buckforris

The last time I saw Seagal, was in Exit Wounds. He'd really packed on the pounds since his glory days, but then I watched this film, during an action man rampage (Icidentally, Dolph Lundgren's The Russian Specialist was my clear winner) and boy was Seagal looking fat, old and horribly sweaty.

Shadow Man has no plot to speak of, it's just a bunch of guys who turn up to get beaten up by Steven Seagal. The film is poor. Seagal as well is half asleep, he's awful here. It was actually saddening to see once one of my idol's (I took up Aikido cause of him) looking so unwell. It's my estimation that he's probably done a few too many films past his prime, a bit like Brando, without the talent.

Shadow Man has in its favour some nifty, and violent action, but not nearly enough of it, to overcome the boredom elsewhere.

I was once a big fan of Van Damme, especially in his low budget period in the 80's and early 90's that brought us cheap, but good, action fest's like Bloodsport, KickBoxer and Lionheart. In modern times, VD's latest film is with the Lionheart director Sheldon Lettich. The result more KittenHeart, than Lionheart, but nonetheless, it could have been worse.

Actually what surprised me more than anything is how much Van Damme has come on as an actor. Dare I say he was quite good here. Also Vivica Fox was just plain hot! She really stood out for me in Kill Bill Vol 1, and here she adds real star power.

The biggest problem is a lack of budgetary impact. The action just in no way stands out. Action movies without decent action, just can't work. Sadly this has some mundane action scenes. There's still a couple of neat fights, but once you've seen Tony Jaa unleashing 460degree somersaults then this old cowboy way of shooting and cutting a fight kind of pales in comparison.

Still the cast make the rest of the film watchable, and Van Damn, albeit tired looking, impresses. It's also not as bad as the latest Seagal or Norris (My idol, oh what have you done!) films.

I've never been much of a Lundgren fan, with my preferred viewing being Norris and Seagal, with also Van Damme too. But to my surprise, during a DTV rampage of these guys (The Hard Corps, Shadow Man and also the Cutter too) Dolph's film the Mechanik was by a long, long, way the best of the bunch. I've fallen by the wayside a little in recent years, and haven't kept up to much with the action boys, but when your in the mood, your in the mood. Anyway The Mechanik was fantastic. It's a simple storyline, and a simply delivered film, but it promises something, and delivers. The result is a violent, dirty and damn fun action movie. It's a great little regression to 70's and 80's action films. I also understand it was shot on a fraciton of the budgets of Chuck's, Stevens and Jean Claudes, movies and still manages to look the most expensive too.

Lundgren too gives a solid performance and looks in great shape. In fact dare I say it the other guys like either old, tired or overweight (all three in Seagal's case). Lundgren looks fresh and in great shape. Ben Cross was really good. That guy should have been a bigger star, a really good actor if anyone's seen his earlier work.

On the negative side, the girl in the movie seems little more than a pointless inclusion to aid the bloodshed, and the bad guy is a little too "hey look at me I'm the bad guy!" After all though, it's expected from this sort of film so it's not a big problem. I also wasn't too sure what was with all the dissolves either, but on the most part this film is directed with assurance and a great sense of pace, and of course directed by Dolph himself! This film really acts as a showcase for Dolph Lundgren. It's the Dolph show, and it's a good show. It brought back fond memories of cool Peckinpah movies. Good work Dolph!