Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Staci Frederick Blistering performances.
Wizard-8 Obviously, this movie should not be confused with the Bruce Lee movie of the same name. The only thing they have in common is the use of martial arts. Anyway, I didn't find this movie as bad as some of the comments here. Although it was released direct-to-DVD, the production values are mostly strong; this movie could have been released to theaters. Shooting in Detroit also gave the movie a unique backdrop. But I was disappointed in the end. Although the action scenes do show that Snipes indeed knows his martial arts, they were directed and choreographed in a way that drains most of the excitement out them. Also a bad directorial touch was the use of black and white, which comes out of nowhere and seems out of place. The resolution of the climax will most likely leave viewers unsatisfied with how things are wrapped up. But long before that, the movie's mean streak will have turned off viewers (a TON of innocent people get killed during the movie!) Still, Snipes fans may be forgiving of a lot of these flaws, since this will probably be one of the last Snipes movies they'll get to see for a long time, with Snipes now in prison.
TdSmth5 Game of Death if a straightforward political action flick. Wesley Snipes plays a CIA agent who walks into a church and tells the priest he's killed a lot of people. He reluctantly confesses. He was assigned to infiltrate and kill an arms dealer. On the day of the mission things start going wrong. The dealers' caravan is attacked and the arms dealer suffers a heart attack. Snipes, who now is security for the dealer at first doesn't now what is going on. In a hospital he finds himself under attack again. His CIA team went rogue and has its own plans for the dealer.Some interesting and critical things are said of the US, war, and corporate interests. This movie is straightforward action because there is no romantic interest, Snipes isn't fighting for his family or some such thing, in the end it comes down to his own survival.This is an East-coast B movie that has a certain 90s feel to it. It's all about the action and the action is very good- typical Wesley Snipes stuff- energetic, fast, brutal. Snipes has always been somewhat of an under-appreciated action star.The movie could have had a bit more story, especially about the sinister corporate/government deals. Snipes, who is a fine actor overall could have gotten a bit more do. It suffers from some weird visual choices. Often there are quick scenes filmed in black and white for some reason, or other color changes during actions scenes that serve no purpose. Otherwise, this is a pretty entertaining, plain action flick with good fight scenes.
bptr-1 I was totally stoked about this movie after seeing the preview (by the way I can't stand the "cool" industry insiders who insist on calling movie previews "trailers" just to prove that they are cool movie insiders. Do they appear before or after the feature film??? DUH!!!).Anyway, this movie turned out to be cheesy and formulaic. The preview made Snipes' character seem totally invincible with far superior karate fighting skills (which would have been awesome and something I long for).After watching the Special Features - which were not very good at all - I realized what the problem was. The Director was thrown into this project right before they started shooting with little preparation (and possible experience in this genre) and has a working style of 'just getting it done'. He did just get it done - with very unremarkable results.I don't blame Snipes at all - his performance was very good with what he had to work with. He seemed to just go along with this schlock, just as he went along with the con artists (one was actually named Kahn) who led him into an illegal tax scheme to defraud the federal government that landed him in jail.I also see how movie Previews are made by independent production houses and can be very misleading about the actual quality of a film. In this case they made a very good one. Maybe they should have produced the entire film!Oh, one more thing. 100 millions dollars (in 100's) can be carried in just 2 modest-sized duffel bags? Wow! How dumb do they think we are?
Boloxxxi This movie is played out thru and as a sort of "confession" to a priest. So the story is not told in REAL time; but AFTER the fact; sitting in a church with a priest.CIA agent Marcus Jones is given the assignment of infiltrating the organization of arms dealer, Frank Smith, and thru him get to the president or head of a hedge fund operation based in Detroit; man named Redvale, who smith is working with. The CIA wants them both dead. It seems that Redvale Corp. has oil interests some place in Africa but the policies of the local government there is somehow cramping their style or interfering with the conduct of their business. This is where Frank Smith comes in: Revdale is financing Smith to arm rebels opposed to the government. Immediately after Marcus is given his assignment, the movie cuts to --and begins-- at a point where he has already infiltrated Frank Smith's operation and is now working for him as security or a personal bodyguard. They are in a plane together at this point on their way to the Revdale Corp. to see Revdale and collect Smith's share of money from some transaction or deal in Africa. The plane lands and they transfer to a black SUV with cool musical accompaniment (Don't you wish this would happen every time YOU stepped off a plane or headed for your car?). At the same time, Marcus's CIA team is getting ready to move in; orders are given by their head of operations flying in a chopper overhead, that no action should be take until Smith picks up his loot.The action begins when "others" I'm calling them (an important plot twist already spoiled for you by the IMDb synopsis) decide to interfere with the CIA operation so that they can get their greedy paws on all the loot that Smith is about to collect. At the same time, in the back seat of the SUV, Smith is starting to feel hot and bothered; complains about the heat; shortly thereafter he is having a major heart attack and has to be taken to a hospital. But the "others", unaware of this, are shooting at the car to get it to stop. They want Smith captured so that they can use him to get into Revdale Corp. and collect his money. A chase leads to a hospital where most of the action takes place as the "others" hunt Marcus and look to kidnap the badly ailing Smith.I was pleasantly surprised by this movie (low expectations, I guess). Turns out this is a good action film. Snipes played his character Marcus in a sober, detached sort of way; like a man who has no other life or friend but his job and whose longest conversations take place within. So he's serious; has no "attitude" and cracks no jokes. Not even a "forced" smile for the nurse who was looking after him and who was clearly flirting (Down fellas, not the nurse of your fantasies). For example, after some comment she made about always wanting to date a bodyguard, he looked at her as if he had no idea what she was going on about; as if human chit chat or conversion was something he was unfamiliar with. So this guy is busy; unless you have something to do with his mission or the job at hand, you exist to him only peripherally.The movie utilizes the "hunter-and-prey-in-a-confined-area" (a hospital) scenario. And though hardly original, it is a favorite of many people --if done well-- and I thought it was done well here. So it was entertaining to watch hunter and prey navigate the rooms and floors of the hospital; the former trying to kill or capture and the latter trying to survive and get away. I found the fight scenes effective; smart and satisfying; demonstrating that breaking someone's neck is not the snap you might have thought it was (sorry; couldn't resist). Finally, just to give you some perspective: This movie, while not having all the money, star-power, and fire-power of say, "The Expendables", is still hands-down the better made action film. Demonstrating once again that "less" is often "more" and "more" is often "less". Love, Boloxxxi.
