Trouble Man

Michael Jai White's Trouble Man delivers surprisingly engaging action-comedy that punches above its weight.

Following ex-cop turned Atlanta PI Jaxen hunting missing R&B star Jahari, the investigation spirals into conspiracy territory with enough twists to stay interesting.

White directs himself capably, keeping things brisk with genuine genre understanding. The Atlanta setting provides authentic atmosphere, and Method Man offers decent support, though the acting quality wobbles throughout.

Budget constraints kill the action sequences stone dead. Fight scenes feel stagey, chase sequences lack punch, and supporting performances range from adequate to wooden. White's charismatic presence can't mask these technical shortcomings.

What works is the film's genuine affection for classic detective stories. It's comfort food cinema-familiar, unpretentious, moderately entertaining despite obvious limitations. This would've found its audience easily in the 1990s, but feels slightly adrift now.

Rating: 6.5/10 (Decent detective story hampered by budget reality and uneven execution)

Trying to star in and direct has left its mark. Its not easy to be in the directors chair as Michael Jai White has found out.

The plot offers a few twists but is simple enough. The fight scenes hold the movie together and are well done but the acting is weak and exaggerated throughout. A director with more experience would have fixed a lot of the problems. It was a good try but just not good enough.

The 2025 movie "Trouble Man" was one I had never heard about. But since I believe in giving all movies that I haven't already seen a fair chance, of course I opted to see it. And the fact that the movie had Michael Jai White in the leading role certainly served as some icing on the cake.

The storyline in "Trouble Man" is pretty straightforward. Sure, a bit formulaic and really nothing you haven't seen in other movies before, but it still proved to be an entertaining movie. So writer Michael Stradford managed to put together a good enough script and storyline.

There were a couple of familiar faces on the cast list, aside from leading actor Michael Jai White then I also recognized Mike Epps and Orlando Jones. The acting performances in the movie were good.

There is a good amount of action in the movie, which definitely adds to the overall enjoyment of the movie.

My rating of director Michael Jai White's 2025 movie "Trouble Man" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Sunday, 17 August 2025: Great action film.

Once again martial arts actor, Michael J. White has proven that he and martial arts actor, Wesley Snipes are the best African "Black" Americans action heroes in films. Michael J. White deserves a star on Hollywood boulevard, but too sad that action films are Not recognized the same as comedies and dramas. I have seen almost all of Michael's films including the direct to cable or dvd and his actions scenes are always tops. I would give this film 10 stars, but at his age, 57 it is hard to jump kick in the air, fight and beat up 6 or 7 men without getting hurt.

This is supposed to be part homage, part action flick, part parody. And it is. In a way, it's very entertaining. In another way, it's a very silly film, badly acted and very low budget. I think it went for the wink-wink and the "so bad is good" vibe, but it did not get to that point where I could thoroughly enjoy it.

Michael J White had the presence and the action skills, but you could see that most people there were not even actors. And some people there were extremely good martial artists, but they just didn't get to shine. OK, I get it, you want to make a film with your friends. That's cool. But then the film is only a success if you can make your friends shine. And this film didn't do that.