The Keeper

I just saw the Keeper and I agree with may of the reviews here that this is one of Steve's better pictures of the last few years. Having said that, I must also observe that those who disparage the acting of Seagal and his co-stars would not know good acting if it walked up and bit them.......Granted he is not a great actor, maybe not even a good one, but he is a decent actor capable of displaying and selling humor when it is called for. THAT is a sign of an actor who knows what he is doing.....as the old actor said on his death bed "Dying is easy, it's comedy that's hard."....and truer words were never spoken. All of those in this picture who delivered lines did so on an acceptable level...Academy Award performances they are not, but if you think this is bad acting....you have not been around much.

I think that even if there are still fans of Steven Seagal out there, they will agree that he doesn't seem to care anymore about how he appears in his movies, or the quality of the other parts of his movies. Oh, I admit "A Dangerous Man" was decent, but that was despite him, not because of him. In "The Keeper", he returns to the kind of movies he's been churning out ever since he moved to direct-to-video movies. He seems half asleep as he speaks his (limited) dialogue, and his puffy face and baggy clothing show he's in great need of going on a diet. But he's not the only one to blame for this movie's downfall. There is very little action in the first hour of this movie, and when the movie does get around to showing some action, it's often directed and edited in such a frenzy that it's impossible to figure out what's going on. While I'm speaking of an actor who doesn't care, I'd like to state that I don't care to see another Steven Seagal movie anytime in the future.

There was nothing of much interest on TV a couple of nights ago so I stumbled onto this one. I used to like Steven Seagal when he still made "real" movies so I thought, what the heck, let's watch it. I cannot say that my hopes were high though. After he started to spew out direct to DVD movies he have made some real crap ones.

I have to say that I was somewhat positively surprised. Sure it is not exactly Oscars material but it is a decent enough TV-movie and Seagal was pretty okay in playing the fairly silent but deadly ex-commando, or in this case ex-cop, that I personally want to see him as. Some people complain that he doesn't care and that he mumbles his dialog. I cannot say that I agree. He played his role as I would have expected. His silent manner, low voice and absence of emotions and outbreaks is what I hope for when I watch a Seagal movie. Also, the fighting in this movie was fairly okay compared to some of his movies where he seemed to be so out of shape that he just stood around and flapped his arms.

The story? Well pretty standard meh TV-quality bad guy tries to muscle in and extort the good guy. Good guy has daughter. Good guy's daughter gets kidnapped. The hero moves in and saves the day. Nothing really innovative and fantastic but good enough to serve as an excuse for some on-screen action and reasonably well implemented.

Not really a bad movie. Of course not really anything more than you would expect from a direct to DVD movie but not bad either and, as I said, way better than some of the crap Seagal have produced.

And so Steven Seagal continues his prolific career in straight-to-video product with THE KEEPER, another film completely indistinguishable from the dozens he's made since evacuating our cinema screens back in the 1990s. It's a completely serviceable movie that plays out as a string of action sequences well executed but completely unmemorable; there are scenes of Seagal fighting in hand-to-hand combat with bad guys, disarming bad guys and engaging in shoot-outs with bad guys. The plot is weak and the script limited; essentially, this is one of those action-star-as-bodyguard movies featuring our hero risking his life to save a young woman from the clutches of kidnappers.

The good things? The film is ably directed and the fight sequences short, snappy and well-handled. Seagal is pretty poor, it has to be said, and there's still far too much distraction from his copious use of doubles (not content with a mere body double in the fight sequences, he now employs a hair double for back-of-the-head shots). Thankfully his voice is only dubbed in the opening scene, which is something. The unfamiliar supporting cast is very bland with the notable exception of Liezl Carstens, who I found quite smouldering as the sultry young damsel-in-distress; if ever an actress could pull off the unconvincing romantic scenes involving her and Seagal's character, it would be her.

Steven seagal's "The Keeper" is one of his good straight to dvd films, it's got a Seagal who seems really into this movie & i saw on the credits that he also produced the film so it's clear that the Master actually wanted to make this film.

The Keeper is a straight forward Gritty Crime Thriller with shots of Action now & then with guns & fists!!!

Here Seagal plays a very tough grizzled LA Cop who gets betrayed,shot & left for dead by his partner but of course he's not dead & in a Cool Hospital scene Seagal's character "Roland Sallinger" gets his revenge on his evil partner when he comes back to finish off Roland.

After these events Roland is trying to get back to it but he's been badly injured in his shoulder & his superiors make him retire from the force but Roland gets an offer from an old friend who wants to hire him as a bodyguard for his young daughter.

Roland goes to Texas & gets mixed up with Criminals & thugs & Cops, he's extremely protective over the beautiful Nikita & will protect her at any cost, there's some really nice human & sweet scenes with her & Sallinger & we get to know he knew her when she was only a child & it's just nice & sweet & that's something that's not usually in one of Seagal's usual violent gritty action films.

I feel there's more time put to characters & story with "The Keeper" than alot of his other films, so yes IT'S a good movie & a solid performance from Seagal.

This is a really good role for Seagal as his Roland Sallinger is a tough as hell guy like he always plays, but this time his character has more heart & soul, Sallinger actually smiles & laughs some times & comes accross as a really good decent man & his performance is actually very good especially for "Steven Seagal" & for a low budget Action film like THIS!!!

Yes it's a cheap B-movie with an ageing & fading Action star but it's a well made,gritty & good looking MOVIE!!!

"THE KEEPER" is definitely one of Seagal's best straight to dvd efforts & is a gem like his "Driven To Kill" & his "Against The Dark" & his "A Dangerous Man" & is genuinely a solid Action Thriller, it's just a low budget feature but with a good little story & a heart at the centre of it all, Steven seagal's "Roland Sallinger" is a very good character & fairly different from his usual tough guys but we still get that quick edited martial arts fighting & lots of bloody shootouts with real fake blood splatter so that's Awesome!!!