My Mercenary For Justice Review!!
Let me just say this, I have been dissapointed with every Seagal DTV release with an exception for Into The Sun, but Mercenary For Jusitce has really pleased me. At first I wasn't too excited about this film at all, but when I saw the custom trailers for Mercenary For Justice I said to myself, wow this film looks very promising. Those short brilliant hand to hand combat fight scenes were incredible, even though they lasted less then a couple minutes, they made you leave with a feeling of estatic and amazement. For the people bashing Seagal's weight constantly, can you believe how fast he STILL moves. Anyway I popped in this DTV release and I was so excited to watch it. As a matter of fact when it was released the 18th, after my half day schedule from school I went to Tower Records which was selling it for $25 and I didn't have the money, so I drove another 10 miles to my nearest Best Buy and purchased it for $19.99. In the end this film really lived up to my expectations, did it have some flaws, ofcourse as with every Seagal movie, but this had to be the best produced, directed DTV Seagal film so far.
Plot:
I really enjoyed this plot, it was fun, exciting, captivating, and it was pure energy. I really like the idea of Seagal a mercenary being blackmailed, the fact that he was blacmailed and set up turned the story totally around from a boring action war movie to a new twist of revenge and honor of a lost friend during the account. I love the location, South Africa. The film looked so bright and exciting, every seen had it's own character and that was never dull or boring. Personally I think this is one of the best Seagal plots for a DTV release film since Belly Of The Beast and Into The Sun. I must admit the first time I watched it I was a little confused but when I popped it in for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time since it was so great, I quickly caught on the deception themed plot. In conclusion the plot was very energetic and exciting. This plot gave the viewer much more adrenline then Seagal's previous DTV film. This film was well written and you could tell it was done much more highley on a professional level with the writing, directing, and producing.
Acting:
The acting for a B DTV release movie was not bad. It actually was more on the good end but none the less had alot of corny acting at the same time. I believe the acting was much better then Black Dawn, Today You Die, and alot of his other DTV releases. In the movie you could tell who were the professional actors and who were the B movie rookie actors. One of the worst actors in the movie had to be Bulldog, his voice just sounded so unnatural and I thought his acting was just to stiff and hard like a rock then again the director maybe wanted him to act like that to fit his character. Seagal's acting however I really liked. It was much better then his cliche short line roles that he pursued in Today You Die, Black Dawn, and Submerged. There were alot of classic Seagal one liners that put a smile on my face and say man I love this guy, the same way I felt when I first watched his classic Golden Age films such as ATL, MFD, OFJ, etc... I loved the moments when we had those great Seagal lines and tough guy attitude especially when he said the line, " I'm going to shove this .45 up your ass and then break every bone in your body." Man that took me back to the good old Seagal days which was great to see again. In conclusion the acting was well balanced between a professional and very poor B leveled movie level. Some of the actors were very professional like the young boy's mom who got kidnapped, she was a great professional actor, the but some actors were terrible like the French Ambassador and his mades, when the kidnappers pointed their guns at them they had no expression at all which would be rediculous if you ever had a gun pointed to your face. So in the end it was even with some bad acting as well with some very professional acting. But overall as a whole the acting was far more better then Seagal's previous DTV releases.
Action:
I would understand if people complained about the action in Submerged, Black Dawn, andOut Of Reach, but the action in this DVD was teriffic! Yes there were only a couple hand to hand combat scenes, at a roughly estimate maybe 4-6 small hand to hand combat fight scenes, but man the quality of them was superb! Anyone who does not agree must go watch those fight scenes from a Martial Artists perspective. The moves he performed in this DTV release were outstanding classic Seagal material. I loved every minute of the hand to hand combat scenes. From the short scene when Seagal was sitting down at the meeting room table and one of the guys tried to punch him and Seagal gets him in a thumb lock then applys a pressure point to the neck, that was classic Seagal we haven't seen since Fire Down Below. Then the bathroom fight scene against the wrestler, wow that was breathtaking. His hands are so fast and for someone overweight, he moves like a lightweight. I love that street lethal Aikido Seagal shows. These fight scenes can be easily compared to Under Siege 2 they were that good. In addition I loved seeing Seagal perform great waza techniques and kotegaeshi's in the film as well. Alot of joint locks, finger locks, choke holds, which brought back the classic Seagal we once or should I say still know judging from the fight scenes in this film.
Also the opening war zone scene was great, very action packed and realistic. They did put alot of effort in this film as they stated they analyzed Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down war scenes and incorporated them into this film to bring realism. I loved the action scenes, every scene from the opening war scene, to the gun fights, to the Seagal hand to hand combat fight scenes. Action wise this is his most pleasing movie, in my opinion these action and fight scenes were better then Into The Sun and it is the best fight scenes we have seen since Fire Down Below.
Appearence:
Yes Seagal is aging but for some reason he looked better then he did in this film then he did in Black Dawn, Today You Die, and Submerged. I think they applyed more heavily make up on him and he got more of a tan since he was filming in South Africa. Yes we all know he is older now and overweight but he didn't look half bad at all in this film. I liked to see him in his trademark long black leather jacket and black jeans, I was happy to see that. So I was not bothered that much with Seagal's appearence in the film as I was with Belly Of The Beast and Submerged, his make up team made him look much better in this film which was great.
Dubbing:
I was afraid when I heard of the other members early reviews of MFJ that there was dubbing in the movie but those members took it out of proportion. There were maxinum 4 SMALL scenes where Seagal's voice was dubbed, and they all were short one lined words. The dubbing was so small in this film it didn't bother me at all! There was much more dubbing in Today You Die, Submerged, and Out Of Reach then there was in MFJ. The dubbing was so small it didn't bother me at all due to the fact the great story line and action made up for that. But the dubbing was very small and insubstantiall it really didn't hinder the film what so ever.
Doubles:
There were absolutley no stunt doubles at all during the Seagal fight scenes which was great. Seagal performed the most quality fight scenes we have seen yet in a DTV release DVD with no doubles doing them which was great. The only one double I spotted was when Seagal jumped over the wall, which you probably wouldn't have spotted at all if you weren't analyzing the film bit to bit like me. So the doubles I was pleased with since there were none at all which was fantastic! Seagal doing his own fighting! Just like it should be!
Special Features:
They were good. Seagal was on there for a short period of time but I liked the special features much better then the ones on Black Dawn. With the special features it proved to you that the people working on the film spent much more time, money, and effort then they have on Seagal's previous DTV releases, so I was pleased. I was also pleased to learn that they wanted to bring a big guy to challenge Seagal in the fight scene, and I liked the fact that they brought in a wrestler to fight Seagal and Seagal made the fight scenes more realistic to prove to the public that in order to be a good Martial Artist, size does not matter in a fight.
Conclusion:
I loved this movie! I already watched it 4 times it was so great. I have seen every Seagal movie to date and I have to say this is his BEST dtv release. I think Belly Of The Beast had the best over all plot but due to the fact that there were so many obvious doubles in the fight scenes I don't understand how you guys can enjoy that film. Back to MFJ, this is his most pleasing film to date. I loved the fight scenes, the energy of the film, I liked Seagal's co stars, and I liked those classic one liners that Seagal said. This film is very enjoyable and it is not boring. I am confident that Seagal's films will only get better from here. I have a feeling Seagal has took the time to reflect on his recent DTV and he is ashamed and he doesn't have that much time left in the action buisness due to his aging so I think the quality will increase so he can end his career on a strong note, possibley a future theatrical release. This is a DTV film I can watch over and over again which is very rare considering his recent DTV releases. I feel this is better then Into The Sun as a whole film overall. In conclusion I give this film a very strong 3.5 out of 5 stars!