Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Karlee
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
shakercoola
Next stop China in a story about an archaeologist framed for murder who exacts revenge. The overall production is poor with many inconsistencies in the story logic. The characters are not established properly at the beginning so what follows isn't coherent drama. There are changes in tone too which invites ridicule, such as a monkey-style kung-fu fighter walk on a wall - audiences are not prepared for this diversion. Many of the acting performaces are below par. It also has obvious dubbing and obvious stand-in work for the action sequences.
Leofwine_draca
There's something charming about the simplicity of this film's plot: it consists of an impassive Seagal working his way through a gang of Chinese Tong, murdering them one by one until his job is complete. That's it. No hassles, no interruptions, no sub-plots; just straightforward, methodological killing the way we like it. The surprise is that we get to see Seagal do some of his old fashioned kicking and Aikido kung fu methods, even sword-fighting at one point; seeing as his last film TICKER saw him sitting in a seat for the entire film, watching him back in action is a real surprise – and a guilty pleasure… This film is cheap, of course. Every now and then a terrible visual effect will pop up to show you that. The dialogue is nothing to write home about and the locations look particularly cheap. The storyline is clichéd and ridiculous and even the title is cookie-cutter perfunctory. But somehow it all gels together and works for a change. Seagal is in the limelight again, his hair a little longer, his belly a little more rounded, but still kicking backside with the best of them. Watching him destroy Chinese villain after Chinese villain with his well-practised arm and neck-breakings is a pleasure long forgotten in his recent run of movies and it certainly delivers the action goods with almost non-stop fight scenes and death.Some filler is thrown in with a Mulder and Scully pair of cops but their importance is minimal. What counts is the strong-arm violence, the sleazy strip-joints and nude dancers, and most importantly Seagal kicking backside. Watch out for the hilarious decapitation finale and the crazed fight scene in which Seagal batters a barber who knows the monkey style and flies along the walls at breakneck speed! This kind of imagination has been sorely lacking in similar Seagal flicks recently which again makes it a nice surprise. Far from his best, but if he keeps making these films then he's definitely back on track.
Prismark10
Steven Seagal has a decent run of action films in the early 1990s with Under Siege being the high point. His decline was swift as his ego got the better of him.For years he has been out of shape, portly and with bad hair. He still has loyal fans hence the slew of straight to DVD releases which tends to have the same fight scenes. Seagal basically moving his hands around quickly.Here Seagal plays an archaeology professor in China. The artifacts have been used by the Triad gangs to smuggle drugs and the somehow police think that this award winning expert is behind it and sent to jail.The US cops get him released hoping that he would lead them to the bad guys, but as always Seagal is a man with a shady past and worse his idiocy leads to his wife being killed. Now he is bent on revenge and no amount of bad CGI will stop him.This is a film if you want to see bad acting, bad dubbing, bad special effects, bad script and to see how the once mighty have fallen.The high point is the monkey style kung fu fight scene.
lastliberal
You know when you want a degree there are course you have to take just because someone thinks they are important. This is one of those required to complete your degree in Seagalology. Think of it an as ordeal you must get through to pass.There is not noble purpose here. Seagal is just out for revenge on those who killed his wife (Kata Dobó). He is up against a Chinese syndicate that reminds us every 10 minutes that "This Gwilo professor is becoming a problem" after each of their 10 henchmen die at Seagal's hands.DEA agents Michelle Goh and Corey Johnson are following the trail of blood, but they don't want to arrest him until he finishes.Lots of blood and martial arts, but nothing else.There one more done.
