Yep....you're right.....don't need to see FOE before(thought I did watch it)...don't understand the concept of it being a prequel nor a sequel....I thought at the end of FOE Alexander was going to retire(that's the same ending in AGM)...if it's prequel then what? Alexander came out of retirement to begin a new career as a 'crime lord'....after he states the he's "a just a guy that does bad thing to bad people"....doesn't make any sense to me....so I see it as a stand alone film....the charater just happens to have the same name.
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Ok....my review........actually I liked; even watched it twice which was a mistake, 'cause I caught all the mistakes I didn't the 1st time thru..
If I can make it thru any of these Seagal DTV without having to stop it and pickup on it at a later time; I consider it OK....
FOE vs AGM: AGM is better
has a nice catchy 10mt. beginning(Yes!..helicopters and I think it has the record for the most times Seagal usues the words 'f*ck/motherf*cker' in one minute)....then we jump ahead 2 years to where the movie takes place.
enough fight action scenes thru out without any long lags...
hand to hand & short sword(Seagal's main choice of weapon in this film)...
NO...silly 5mt car chase scene(big plus)
the secondary story with the brother/sister's is Ok and melds with the initial one OK.
Russian gang is unlikeable enough(usual Russian strip bar scene too)
not sure how to rate a Seagal DTV these days...years ago it was just good or bad...with so many Seagal has put out over the years, it has been more of finding where they fit in a lineup.....but in my eyes it has a for sure standing in the far better section area...it seems when I read some reviews about the SS-DTV lineage....there are ones I liked and others despised....so it just may be my preferred taste.
decent editing: doubles only extremely noticeable upon 2nd viewing because I knew what was coming.
dubbing?...I don't know for sure(which is a good sign)
as with all of his DTV... the usual questions as 'How did they....? or 'Why didn't they just....?"..How did he...?"....meaning some parts don't make sense.
Bottom line:
it is one of the better Seagal DTVs as to the lousey to completely sh*t ones.
J.L.
PS: yep.....typical Binh Danh ending....naked girl and Seagal in an overcoat(
(Dang still wants to push that idea that young women still find 'his boy' irresistible, tho' I never see any in the audience at his concerts')
actually they could've just cut the ending right after the climax...we all knew what choices the others were going to make already.