 · 24 August 2023]

Pulse pounding gunfights and a tense script keep the eyes glued to the screen. I did not except too much going into this movie and thought it would be just another mediocre action movie. What a surprise to find it thrilling and entertaining. Starts off slow as it builds the backstory and the inevitable showdown that is about to come.

Once that starts it is non-stop.

Most of all it was the gunfighting that hooked me. Some of the best since movies like heat or John Wick, but more more visceral.

Who does not like to see a violent cartel get what's coming, and this movie delivers in spades. What needs to happen, happens.

Take your time with him!

[sferreira-63569 · 7/10 · 22 December 2023]

For a low budget film, this was pretty good. It reminds me of Rambo Last Blood, but with a better outcome and ending. It's not perfect by any means, but it's entertaining and the fight scenes are really well done. Yes, the story has been done before, but so has almost every story out there these days. The camera work was blurry at times as well, but not enough to interfere with the movie. I liked it for a B movie and would love to see more like this.

However, my biggest gripe with the movie was that some of the actors and actresses could have been better picked. The wife just didn't act very good and the brother of the cartel leader didn't exactly look like a tough man or scary. The scene with the wife in bed was painful to watch and the brother acting tough when attacking the house was too, but everything else was pretty good.

Misty Mountain Ranch

[nogodnomasters · 2/10 · 5 November 2023]

Two girls who we don't know (Teresa Decher and Megan Elisabeth Kelly) get kidnapped by a cartel in Mexico. Sean Beckwith (Jason Patric) gets a quick panic phone call from his daughter. Sean can't get any help and goes on TV. The bad guys see it and send a small army to the Misty Mountain Ranch located on a flat plane. Their encounter takes up nearly the whole feature. It got boring watching Sean always hit his mark while the bad guys missed at point-blank range. I was expecting more to take place in Mexico, like a Liam Neeson thing.

The film was boring and poorly acted. Bad character development.

Guide: F-word. Brief sex. No nudity.

Literally one of the worst movies I have ever seen

[dckfchkfk · 1/10 · 1 March 2024]

Badly written, badly acted, pathetic. Every single line uttered is a piece of cliched tripe.. "don't make the mistake of underestimating what I'm saying here".. "they don't care what colour your passport is".. "you promised to keep us safe" "decorated former United States marine" "this is insane" ARGH!!! On top of that the plot holes are so wide it's impossible not to fall into pretty much all of them. I worked out who the protagonist was less than 10 minutes in.

Complete and utter waste of time. Do yourself a massive favour and do not watch this - if you do it will be a couple of hours of your life you will never get back.

Fabulously stupid

[yuzhaan · 2/10 · 25 October 2023]

Waste of time, waste of energy-I'm glad I didn't pay for this.

Bad guys steal girls; a good dad goes to get them back. Pew-pew, bam-bam, bad guys dead, good guys not dead. That's the synopsis.

It seems now that Hollywood tries to dumb the movies down to the level of Tik-Tok in the hope of more viewers.

Jason Patric bad, very bad... Los Mercenarios were truly funny in their attempt to be the least likable characters in the world.

Cam Gigandet had nothing to do but be supportive and gritty-maybe 10 lines all over.

Unbelievably cheap and stupid. At least they did not skimp on AKMs and fake ammo...

Made an account for this.

[anthony_spangler · 2/10 · 4 December 2023]

Two stars for the two main actors who were the only ones that were good. This movie is hilariously bad that its boarder line enjoyable to watch. It's one of those movies where you have a couple beers and laugh at how bad it is. From the fact that they're shooting shotguns like they're rifles to showing the car towing the main car to film it, the movie is just filled with blunders. Then the cherry on top, the end of the movie where they get inside the Cartels house, it is literally the same exact house that they filmed Sicario in. I'm flabbergasted that somebody watched this movie as a rough draft and said "yep. That's perfect." I wouldn't waist my time watching it, unless you're looking to make fun of it.

"Shrapnel": latest Kaufman Tactical Porn

[sotasmith · 5/10 · 6 December 2023]

Kaufman Tactical Porn: latest offering "Shrapnel"

William Kaufman films from the past are "guilty-cordite-smoking, room-clearing pleasures", best viewed by those seeking a simple testosterone rush with a cold fermented beverage in one or maybe both hands, and the higher-thinking part of the brain powered all the way down.

This is not sophisticated complex cinema.

Kaufman films literally and figuratively are gritty grind-house "point & shoot" tactical porn with a simple story supported by the Magpul-like methodology of offensive and defensive shooting.

Unfortunately, there has been a noticeable decline in the originality and "impact" i.e. Effectiveness/ engagement with the latest William Kaufman action offerings "Warhorse" and this movie "Shrapnel". William, goddam it-go back to your roots!

"Shrapnel" suffers from lack of initial character development. Especially a strangely cast Jason Patric who comes off as very wooden and stiff with "PLUG IN LEAD PROTAGONIST HERE" stretched across his botoxed face and dyed old man hair.

This is a dumbed down "Taken" clone with flat characters and paint by the numbers action set pieces.

Cam Gigantec's performance as the veteran combat USMC buddy to Jason Patric's protagonist offers initial promise but never gains altitude because of the lack of backstory and character development remains flat. His character does get a cool "trophy at the altar" closing scene.

The tactical action set pieces drag. The combat scene at the ranch feels overly long, and for highly trained ex-military operatives there are a number of questionable tactical decisions made despite their superior fire power, numbers, and supposed special forces training.

There would be no movie if these cartel ex-SPECOPs operatives stacked up and entered the ranch all at once.

That could have been the REAL plot twist-anticipated hero Jason Patric and rest of family gets gunned down at the ranch by highly trained cartel exSPECOPS operators, then his friend Cam Gingatec gets Johnny Strong and other ex-unit USMC to punch the ticket of the cartel.

The closing gun battle set piece at the cartel Jefe's hacienda is "MEH". Like watching your pet clean its privates. Nothing unique or noteworthy other than clock is running while you watch people ducking behind cover as rounds "spang" off the cover, then people return fire. This is very boring and just eats up time.

Funding a film is hard. Writing a good screen play is hard. "Shrapnel" goes easy and and the result is dull. Even the title "Shrapnel" feels phoned in.

For better William Kaufman films, please watch "Sinners & Saints" 2010. This film has "grind-house heart", better decent tactical set pieces, and Johnny Strong channels some Clint Eastwood which is entertaining. Feels gritty.

Also for a Sci Fi tactical shooter, please check out, "Day Light's End", 2016 interesting "parallel" to "I am Legend" also starring Johnny Strong.

Man, glad this one was free haha.

[cscott2331 · 3/10 · 3 December 2023]

Okay so I'm all about a good B movie. And I'll be honest Jason Patrick has been a favorite since The Lost Boys. Man did I love that movie as a kid. I was really hoping this one was going to be good, mainly because I wanted JP to have another go with a decent film even a cheesy B film. Sadly this one missed the mark. I do think it could've been much better, with a little more story and some decent lines. We don't care at all about anyone because we don't know enough about them. They really didn't do much talking at all and when they did it was just straight cheesy haha. The cartel shoot like blind people, their aim was straight trash. And then they fold and cry like little girls...come on, no way!! It could've been a good movie because the premise, although it's been done before, is always a story worth telling. The best part of this whole fiasco is Cam Gigandet! Without a doubt, he's the reason for 3 stars and we didn't get nearly enough of him. They didn't even nail the ending. Even with a small budget there could've been more sadly, there wasn't and it just misses the mark over and over. But it was free so there's that!

SHRAPNEL

[gwpetroski · 10/10 · 20 August 2023]

This movie is a ride on your seat. Hats off to the amazing director. This movie was better than most movies of this stature and magnitude. Jason Patric rocks and his military knowledge is second to none. Cam Gigandet is as great as he always is. The movie was nerving and breathtaking at every scene and the action was awesome. I would highly recommend renting or buying this as i would watch it again. I thoroughly enjoyed this film from start to finish. The direction was on target and i could follow what was going on with ease. The storyline was perfect and the acting was superb. Many thanks to the director for an outstanding movte thrill.

Acting & storyline, yes. Action, He'll no.

[joet-75791 · 4/10 · 22 February 2024]

Went in with curiosity. Acting & storyline are actually a pleasant surprise with how decent it was. Is basically Rambo 5 in reverse. What killed it for me though was the shooting in the action sequences. Thousands of bullets fired over the course of the movie....only two reloads. One sequence, the good guy fired over sixty rounds and never reloaded. Also, the cartel apparently can't hit the broad side of a barn. Not once we're any of the main family hit in the crossfire including two shotgun blasts into a closet. Only good guy hit was a cop after a five minute or longer, 5 on 1 gunfight. Also a single bullet is apparently strong enough to either slice a head completely in half, or blow a guy backwards five to ten feet. It got ridiculous.

One of the best shoot em up since the last Rambo move

[turnbull50 · 10/10 · 4 October 2023]

This film just blew me away I was hooked from the start. How he and his family survived and how he gets his kidnapped daughter back is breathtaking. Definite touch of Liam Neasons Wanted movie. The action was just full on after the intro part of the film. I will definitely watch this again. The shootouts are amazing guy well acted. In the last part of the film when our two hero's go to get the kidnapped daughter it is gory and wonderful. No loose ends and everything ended well. I cannot praise this movie enough it was so unexpectedly good. The one man against the Mexican Cartel at the beginning. It could never be bettered.

Perfect good guys v evil guys drama

[fkhjtzswys · 9/10 · 17 December 2023]

I don't understand the low reviews. What do these people want? This movie is raw, realistic, well written, great acting, satisfying from start to finish. In the fantastic battle scenes, there is none of the usual gabbing between the good guys and the bad guys. Just straightforward "I'm going to kill you before you kill me." No artificial drama, unnecessary buildup, just trash can realistic actions and reactions from all of the characters. The length of the movie was just right. Enough relationship background to make you care about the people, but no attempt to make it more emotional than necessary.