Mairosu
08-24-03, 11:48 PM
Dolph Lundgren is Jack Devlin, an ex-fed turned bodyguard for hire, who suffers a trauma during one shootout and as a result, develops a rabid fear of white colour (?!) . He decides to retire, but is lured back to work when his good friend gets injured, so he can finish his job off - protecting a supermodel from a psycho sniper.
So why am I reviewing this ? Why, in the first place, have I rented this ?
Easy. This is one of the couple John Woo films I never saw...and if it only stayed that way. Blackjack, originally conceived as a pilot for (thankfully enough) never realised TV series, is a proper pile of junk. While Dolph ain't totally horrible in his role as the white-o-phobic bodyguard/magician (yes, the man knows his cards) - everything else is. From the opening credits you have the feeling you're watching one of those late night softcore flicks on cable (the soundtrack full of those clichéed sax suites doesn't help, either), chock-full of sets which look like they've been borrowed from Days of Our Lives and lacking in any sort of atmosphere. The plot has more holes than an execution victim of a particulary gruesome shooting squad, and the idea of having an action hero who fears a colour - white, no less, black would be somewhat tolerable - is downright outlandish. It doesn't feel like that from the start, but wait 'till you see Dolph spinning around in agony after being showered to death with...milk.
And then the action scenes. Considering mr. Woo is signed as a director, you would have expected something stylish, at very least. But that would be too much, wouldn't it. Action set pieces defy any logic here (just observe Dolph bouncing on a trampoline and gunning down baddies in the first shootout), and for the first time, the celebrated slow-motion bullet ballet doesn't work...if anything, it just prolongs the agony. Film only partially redeems itself midway through the film in a scene which involes some fine stunts on a dirtbike, but that's about it. It's dreadfully overlong as well at 108 minutes, lest I forget that.
Bottom line, Dolph, a bloke with an IQ of 160, masters degree in chemical engineering and black belt in karate, and Woo, the undisputed master of action directing, both deserve better. And give some love to Dolph for his, if not native, then at very least neutral accent - at least it's not abrasively germanic like with some.
D-, just because it was directed by you-know-who.
So why am I reviewing this ? Why, in the first place, have I rented this ?
Easy. This is one of the couple John Woo films I never saw...and if it only stayed that way. Blackjack, originally conceived as a pilot for (thankfully enough) never realised TV series, is a proper pile of junk. While Dolph ain't totally horrible in his role as the white-o-phobic bodyguard/magician (yes, the man knows his cards) - everything else is. From the opening credits you have the feeling you're watching one of those late night softcore flicks on cable (the soundtrack full of those clichéed sax suites doesn't help, either), chock-full of sets which look like they've been borrowed from Days of Our Lives and lacking in any sort of atmosphere. The plot has more holes than an execution victim of a particulary gruesome shooting squad, and the idea of having an action hero who fears a colour - white, no less, black would be somewhat tolerable - is downright outlandish. It doesn't feel like that from the start, but wait 'till you see Dolph spinning around in agony after being showered to death with...milk.
And then the action scenes. Considering mr. Woo is signed as a director, you would have expected something stylish, at very least. But that would be too much, wouldn't it. Action set pieces defy any logic here (just observe Dolph bouncing on a trampoline and gunning down baddies in the first shootout), and for the first time, the celebrated slow-motion bullet ballet doesn't work...if anything, it just prolongs the agony. Film only partially redeems itself midway through the film in a scene which involes some fine stunts on a dirtbike, but that's about it. It's dreadfully overlong as well at 108 minutes, lest I forget that.
Bottom line, Dolph, a bloke with an IQ of 160, masters degree in chemical engineering and black belt in karate, and Woo, the undisputed master of action directing, both deserve better. And give some love to Dolph for his, if not native, then at very least neutral accent - at least it's not abrasively germanic like with some.
D-, just because it was directed by you-know-who.