Falcon Rising

With the exception of a few landscape shots, its clear the producers passed miles away from Rio. Why they don't use brazilian actors rather than using spanish speakers trying to emulate something that is anything but portuguese?

I had very little expectations to the movie, as I hadn't even heard about it prior to stumbling upon it by sheer luck on Netflix. I decided to watch it solely because Michael Jai White starred in it.

And it turned out that this action flick was actually rather entertaining. Sure, the storyline was generic and something that definitely has been seen before in other action movies. But the combination of the storyline, the action, the acting, and the cast, then the end result really worked out as an entertaining action movie with that late 1980's feel that action movies had back then.

The story, in all its simplistic glory, is about a an ex-marine (played by Michael Jai White) who travels to Brazil, where he takes up fighting the Yakuza in the slums of Brazil, because the Yakuza attacked her sister and left her for dead.

There is a lot of action and fighting throughout the course of "Falcon Rising", and I will say that the action sequences and the fight scenes were quite nicely choreographed and executed on the screen. Which only added to the enjoyment of the movie, of course.

"Falcon Rising" is definitely worth the time of watching if you are a fan of old school action movies.

OK action movie but there is some confusion concerning the place of action. You can clearly see the typical views of Rio DE Janeiro and not a word about Sao Paolo. Maybe it is a small detail to most viewers - thou I doubt it, but right is right. It happens in Rio and not in Sao Paolo, OK? Otherwise an entertaining movie, recommended. After that we can go on to say few words about the movie itself. It seemed a little like Jason Statham plot - remember Jason's "Homefront?" The Brazilian police couple for ex. was a little too obvious to me, but not surprising at all. The action is quite interesting as it takes us beyond the Favela and gets us to take an additional quick look into the world of trafficking. All in all really good acting on most characters and nicely photographed too, Thomas K.

Well, this enter the "you seen that before" category from the get go. There is nothing original about the plot. Ex Marine Falcon is out of the battlefield with post war trauma, the only thing he care for in this world is his sister. She get attacked and left for dead in Brazil and he goes after the people doing it.

The rest is your typical plot of any movies of that sub genra... BUT the main focus here is that this movie star Michael Jai White, the guy can be pretty impressive on screen. Not only does he has an intimidating presence and know how to act, but he fight really good too.

This is what makes the movie. Its true there is not as many fights as one would like, but when they happen, they are pretty good, and its really what i consider a very cool B action movie. If you like what veterans like Lundgren, Van Damme, Seagal or such do these days, you will love this one as its a bit above in my book. The thing is, MJW can fight, and its obvious the only reason why this movie does not shine more is the lack of fighting sequence for a plot development, which can't be seen badly either.

I had fun watching this, and i heard they plan it to be a series of movies, so i am interest to see what Falcon has in store next.

7.5/10

I agree with A_Different_Drummer's review for this movie and his Blood and Bone review. MJW is one of the best action stars out there and is still under-utilized. While this movie started off slowly, the second half was very entertaining and worth it. Predictable story but who cares, it's all about the style for this movie.

MJW needs more roles, I will watch anything with him in it. If you haven't seen Blood and Bone or Black Dynamite yet, go ahead and do yourself the favor.

Though this one isn't his strongest movie it beats the usual 6's and 7's on IMDb that are churned out by Popllywood.