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Attack Force/Into the Sun/The Russian Specialist/Conspiracy

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    Ian Jane
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  • Attack Force/Into the Sun/The Russian Specialist/Conspiracy



    Attack Force/Into the Sun/The Russian Specialist/Conspiracy

    Released by:
    Mill Creek Entertainment
    Released on: October 9, 2012.

    Director: Various

    Cast: Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Val Kilmer

    Year: 2006/2005/2005/2008

    Purchase From Amazon


    The Movies:


    Mill Creek bundles together four straight to video action movies previously released as single disc releases by Sony at a pretty great price. Here's what you get…


    ATTACK FORCE:


    The second collaboration between action star Steven Seagal and German director Michael Keusch (they previously worked together on the surprisingly entertaining Shadow Man) sounded like it could have been interesting when it was first announced. The story was supposed to pit Seagal against some aliens - a goofy idea, maybe, but one that had some potential entertainment value nonetheless. Instead, sometime during production or possibly post-production, it was decided that the antagonists in the film wouldn't be aliens but would instead by members of the Eastern European mafia and the government itself - the problem is, a lot (if not all) of the footage was already shot and the producers decided to just work with what they had.


    When the film begins, Marshall Lawson (Steven Seagal) and his crew are hanging out somewhere in Eastern Europe getting ready for a big mission. Lawson's boys want to go out for one last night on the town before getting down to business and so they head to a local nudie bar where none of the strippers take off their clothes. There, the three men pick up a mysterious looking girl who tells them that if they want to party with her they need to talk to Aroon (Adam Croasdell). He agrees to let the guys take her back to their hotel room and says that he'll send someone to collect later on.


    Our three randy special operatives head back with lady-friend in tow and soon enough it looks like things are going to really start swinging when all of a sudden the girl busts out a strange, clear blade and slaughters each and every one of them. When Lawson and his right hand man, Dwayne (David Kennedy), go to the scene of the crime to investigate they find a vial of a strange narcotic. One thing leads to another and they bring Aroon in on charges. He tells Dwayne that the drug he's found is called CTX and that it's super addictive and does strange things to people. He also tells him that he and his fellow bad guys are doing to dump a bunch of it into the water supply. Lawson heads back to Majestic, the military base he's been working out of, only to find that his special access privileges have been revoked. It's almost as if someone with ties to the government itself is in on this CTX thing, so Lawson takes it upon himself to uncover who is responsible for what and to stop them before it's too late.


    The rumor around this film is that the producers yanked it from Seagal and Keusch and changed the storyline quite drastically, going in and re-dubbing parts of the movie and adding material shot without their involvement. The end result is that this movie is a complete and total mess. It starts off interestingly enough and the opening kill scene in which the lady slaughters the three soldiers is well done and builds suspense early on but it's all down hill from there. Surprisingly enough, Seagal looks better here than he has in some time. We actually see him from the waste up more than once and he isn't hiding in the shadows all the time trying to hide his gut. It's hard to say who recommended that he take out the ponytail and rock the frizzy mullet that sits atop his mighty head in this movie but at least you can get some unintentional comedic value from that aspect of the movie. The real problem with the film has nothing to do with Seagal (who is as good as you'd expect him to be in the picture) but with the script and the editing. The film jumps around, it drops hints that the villains are supernatural or not of this earth (the CTX uses have strange eyes that flicker - probably a left over effect or idea from the original 'aliens' storyline) but then never goes anywhere with the ideas. By the half-way point if you're not confused by all of this you've probably stopped caring which is a shame as there are a few decent action scenes in here in the last third of the movie. It's just that getting through the middle part and making sense out of this mess is a real chore.














    INTO THE SUN:


    In his latest straight to video action movie extravaganza, aging ponytail man Steven Seagal plays Travis Hunter, a master martial artist who just happens to be of Japanese heritage and a man who has a strong understanding of the Yakuza and their mysterious, eccentric, and sinister ways.


    When a Japanese federal official is assassinated, the C.I.A. figures that the Yakuza might play a part in the reason for his death, and they call in their man Travis to handle the job to head on over to Tokyo and sort it all out. Hunter won't be alone on his mission though, thankfully the Feds have had the good sense to send a new recruit named Agent Mac (Matthew Davis of Legally Blonde) along with him to learn the ropes (and maybe keep him in line a little bit too).


    When the two super cops start their investigation, it doesn't take them long to find out that the Yakuza are undergoing some serious restructuring within their organization. One of the young upstarts has teamed up with a Chinese crime lord and together they're making short work of the competition…


    Into The Sun has a little more of a story to it than most of the recent Seagal action films. It also has a lot more of Seagal's own music playing throughout it as well, which is, well, odd. Throw in the seemingly required 'Steve sleeps with a hot young chick' scene and a more or less disposable supporting cast that are there to either have their asses kicked or provide an outlet for some comic relief and you've got yourself a standard Seagal actioner.


    While story wise it isn't anything to write home about, the movie does deliver a couple of remarkable action set pieces that lend some credence to the rumor that maybe the man hasn't lost his touch after all. Seagal is moving pretty fast and looking a lot better in this movie than his other recent efforts and the movie does benefit from that. A fantastic fight scene that takes place at a big shopping concourse ends too soon but does a nice job of setting up some of the action to come, and when the big finale finally hits the screen and Seagal pulls out his sword, well, let's just say if you were ever a fan of his earlier films, you won't be disappointed in the way this one finishes up.


    Directed by the filmmaker known only as 'Mink' (he also directed Busta Rhymes and Xhibit in last years gangsta rap action fest Full Clip), the film runs at a nice, quick pace and if nothing else it always looks quite slick. The visuals are handled nicely, with some very fluid camera work and the color scheme is quite complimentary to the action.














    THE RUSSIAN SPECIALIST:


    A few years ago, Dolph Lundgren impressed with his directorial debut, The Defender. Proving he's more than just a one hit wonder behind the camera, he's since followed up that rock solid shoot'em up with The Russian Specialist (it's known in other parts of the world as The Mechanik), a seventies style revenge movie that would feel right at home in Charles Bronson's filmography as it does in Dolph's, and that's a good thing.


    Lundgren plays a Russian named Nick Cherenko who, seven years ago, lost his wife and son to a gangster named Sasha (Ivan Petrushinov) who shot them down in cold blood during a firefight after a drug deal turned very sour on him. Nick hunts Sasha down, wanting vengeance for the loss of his loved ones, and he puts a bullet through the mobsters head leaving him laying in his car, presumed dead.


    Seven years later and Nick is hiding out in Los Angeles working as a mechanic, having illegally immigrated to the United States after the events that took place in the opening scene. A wealthy woman pulls up to the garage where he works and explains to him that he daughter, Julia (Olivia Lee), has been kidnapped and that she'd like him to get her back. She knows about his background in the special forces and that he's a man who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and she offers him a decent amount of money to help. He refuses at first until she brings up the immigration issue and mentions the fact that the man who kidnapped her daughter is the same man who killed his wife and his child years back.


    Wanting to finish the job he thought he'd already finished, Nick takes the assignment and heads back to Russia to take care of business. He finds that Julie has been sold to a prostitution racket, and heads out to meet a contact of his named Burton (Ben Cross of Exorcist: The Beginning) who can hook him up with the right kind of firepower he'll need to move in and take her back. Burton also has a relationship with some of Julia's co-workers, it seems he has a bit of a fondness for the ladies of the evening ,and through that connection Nick is able to round up some hired help to go in with him and take care of business once and for all.


    With Lundgren's first directorial effort, there wasn't a lot of background information given to his character and while it was a really fun and completely enjoyable exercise in ultra-violence, this time out he one ups himself by making and starring in a film in which we actually care about the lead character. Nick isn't the most multi-layered and complex character to ever hit the screen but we do find out enough about his background and his plight that we're completely sympathetic to his cause despite his rather nasty methods. He's an anti-hero we can cheer for and when he hits Russian soil once more and he puts his plan into action we want the guy to come out on top because we know why he's there and why he's doing what he's doing.


    Without a doubt, however, the focus of the film is on the action and as Lundgren has proven with his two films so far, he's able to direct action sequences with style and with a refreshingly blunt honestly. When Nick starts breaking arms and shooting up the mobsters who stand between him and Julia, you can feel the crunching and feel the bullets popping. While at times it's a little over stylized with some color fading and bleaching of the tones in a few scenes as well as a couple of flashy edits here and there, most of the violence in The Russian Specialist hits hard and hits mean and gives the action set pieces quite a bit of impact.


    With that being said, the movie does have a few flaws in that there are a lot of cliché supporting characters and the story is a little predictable and confines itself to a lot of action movie stereotypes but even with those very obvious strikes against it, it manages to be an entertaining and reasonably tense affair. Lundgren seems to be managing to shed the beefcake hero image that he gained from movies like Masters Of The Universe, and you won't see him running around shirtless with baby oil all over his chest. His character is grounded in something reasonably close to the real world and the movie is all the better for it. He's showing a lot of maturity, at least by action movies standards, with these last two outings, here's hoping he keeps them coming and of the same quality.














    CONSPIRACY:


    Last but not least, Val Kilmer headlines this film from 2008 where he plays a former special ops soldier named MacPherson (he doesn't need a first name). He was injured in the Iraq War where his leg got all messed up - as such, he's got a fake leg where his real one used to be, something that comes in handy when bad guys try to stab him there - HA! Stab his fake leg all you want, it won't hurt him.


    At any rate, he gets out of the service and hangs out at his pad for a while until he's asked by another former solider to come help out along the border in Arizona. When he shows up at his pal's ranch, dude is just missing and no one seems to have any idea where he is. It turns out that an evil corporation is running a human trafficking operation in the area and that his friend's disappearance might tie into this… which sets MacPherson out on a mission to uncover the truth behind the crime no matter who he has to hurt to get there!


    Directed by Adam Marcus, the man behind Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday, Conspiracy is a bit by the numbers but entertaining enough that it's worth a watch. Kilmer was past his prime by 2008 but still turns in a reasonably amiable performance here. Co-stars Jennifer Esposito and Gary Cole are also fine and a few decent action set pieces, combined with some enjoyably snappy dialogue, make this a completely painless experience. A classic? Nope, not even close but a perfectly acceptable slice of low grade action oriented entertainment.













    Video/Audio/Extras:


    All four films are presented in 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen except for the Lundgren movie which is 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen. There are some mild compression artifacts present during a couple of the darker scenes, as well as some mild edge enhancement but none of it is overly severe. Colors look pretty bold and robust for each of the films without coming across as overcooked (except in a few scenes where it's obviously an intentional stylistic choice, most noticeably in The Russian Specialist but also in the opening of Attack Force), and the flesh tones in the film remain lifelike without turning too pink or too orange. It isn't a perfect transfer with the aforementioned authoring issues (the aliasing is heavy in spots), but there isn't any print damage worth complaining and the grain that is noticeable is only of the very fine variety.


    Each of the four movies gets an English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track that does a great job of handling the action scenes. These are pretty aggressive mixes that differentiate and place the action sound effects across the soundstage as required by the way the films play out. Plenty of gunshots, bone cracking, and heavy hand to hand combat as well as the background music swells up behind (though, thankfully, not overtop of) the dialogue, which lets the talkier bits stay clean and easy to follow. There are no alternate language options, subtitles or closed captioning options provided for any of the movies.


    Aside from chapter selection, there are no extra features on this release.


    The Final Word:


    If you've already got the single disc releases of these movies there's no reason to double dip, but if not, consider this one recommended for the B grade action fan in your home. All three of the leading men in this set have made better movies, but these are fun diversions (even if Attack Force is fairly horrible) and offered up in nice shape and at a more than reasonable price.

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