Shakedown

This is one of the worst action films I have ever seen. This is particularly due to much of the factual implausibility (like an obvious agent posing as a bank loan officer while making obvious that he is speaking to someone through a wire or the scene where the scientists assume it is safe to enter a room in which a virus has been released even though 'it has not found a viable host' does not mean that it will never find one), the cheap sets (the bank looks like it was poorly constructed to resemble a dungeon), and the bad acting. It is the story of an organized crime group that has successfully stolen a capsule of the lethal virus. However, the head honcho who decides to remove it from a bank security deposit box, does so at the same time a bank heist is going down, at the same FBI agents have been informed of this, and at the same time a terrible earthquake erupts. Needless to say, the aftermath of the quake is messy in more ways than one. However, the results do not make for an enticing action film, but instead, one that has been obviously z-grade junk from the beginning of the film. (Perhaps this is why some of the screen captures on the packaging look to be created with computer graphics rather than being actual screen captures from various sequences of the film). What the hell Ron Perlman was doing in this, I have no idea. I wonder if he was as embarrassed to be in it as I was to have watched it.

This is a low-budget B-movie, cheap flick & there's nothing wrong with that as i love tons of B-movie flicks & of Course who doesn't love the legendary RON PERLMAN?

Anyway it's a disaster type Action flick & to be honest The Perl is actually really good in his role as the big religious nut villain of the movie who has a Cult of followers that will do anything he asks, he always gives a good interesting performance in almost everything he does & he makes a decent villain/bag guy here in this fun little Disaster movie made by the legendary B-movie maker company of ROGER CORMAN!!!

Perlman gives a tough guy performance as St. Joy the doomsday cult leader & like i said he's great & the opening with him talking is really cool & menacing.

Another B-movie star in this is Wolf Larson (he's very good here) who often pops up in straight-to-video Martial arts films with often long hair (Expect No Mercy) but here he's had a hair cut lol & is an undercover Virologist who's helping out the F. B. I track down a scientist who knew that is now a suspect in the taking of an extremely deadly Virus & it's Perlman's cult that want it & on top of this we have a gang of bank robbers from the ghetto who turns up at the bank where everyone turns up including Ron Perlman's cult team, the robbers, S.w.a.t, F. B.i & many civilians all show up at the wrong place at the wrong time!!! It's really great what is pulled off here with a tiny budget & it's still an exciting disaster action Thriller with so much gun-blazing action that Albert Pyun & Jon Woo would be proud!!! You really get plenty of bang for your buck as they say!!!! Everyone is shooting each other & everyone is trying to survive this crazy mess their all in & amongst this lot is the beautiful & busty Erika Eleniak (Baywatch, Under Siege, Bordello of Blood) who is really good here & very likeable in her heroic role.

"SHAKEDOWN" is a combination With the "Viral Thriller" mixed into like "Outbreak" & a "Reservoir Dogs" type situation & the disaster movie thrown in to like the 1970's Classic "Earthquake" & abit of "Die Hard" that's the Cool & very creative mixture here.

The action sequences are very good & the acting is fine especially from Wolf & Ron but the cast do a fine job with what's available & i personally think this is one of the greatest B-movies ever made!!!

"Shakedown" is so early 2000's & i love it for that & remember the video cover so well in Blockbuster video, Nostalgia for this crazy fun little action

I always remember seeing the cover in my local Blockbuster video store back in like 2002 & was always intrigued by the look of it & of Course because it has one of my all time fave actor's on the front, Ron Perlman!!!! The write up on the back always sounded so Cool too with it's Earthquake & terrorist mixed story & the promise of pure cheap B-movie fun & to be honest it delivered all that years later when i finally found it for cheap on dvd & has become one of the greatest & most fun pure B-movies of the genre!!!

We get government agents, robbers, terrorists, a Deadly Virus & an Earthquake all set in L. A & on a tiny budget but the director pulls it off pretty well with what he has to work with & all in all it's good fun.

I love many of these types of B-movie flicks & "Shakedown" is one of the very best of it's kind & very entertaining, nice late-night entertainment.

Love Ron Perlman & he did some great work during this time period of the early 2000's with this flick (Shakedown) & his scene stealing role in the Comic Book masterpiece "Blade 2" both 2002.

Hello movie goers, How do you know when you have seen a bad movie? Well, I will tell you what, this movie is one of those that answers that question. One way is that who ever made this movie used scenes from two other movies: "Earthquake" (1974) and the "Great California Earthquake" (1991). Number two: when most of your special effects are computer generated, that tells you something right there. I see it like this if you don't have enough money to use for special effects, don't even make the movie! If you have computer generated graphics, make sure that they look so real, they look good! Other than that keep watching for movies that do this:_)

The only reason to see this movie is Ron Perlman, one of the really great actors working today, who for whatever reason just doesn't get the quality script or the big production budget he deserves. But he never lets a viewer down. Like Gary Oldman, he gives every role his considerable best. Even in HELL BOY he showed those subtle touches he can do, even when slathered all over with red makeup and with his face hidden behind a mask. He is way overdue for a good movie. Not HELL BOY II, though, for God's sake! Still, maybe HELL BOY will finally do that thing for him that he deserves. Is there a producer in the business who actually casts an actor for his talent rather than just for the money his last movie made? I'm a hopeful fan, despite some of the dreck I've watched just because Perlman is in the cast. I try never to miss Ron Perlman, or Gary Oldman, in anything they do. It would be really great if someone would cast them in the same movie. They can both do any dialect or accent and I think they'd play off one another wonderfully.

Shakedown is B-movieland personified. Lots of shoot-em-up silliness, shouting, yelling, the occasional burst of humour, and a nonsensical script. Oh, and a number of filler shots in the way of stock footage and grotty CGI work. But never mind.

The cast try very hard to make up for it, with a personable leading man in Wolf Larsen, who turns out to have a nice line in wry humour. It's a real shame he doesn't make better films than this. Erika Eleniak looks pretty, makes an attempt at acting and portrays the tough-nut heroine quite well. But the real star of this one is Ron Perlman as the deadly intense religious nut St Joy, all blonde hair and black leather, in a role that could so easily have been ruined by over-acting. But not in the hands of the tremendously talented Perlman. St Joy is genuinely creepy, and - oddly enough - at times, even sympathetic. Then he turns the whole 'sympathy' thing on its head with his unerring brutality.

If you like mindless violence, a convoluted, badly thought-out plot and loads of mayhem, then you'll like this one. Great for an evening in with a pizza, but not much else.