The Mercenary: Аbsolution (2014)

Martin01

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I think Code of Honor probably has been written without the involvement of Seagal, and it looks there haven't been problems on set.
 

rastafari

Well-Known Member
Exactly, that's why he is working with Waxman all the time. Seagal can control Waxman and co. That's why there were so many troubled productions during the 00's (Michael Keusch), because Steven could not control these guys. As a result Seagal refused to come out of his trailer and that sort of stuff...I believe this kind of behavior also resulted in the lawsuit that is surrounding Today You Die and Mercenary For Justice. Guys, we all love Steven and are his fans, but this is the hard truth!

I am so intersted in Code Of Honor because of the new crew. Just a new vibe....


I disagree.....The reason for the troubled production on Shadow Man/Attack Force etc is because Keusch is a truly awful director and Andrew Stevens who was a person who was renowed to making films on the cheap on Quickly
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
I disagree.....The reason for the troubled production on Shadow Man/Attack Force etc is because Keusch is a truly awful director and Andrew Stevens who was a person who was renowed to making films on the cheap on Quickly

I think it's a little bit of both. We don't know if Keusch is a truly awful director. In an interview he claimed that Seagal and some producers were really working against him. I mean there are also films that were made on the cheap quickly that are watchable. We will never know the the real truth, I guess.

Back on topic, I think :D
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
11193280_10153331562283179_2365178527996094675_n.jpg
 

DiDa

Super Moderator
Staff member
I watched the movie yesterday

The Mercenary: Absolution is a sequel to A Good Man which was a prequel to Force Of Execution. They were made by the same team and I must say that I think Absolution is the best of the three.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
Absolution opens with a voice over were Seagal is talking about his search for Absolution because he had been a bad man in the past. The opening credits are decent this time and did not feel cheap. Then the story kicks off. Steven plays John Alexander (again), this time a contract killer for the US government. He has the assignment to kill a terrorist named Kamal who also is a women dealer. This guy is staying in the Ukraine at the moment, so Alexander and his partner Chi (played by the awesome Byron Mann) are leaving to finish the job. They succeed and after that they get a call from their client to lay low for a while. They go to a bar to have a drink when suddenly a half naked girl comes in and screams for help, because she was abducted and attacked by a group of guys that are still following her. Alexander and Chi save the day and Alexander takes off with the girl. The leader of this so called syndicate (played by Vinnie Jones) wants his girl back and sends his people after Alexander and Chi to find her. Of course they f*cked with the wrong guy, because Alexander is seeing his change for Absolution and the hunters become the hunted very fast.....

As you can read, the plot of Absolution is pretty straight forward (although the search for Absolution felt a little strange). But hey, we want a good action movie with a simple story and this time we get it. A Good Man also had a pretty straight forward story, but that movie started to become boring after an hour or so. But what makes Absolution better then A Good Man (storywise)? It's the pace! To me Absolution never had a boring moment. The story evolves naturally and there is enough action to satisfy action movie fans. And Steven really is the lead. He does not vanish for some time, just like in his recent movies.

There is a lot of action. We get fights, shoot-outs and 2 explosions. For most of the part the action scenes are filmed well. But sometimes I could not help myself getting irritated of Seagal's double. Yes, also during some of his fightscenes. It's mostly when Seagal's character is filmed from behind. BUT, the fightscenes are decent and you can see Steven did all of them himself. But it's just the editing of the 2nd unit footage that we sometimes see a glimse of the double. Steven's best fight is the fight with Ron Balicki just before the final fight with Vinnie Jones.
Byron Mann also has some good fightscenes! It's hard to say, but sometimes he is stealing the show. He got some nice moves and his character also had some humour (I liked the "soupscene"). At the end he gets a cool fightscene with MMA fighter Josh Barnett.

The casting is also good. Seagal and Byron Mann had charisma together. They also like eachother in real life and that pays off on the screen.
We also get some cool bad guys. Vinnie Jones is really scary when he is torturing his victims in his cellar. You really want Steven to get him. That kind of asshole he is. I also couldn't stop laughing when Seagal called Jones "bitch"several times. Priceless!!
The henchman are cast very well. Josh Barnett is good and convincing. Just as Ron Balicki, who also had a fightscene with Steven at the end of A Good Man.

What can I say more? I really liked The Mercenary Absolution. Nice pace, simple and decent story, a lot of action, good bad guys and good chemistry between Seagal and Byron Mann.

Oh, and please stop with those end scenes where Steven gets the girl (who is 40 years younger then him)...

But, although I really liked this one (one of his best dtv's since The Keeper in my opinion) it's time for something refreshing. Bring on Code Of Honor!
 

Paul Brown

Member
So in Force of Execution he's called Mr. Alexander
In A Good Man he's called Alexander Coates
Mercenary: Absolution he's John Alexander.

I think Absolution will be more related to FoE than A Good Man was... Can not wait for Absolution here in the UK!!!
 
Top