Born to Raise Hell

Another generic Steven Seagal action film, in this one he plays an Interpol agent caught in the middle of a Russian and Gypsy street gang war in Eastern Europe. Seagal also wrote the script while veteran stuntman and actor Lauro Chartrand makes his directorial debut. Another up and coming martial arts star Darren Shahlavi co-stars as the movie's villain. The action scenes are decent but the story is tired and dull. If you're an action junkie and or Seagal fan you probably won't be disappointed though.

Seagal stars as Samuel Axel, an Interpol agent recently put on assignment in Eastern Europe. He's also breaking in a new partner, a rookie named Steve (D. Neil Mark) who's also expecting a child. The two are a part of a special task force investigating gun and dope smugglers in the Balkans. Their prime interests are a Gypsy gang leader named Costel (Shahlavi) and a Russian gang leader called Dimitri (Dan Badarau, who shares a striking resemblance with Marlon Brando). When things get messy Axel is forced to resort to unconventional measures in order to get the job done.

Like I said Seagal is credited for writing the script but it's basically just parts of a dozen other movies pieced together. The story is irrelevant and about as forgettable as they come. The action scenes are entertaining none the less. A much better fight scene could have been choreographed between Seagal and Shahlavi though. What we get is routine and could have been filmed with anyone opposite Seagal. What a waste of talent! Still the movie was made for just $10 million and say what you will about Seagal's career but his movies continue to be profitable successes. This is just one of many that will soon blur in with all the others but during the 90 minutes I spent watching it it was mildly entertaining.

So many mixed feelings about this one…but overall, just a total dud. It seemed to be more focused on how many Russian chicks they could throw into one 90-minute film than anything else. The brief "action" scenes were entertaining (at least to Seagal fans) but most of this was dull, plodding, completely unemotional and it was impossible to feel like you were emotionally invested in ANY of the characters. They _tried_ to throw in a "rookie partner/young father-to-be" to get emotional buy-in from the viewers, but it just didn't work. The acting was so wooden that I kept checking the running time to see how much more I had left before I could scratch this steaming pile off my list. (Yes, I'm on a mission to plod through every Steven Seagal movie ever made.) I survived but it wasn't because this was so riveting; it was because I kept drinking coffee. The incessant stop-frame sequences were, I suppose, intended to make the movie more "riveting", but ANNOYING is all it was. It added NOTHING to the film, did nothing to enhance or emphasize the scenes, and basically just added minutes to a film that was already an hour too long. I gave it a "4" because there were some halfway decent fight scenes...but as per usual, it seems like Seagal is too insecure to even give an opposing character at least a fighting chance against him. I like Seagal's Aikido skills but dang, dude...even the best get hit once in awhile. I have not once - in all the Seagal movies I've watched to this point - seen Seagal take a punch. A bullet on a couple of occasions, but when it comes to the hand-to-hand stuff, he just never allows his character to take a hit. Make it real, at least. Here, though, as always, his martial arts skill is beyond belief and the (obviously expert) opponent can't even hang for more than a couple seconds. I agree that, for hardcore fans of Steven Seagal - or most action-film aficionados - this is watchable...but it certainly isn't his best. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.

This is so bad I wouldn’t even know where to start. Seagal seem to mix up badass with asshole quite a lot, and I honestly wasn’t sure if his girlfriend was a girlfriend or his daughter. Their “sex scene” was weird and creepy, just there to show her body and have him grope her for the sake of groping her.