The Movie: 8/10
The American Ambassador has been murdered in South America. The CIA are justifiably concerned, they believe the killing to be the handy-work of the twisted Dr.Lehder (Nick Brimble). In order for them to track down Lehder and some army boys he has captured, they have to turn to one man - you guessed it…..the mighty Steven Seagal.
Playing one of his patented ex-CIA/Military guys, Seagal plays Cody who has been in prison as a scapegoat for the American government, he is offered a full pardon if he can locate Lehder and retrieve the data for his sick brainwashing experiments. Seagal puts together his old team of varied ex-soldiers (who are also in prison) for one last mission to finish off Lehder. Among his team are British veteran actor, PH (The Long Good Friday) Moriaty, Vinnie (Snatch) Jones and a beautiful operative, Damita played by the gorgeous Alison (Sky’s Dream Team) King. Tracking down Lehder’s lair, they miss him literally by minutes and rescue the soldiers. They then make their escape on an old submarine, but as the soldiers have been brainwashed it is only a matter of time before they turn on their rescuers.
Director, Anthony (Hellraiser 3, Waxwork) Hickox has crafted a great action movie packed with non-stop shooting and fighting. There is plenty of violence especially from a certain Mr Jones playing his usual cockney thug role. Although you have seen it all before, no one swears like our Vinnie and he brings some light relief to the proceedings. Seagal is his usual quiet self, kicking ass when he has to and generally being himself (a good thing always in my book). Alison King however is a somewhat of a revelation. Known for her role in football drama, Dream Team and starring in soap adverts, she shows a different side to her as operative, Damita. She looks good and carries off some action pretty well. Someone give this lady another action film and see what she can do!!
This is the best film from Seagal in a long time. His direct to DVD efforts have somewhat been strained especially The Foreigner (which was awful) if the budget was a bit bigger and it had a few more ‘names’ I could see no reason why this couldn’t get a cinema release. What you do have is one of the best B action films in a long time!! Welcome back Steven Seagal you’re making great films again.
Picture: 7/10
A clear well defined picture is on offer here. Shot in Bulgaria (doubling for South America) Submerged is a varied production, locations wise. The countryside and city scenes are bright, colourful and show no kind of bleeding or smearing. The dark submarine scenes are very dark (as you would expect) which at times is annoying as the action is a bit hard to follow. This I would say is down to the filming not the DVD as the darks are deep and show not one sign of artefacts. The only downside to the picture is a couple of the CGI explosions it looks a little pixilated, but that is down to the cheap-ish effects. Please note that a couple of dodgy CGI effects does not spoil what is a fun movie.
Sound: 8/10
An excellent soundtrack with plenty of separation between the channels, especially on the submarine scenes and when any action comes into play (which is a lot). Dialogue mainly comes from the centre channel and is clear. One problem seems to be during post-production some of Seagal’s lines (I maybe wrong) seemed to have been re-dubbed by another actor. This is at times a little annoying. Mind you, with plenty of explosions and gunfire you soon forget about it.
Like I said above, this is an effective soundtrack, during the underwater scenes, the surrounds don’t get a rest with plenty of creaking and moaning switching from speaker to speaker. For a low-ish budget film (I believe it was around a $15 million budget) the sound is of a standard you would expect from a Jerry (Bad Boys, Con Air, The Rock) Bruckheimer production.
Extras: 1/10
Just a few trailers of other Sony releases including the new horror films, The Cave and Devour.
Verdict: 8/10
Submerged is Seagal’s best film since Under Siege 2. Into the Sun (his previous film) was a step in the right direction. The film is packed with action from beginning to end. Although it’s not going to win awards for it’s acting, it has a reasonable script, very good production values and most of all lots of gratuitous violence from Seagal and Vinnie Jones. Certainly one for the action film collection.
Source : AV Forums. Review by Craig Snell.
The American Ambassador has been murdered in South America. The CIA are justifiably concerned, they believe the killing to be the handy-work of the twisted Dr.Lehder (Nick Brimble). In order for them to track down Lehder and some army boys he has captured, they have to turn to one man - you guessed it…..the mighty Steven Seagal.
Playing one of his patented ex-CIA/Military guys, Seagal plays Cody who has been in prison as a scapegoat for the American government, he is offered a full pardon if he can locate Lehder and retrieve the data for his sick brainwashing experiments. Seagal puts together his old team of varied ex-soldiers (who are also in prison) for one last mission to finish off Lehder. Among his team are British veteran actor, PH (The Long Good Friday) Moriaty, Vinnie (Snatch) Jones and a beautiful operative, Damita played by the gorgeous Alison (Sky’s Dream Team) King. Tracking down Lehder’s lair, they miss him literally by minutes and rescue the soldiers. They then make their escape on an old submarine, but as the soldiers have been brainwashed it is only a matter of time before they turn on their rescuers.
Director, Anthony (Hellraiser 3, Waxwork) Hickox has crafted a great action movie packed with non-stop shooting and fighting. There is plenty of violence especially from a certain Mr Jones playing his usual cockney thug role. Although you have seen it all before, no one swears like our Vinnie and he brings some light relief to the proceedings. Seagal is his usual quiet self, kicking ass when he has to and generally being himself (a good thing always in my book). Alison King however is a somewhat of a revelation. Known for her role in football drama, Dream Team and starring in soap adverts, she shows a different side to her as operative, Damita. She looks good and carries off some action pretty well. Someone give this lady another action film and see what she can do!!
This is the best film from Seagal in a long time. His direct to DVD efforts have somewhat been strained especially The Foreigner (which was awful) if the budget was a bit bigger and it had a few more ‘names’ I could see no reason why this couldn’t get a cinema release. What you do have is one of the best B action films in a long time!! Welcome back Steven Seagal you’re making great films again.
Picture: 7/10
A clear well defined picture is on offer here. Shot in Bulgaria (doubling for South America) Submerged is a varied production, locations wise. The countryside and city scenes are bright, colourful and show no kind of bleeding or smearing. The dark submarine scenes are very dark (as you would expect) which at times is annoying as the action is a bit hard to follow. This I would say is down to the filming not the DVD as the darks are deep and show not one sign of artefacts. The only downside to the picture is a couple of the CGI explosions it looks a little pixilated, but that is down to the cheap-ish effects. Please note that a couple of dodgy CGI effects does not spoil what is a fun movie.
Sound: 8/10
An excellent soundtrack with plenty of separation between the channels, especially on the submarine scenes and when any action comes into play (which is a lot). Dialogue mainly comes from the centre channel and is clear. One problem seems to be during post-production some of Seagal’s lines (I maybe wrong) seemed to have been re-dubbed by another actor. This is at times a little annoying. Mind you, with plenty of explosions and gunfire you soon forget about it.
Like I said above, this is an effective soundtrack, during the underwater scenes, the surrounds don’t get a rest with plenty of creaking and moaning switching from speaker to speaker. For a low-ish budget film (I believe it was around a $15 million budget) the sound is of a standard you would expect from a Jerry (Bad Boys, Con Air, The Rock) Bruckheimer production.
Extras: 1/10
Just a few trailers of other Sony releases including the new horror films, The Cave and Devour.
Verdict: 8/10
Submerged is Seagal’s best film since Under Siege 2. Into the Sun (his previous film) was a step in the right direction. The film is packed with action from beginning to end. Although it’s not going to win awards for it’s acting, it has a reasonable script, very good production values and most of all lots of gratuitous violence from Seagal and Vinnie Jones. Certainly one for the action film collection.
Source : AV Forums. Review by Craig Snell.