DVD Review: Driven to Kill [Blu-ray]: Steven Seagal, Laura Mennell, Dan Payne, Holly Eglington, Aleks Paunovic, Mike Dopud, Inna Korobkina, Igor Jijikine, Zak Santiago, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Linda Minard, Reg Tupper, Jeff King, Joe Halpin, Kirk Shaw, Lindsay MacAdam, Michele Futerman, Oliver De Caigny, Phillip B. Goldfine, Scott A. Matthews: Movies & TV

May19

DVD Review: Driven to Kill [Blu-ray]: Steven Seagal, Laura Mennell, Dan Payne, Holly Eglington, Aleks Paunovic, Mike Dopud, Inna Korobkina, Igor Jijikine, Zak Santiago, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Linda Minard, Reg Tupper, Jeff King, Joe Halpin, Kirk Shaw, Lindsay MacAdam, Michele Futerman, Oliver De Caigny, Phillip B. Goldfine, Scott A. Matthews: Movies & TV

Posted by admin | on 19 May, 12:44 PM

DVD Review: Driven to Kill [Blu-ray]: Steven Seagal, Laura Mennell, Dan Payne, Holly Eglington, Aleks Paunovic, Mike Dopud, Inna Korobkina, Igor Jijikine, Zak Santiago, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Linda Minard, Reg Tupper, Jeff King, Joe Halpin, Kirk Shaw, Lindsay MacAdam, Michele Futerman, Oliver De Caigny, Phillip B. Goldfine, Scott A. Matthews: Movies & TVAnother pretty solid B-action mvoie after many disappointments,

By NoWireHangers (Sweden) -

This review is from: Driven to Kill (DVD)

Seagal plays Ruslan, a former Russian gangster who’s now a successful crime novelist. He goes to attend his daughter’s wedding and finds out her fiancë is the son of his arch enemy, a crime boss. The young man, Stephan, does not want to be a gangster and is not on good terms with his father. When Ruslan’s ex-wife and daughter are attacked, he wants to find those responsible, and enlists the help of Stephan, who believes the daughter/fiancé to be dead.

The quality of Seagal’s direct-to-DVD movies have been uneven. This time he teams up again with director Jeff King, who directed “Kill Switch”, which was one of the better of his recent movies. And “Ruslan”, aka. “Driven to Kill” is also a very watchable movie, though not without flaws. Recommended to fans of Seagal and direct-to-DVD action movies. Let’s hope his films keep improving and that we won’t have to suffer through more movies like “The Foreigner” or “Mercenary for Justice”.

Seagal looks withdrawn, not a valid Blu,

By Steve Kuehl “SLV Video” (Ben Lomond, CA) -

My customers keep hoping for Seagal to return to his glory days, but unfortunately the last few films have made it to where people will not even rent his stuff now. This one won’t necessarily help, but it doesn’t hurt his chances too much either.

Standard story: He is retired from being a mean guy, something bad happens to someone he cares about, the close up of his eyes becoming angry, then lots of bad guys meet their end. To be clear, this had the most gratuitous close-up of his face I have ever seen - it scared me. What bothered me the most is he seems tired. Not sure how else to word it, I don’t think his heart is in these.

The Blu quality was below average. Plenty of grain, focus issues and other tech problems. I love DTS, but this wasn’t mixed well. The fake sounds of Seagal beatings detracted from trying to watch. No special features to speak of. Can not recommend this as a Blu purchase over the DVD quality.

Driven to Drink.,

By M. S. Skidmore (Kinver, United Kingdom) -

This review is from: Driven to Kill (DVD)

Our favorite pony tailed fading action star returns in what seems to be his 400th release of the year and sorry to say, this one doesn’t return his status back to those wondrous days of old. With a career that has spiraled from solid action star status to ‘what the hell?’ mediocre and cheap action vehicles made by people who shouldn’t be allowed to direct traffic, let alone movies - The Lord is seriously in need of old resident studio Warner Bros. coming back to save him and give him another shot at the big leagues, because these new movies are dull time wasters that offer nothing and deliver less.

In his latest adventure, The Fat Lord plays Ruslan. An ex-russian mobster who is now a successful novelist(!) who is called back into supersonic action when his daughter has decided to marry the son of his arch nemesis. In a plot device too stupid to expand upon here, his ex wife is murdered and Ruslan puts his daughter into hiding, thus allowing him some spare time to go out on a revenge trip and exact some justice onto the mobsters who have dared cross our portly avenger. This unique scripting makes a mockery of the movies tagline: ‘They took his daughter. So he’s taking them down’. As nobody in the film takes his daughter anywhere (for the record, its actually The Lord that takes her) - thus, rendering his macho posturing pointless.

My main concerns with his latest output are the lack of finesse and style in both the action sequences and his performance. We all know real violence is ugly, but movie violence is supposed to be fun and exhilarating. However, in his latest opuses - Seagal comes off just like a lowlife thug who swears and hits everyone in sight - most of the time for no reason whatsoever, except that may have looked at him the wrong way. Y’know, just like a regular real life thug. The hero like status of old has slowly slipped away to be replaced by a dull guy who only uses his fists and spits venomous bad language as if he were on shore leave from the navy.

Another problem with the picture (apart from the terrible acting, the pointless story and the awful fight choreography - is that enough?) is Seagal’s insistence on his exceptional luck with the ladies. In the first 10 minutes alone, he is promised two offers of lady love involving three different women (I know I may be jealous as I haven’t had that much action in my entire life, let alone 10 minutes) - but, it all seems out of place and frankly quite silly. Add to this , Seagal’s terrible mock russian accent which I had to keep rewinding to hear again what he was saying, which combined with his recent dependence on mumbling through the script - they may as well release these films as foreign language movies.

All in all, another tepid release. Granted, its a step up from ‘Against The Dark’ and a few of those other awful nightmares that I have tried to suppress from my memory - but, coming shortly after ‘Urban Justice’ its more of a step back than a giant leap forward. Its a shame really, as I still have a soft spot for the big guy and even though he has blue hair that resembles a birds nest if it were caught in a paint balling incident, his movies are less than eventful and even as a direct to video release - he is being outflanked by contemporaries Van Damme and Lundgren. I have my fingers crossed that his next effort will do the trick, but I seem to be doing that everytime I eject the last one. If you are a fan, you won’t have any choice and will most probably buy, but approach with an open mind and don’t expect too much and you may enjoy it. If you are looking for a decent, B-movie actioner - you are going to be disappointed. Another missed opportunity. Here’s to next time, eh Steve?
Search Driven to Kill [Blu-ray]: Steven Seagal, Laura Mennell, Dan Payne, Holly Eglington, Aleks Paunovic, Mike Dopud, Inna Korobkina, Igor Jijikine, Zak Santiago, Dmitry Chepovetsky, Linda Minard, Reg Tupper, Jeff King, Joe Halpin, Kirk Shaw, Lindsay MacAdam, Michele Futerman, Oliver De Caigny, Phillip B. Goldfine, Scott A. Matthews: Movies & TV from AmAzon

[asa]B001VFM0YM[/asa]