The Eliminator (2004)

 

The Eliminator (2004)- * *

Directed by Ken Barbet

Starring: Bas Rutten, Michael Rooker, Danielle Burgio, and Paul Logan

One moment, Dakota Varley (Rutten) is competing in a rather lengthy boat race. The next, he is kidnapped and spirited off to a remote jungle location. It seems some other people have met the same fate, including Jesse (Logan) and Santha (Burgio). Yet another evil mastermind (why are there so many of those?) named Miles Dawson (Rooker) has set up a "survival game" where the contestants are implanted with tracking chips and the winner supposedly wins ten million dollars. Of course, Varley, and to a lesser extent, Jesse and Santha, don't like this very much. Much like Gilligan and his shipmates, they try to get off the island. But Miles Dawson has a command center, a bunch of rich friends, and some goons, so it won't be easy. Who, in the end, will be THE ELIMINATOR?



You'll be rootin' for Rutten in this time-honored "Most Dangerous Game" tale, if you can look past the utter lack of originality and low production values, that is. Okay, if you've seen The Condemned (2007), Surviving The Game (1994), Deadly Game (1991), The Game (1988), Soldiers of Fortune (2012), The Tournament (2009), Death Ring (1992), or Seized (2020) - not to mention Hard Target (1993) or the original Most Dangerous Game (1932), not to mention all the countless other derivations we don't have the time or space to list here - you might have some idea what to expect with The Eliminator. An alternate title for the film is even Varley's Game. The puzzling part is why the filmmakers behind The Eliminator wanted to run through this sort of storyline one more time, without adding a single new element or bit of insanity that would spice things up.



Adding insult to injury is the pale, washed-out cinematography and needless editing tricks that can't possibly distract viewers enough from the pervasive feeling that you've seen all this before. If that's the purpose of your editing style, you've definitely got a problem on your hands. Because we're now in the early 2000's, unnecessary and facepalm-inducing CGI was evidently deemed needed. There are also "Bugs Bunny"-style sound effects, and even whooshing noises as the camera whips around more than Willow Smith's hair.



However, it's perhaps not all bad - Bas Rutten is likable enough. He looks like a cross between Stabler (i.e. Christopher Meloni) and Randy Couture. He's well-suited to the action scenes, which are mostly of the beat-em-up variety. Paul "Ballistica" Logan is here too as a sort of sidekick. The film mostly vacillates between these jungle scenes with the punch-ups and occasional kills, and Rooker with his upper-class-twit buddies as he gives orders in his command center. In that sense, it's not that different from the Bourne series of films, give or take a few million dollars (but who's counting)? There's also one exploding helicopter for those keeping track at home.



As indicated earlier, The Eliminator is not wacky enough to stand out. It's all played stultifyingly straight. Try as he might, the charm of Bas Rutten isn't enough to overcome that, or the whole low-rent feeling of it all. Of course it's all very stupid, but it's also The Eliminator. I think it's also important to remember that Survivor was still a pretty hot TV show at the time. Maybe someone thought, "Hey, let's make a low-budget actioner that takes the idea of being a survivor literally, and add Bas Rutten and Michael Rooker". Voila, there you have it.


Featuring the end-credits song "Will To Survive" by Ian Springen (at least that's what we think the credit said; they're as washed out and hard to see as everything else) The Eliminator is not what you'd call essential viewing. It may only appeal to die-hard Bas Rutten fans, or fans of the "Most Dangerous Game" cliche.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Bet Your Life (2004)

 Bet Your Life (2004)- * * *

Directed by: Louis Morneau 

Starring: Billy Zane, Sean Carrigan, Corrine Van Ryck De Groot

Sonny Briggs (Carrigan) is a limo driver in Las Vegas. He also happens to be a degenerate gambler who owes money to mobsters and loan sharks all over town. That seems to be why Carmen Rawlins (Van Ryck de Groot) is after him. Briggs's prayers seem to answered when a mysterious figure named Joseph (Zane) offers him 2.4 million dollars. All Briggs has to do is stay alive for 24 hours while Joseph and his goons hunt him down. Reluctantly, Briggs agrees to the rules, and they're off and running. Sonny flees to Cleveland, but Joseph follows. Will Sonny survive all the chases, shooting, and blow-ups in order to "survive the game" and collect his cash? Or did he take it too seriously when Joseph encouraged him to BET YOUR LIFE?


In 2004, there was a reality show on NBC called The Next Action Star. It's a good idea for a show, and out of all the competitors, Sean Carrigan emerged as the winner. This is his "coming out party", if you will, as the Next Action Star in all of our lives. His co-star Corinne Van Ryck de Groot had even less experience. Carrigan wasn't a complete newcomer; he had been on some shows before. He more or less wins the audience over with his Chris Jericho-esque looks and charm. Perhaps the best thing to do with him was to put him in a tried-and-true Most Dangerous Game/Surviving the Game/Hard Target/Death Ring-type situation where he's being hunted and he's on the run. Van Ryck de Groot later ended up in Chokehold (2019).


Of course, as an extension of the reality show, Bet Your Life is a telefilm that originally aired on NBC. Thanks in large part to the producing power of Joel Silver, there is a lot of production value on the screen, such as helicopters, blow-ups, and larger action setpieces. Likely the whole idea of a gambler in an action scenario evolved into the Wesley Snipes show The Player, also on NBC.


Perhaps hedging their bets, to turn a phrase, the filmmakers got Billy Zane to be the baddie. Smart move. Thank GOODNESS for Billy Zane in this movie. It's really Billy unleashed and he gets to act wacky and zany. Or, should we say, Zane-y. They must have given him free reign here, and that was smart. Zane holds the viewers' attention with seeming ease and acts as a counterweight to the more meatheaded performance of Carrigan.


Another smart thing the filmmakers did was infuse a lot of humor into the proceedings, and the end result is something tongue-in-cheek that they weren't taking entirely seriously. That works in Bet Your Life's favor, because you can't really go the dark and dour route with Sean Carrigan at the helm.


So, as a part of action film history, Bet Your Life is noteworthy, because it's the first actioner to feature a reality show contest winner. If Carrigan had lost, and they couldn't have gotten Corinne Van Ryck de Groot, they could have cast Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tori Spelling instead. Either way, as long as Billy Zane is there, we're in good hands.


As a telefilm with light-hearted violence, no nudity or bad language and featuring a reality show contest winner, Bet Your Life is a pretty fun way to spend 85 minutes.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Face Of Terror (2004)

 Face Of Terror (2004)- * * *

Directed by: Bryan Goeres

Starring: Rick Schroder, Kadeem Hardison, Paulina Galvez, Rachael Stevens, Abel Folk, and Eric Balfour

Nick Harper (Schroder) and his partner Jefferson (Hardison) are tough cops who are attempting to clean up the streets from drug dealers and hoodlums. However, Nick must take a break from doing that because he cottons on to the fact that his sister Faith (Stevens) has gone missing. She was last seen working as a model in Barcelona, so Nick flies there to get answers. As he's turning Barcelona upside down trying to find his sister, he stumbles on to a terrorist plot. There have been numerous bombings in Spain of late because a terrorist cell including the evil Saleem Haddad (Balfour). Teaming up with Ana Palacios (Galvez), they now must simultaneously keep the local cops off their back, find Faith, and stop the next bombing! Can they do it? Or will the beautiful face of Barcelona become the ugly FACE OF TERROR?

We all wanted it, and now we got it: Ricky Schroder as an action star! Sorry, Rick Schroder. Indeed, this is a performance worthy of a Rick and not a Ricky, because he has a mustache, his voice is gruffer than usual, he bosses people around, and he beats up and shoots baddies as well. It's the Rick Schroder we've all been waiting years to see! Regardless of his past, Schroder has screen presence and it's enjoyable to watch him. He should have done more tough-guy roles like this. But we are thankful he did this one.

Much like how TIG went to Poland in Beyond Forgiveness (1994), Schroder goes to Spain here with Face of Terror. It all plays out like a much more sane version of Gunblast Vodka (2000) - a cop goes to a foreign European city and more or less has to infiltrate the world of modeling. Of course, Gotz Otto is nowhere in sight but that's okay because we've got Rick. I know we make this comparison a lot, but in this case it is really apt - Face of Terror has a similar plot to Taken (2008), and of course it predated Taken by four years. DTV movies are always ahead of the curve. We say that often as well. 

Kadeem Hardison's role was mostly on the phone and fairly thankless. Rachael Stevens as the missing sister was only in two other movies and is something of a mystery. All the other cast members acquit themselves well, and the Spanish locations are picturesque. The whole thing is shot clearly, bright, and well. You never miss a chase or Ricky Schroder beating up Eurotrash photographers.

In the early 00's, director Bryan Goeres was on a roll. Starting with the underrated and hugely enjoyable Phase IV (2002), he then made Face of Terror and Art Heist in the same year (2004), then did Crusader (2005). This time around, he wisely chose unorthodox actors for the roles - Rick Schroder as a fish-out-of-water cop in Spain and Eric Balfour as an Islamic terrorist - and he kept the pace snappy. Consequently, Face of Terror has a lot of positives and a lot to recommend it.

So, if you want to see Ricky Schroder punching and shooting people - as we know you do - please check out Face of Terror.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

The Great Challenge (2004)

The Great Challenge (2004)- *1\2

Directed by: Julien Seri

Starring: Williams Belle, Chau Belle Dinh, and Malik Dourif













A group of multi-racial pals from France love nothing more than to Parkour it up on the local buildings and walkways.  They’ve become so accomplished at what they do, they decide to open a gym in Bangkok to teach the local, underprivileged children how to Parkour. However, they unwittingly open their gym on the turf of the Japanese Yakuza, who are making inroads into Thailand. Henceforth, the ultimate confrontation begins to bubble up to the surface: who will win, the humble Parkour-ers or the nasty gangster baddies? Dare you find out?

Here’s what’s good about The Great Challenge: there are a lot of extremely impressive physical feats, and the stuntwork and action scenes must have taken a lot of time and work to execute. We truly appreciate that. But here’s the problem: there is no plot to speak of, and there is zero character development. So, yes, what these Parkour people do is quite extraordinary, but without decent storytelling, it’s hard, if not downright impossible, to care about their plight. Consequently, you “check out” and you stop caring. So as much as we wanted to care about this band of buff ragamuffins (or ragabuffins, to use the vernacular), this movie made it really hard for us to get invested.

We think we see what was going on here - make a PG-13-rated movie for the younger, Mountain Dew-drinking set that leverages the current trend of Parkour to get adolescent eyeballs on the screen. One of the main characters even strongly resembles Tony Hawk. While that may not have seemed like such a terrible plan, if The Great Challenge only had characterization, and was darker, grittier, and was rated R, we might have something. 

As it stands, it’s “in one eye and out the other”, a forgettable exercise that contains a lot of jumping and CGI sequences, but fails to deliver the serious-minded, bone-crunching blows that hardcore action fans have come to expect. The final brawl is a definite movie highlight, but it should have been that way from the jump (no pun intended). The movie shouldn’t have saved its capital with the audience until the very end. By then it’s too little too late.

In the “mildly amusing” department, the little Thai street urchins have cast-off clothing from English-speaking countries that say “no fly zone”, “crabby” and one has a colorful Street Fighter shirt. It’s doubtful they know what their own clothing says. But the kids do get their own training sequence, so that’s not out of keeping with classic action movies. But does it pay off? Plus, the baddies have these ridiculous bunched-up blankets on their heads that don’t exactly inspire fear. The movie may be fast-paced, but where is it going?

After seeing the same year’s District B13 (2004), there’s almost no need for The Great Challenge. So despite the hardworking stunt performances, we can’t really recommend this.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Moscow Heat (2004)

Moscow Heat (2004)-* *

Directed by: Jeff Celentano

Starring: Michael York, Alexander Nevsky, Andrew Divoff, Adrian Paul, Robert Madrid, Joanna Pacula, and Richard Tyson










Roger Chambers (York) is a dashing former diplomat who loves fencing. His friend Rudy (Madrid) convinces him to take the trip to Moscow to try and track down the evil Nikolai Klimov (Tyson), who is responsible for the death of his son. While there, the Russian authorities figure out what they’re up to and they don’t like it. Hulking brute and police Captain Vlad Stepanov (Nevsky) ends up getting sucked into the quest to take down Klimov and his minions. With Rudy in the hospital, and Roger basically under arrest, it’s up to Vlad to try and win the day. Can he do it?

Moscow Heat is typical 2000’s DTV product. It has a junky look, some very unfortunate green-screen effects, obvious dubbing, stilted dialogue, and plenty of silly moments. It also looks much older than it is, it seems like it came out in the early 90’s. (The “bullet time” shot is very Sniper, 1993). The biggest lingering question seems to be why Michael York is involved.  Maybe he wanted a trip to Russia. Or maybe Alexander Nevsky has a lot of pull.

Alexander Nevsky, not to be confused with the medieval military hero and later Saint who lived from 1220 to 1263, or the 1938 Eisenstein film about him, THIS Alexander Nevsky apparently is a bodybuilder who co-wrote, co-produced and stars in his movies. At this rate, he could be the next Jorgo Ognenovski. But according to the back of the DVD box, “he could be the next Schwarzenegger!” Really the only thing they have in common is an impenetrable accent. (Though to be fair, there is a boat in the movie named “The Terminator”. Coincidence?) In this movie, it takes too long for him to snap into action. But he does get his prerequisite torture scene.

Richard Tyson plays the evil blonde guy (you know he’s evil because he’s blonde). Joanna Pacula has basically a sit-down role and should have done more. Same with Adrian Paul, who has very little screen time. Same thing again with Andrew Divoff. 

Characters play chess and drink vodka, and one of the baddies has a “Russia” jacket. On the one hand you want to get the Russian feel and atmosphere, but on the other hand you want to avoid cliches. So what can you do? But in the end we felt the whole experience was a bit dry and instead of Michael York futzing around, it should have been Nevsky mowing down baddies with a machine gun right from the jump. Unfortunately that’s not the case. Maybe he’ll learn his lesson and do that in the future.

The music by Richard John Baker features an electric guitar theme that is very reminiscent of the days of Genesis and Super Nintendo, further emphasizing the “this actually isn’t a movie from the 90’s” feel.

While we look forward to more producing/writing/acting or even directing from Nevsky, we felt Moscow Heat didn’t tap into his promise as a potential DTV star.


Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Out Of Reach (2004)

Out Of Reach (2004)- * * *

Directed by: Po-Chih Leong

Starring: Steven Seagal, Matt Schulze, Ida Nowakoska, and Agnieszka Wagner











William “Billy Ray” Lansing (Seagal) is an ex-military, ex-government agent who now spends his time wandering around the woods of Alaska aimlessly and being a penpal to a 13 year old Polish girl. Seems like a natural career transition. When Billy Ray senses something amiss, he heads to Poland to see if Irina (Nowakoska), his penpal, is alright. 

While there he teams up with local law enforcement agent Kasia (Wagner)...and discovers a nefarious human trafficking operation led by the super-evil Faisal (Schulze). Luckily, he taught Irina how to create and read secret codes (which is perhaps why she signed on to this penpal program in the first place, why else would she?) - so they continue to communicate via code even though they are separated and he’s hot on her trail. Will Billy Ray find her and take down the baddies in the process?

Seagal’s hair in this particular outing is just silly. It’s a black, strange-looking mullet of some kind. Perhaps he caught it in the wilds of Alaska where he now lives. By “him” we mean Billy Ray, of course. This movie might even make an ideal double feature with Radical Jack (2000), because that features one Billy Ray Cyrus. And it’s not just his odd hair and choice of winter coats that’s funny. A lot of his dialogue is overdubbed by someone who is clearly not Seagal. The guy they chose to do this voice-over work has a much higher-pitched voice, not to mention the fact that he speaks clearly and doesn’t slur his words. So that’s funny, and there are many scenes that are clearly not Seagal in front of the camera as well, most notably his “walking around in the woods” scenes. Did they think the audience wouldn’t notice it’s some other guy?

But while the movie gets off to a very strange start, it eventually falls into a cross between Taken (2009) and the TV show To Catch A Predator, with a little Seagal on top for good measure. (Also, Seagal is some sort of master of disguise in this movie and goes by a bunch of different fake names, one of which is “Nikolai Rachenko”. This is also Dolph Lundgren’s name in Red Scorpion, 1988. Could this be just a coincidence? 

But if not, the writers really shouldn’t remind the audience of a far superior action star). Schulze makes for a good baddie, and you know he’s evil because A. He has evil blonde highlights, B. He plays chess and enjoys fencing and C. He seems to live in an M.C. Escher painting. But don’t forget that there’s an illegal Polish internet. And to never eat sushi without decoding the secret message invariably buried within the California rolls.

But this is another slyly insulting title for a Seagal movie, along the lines of Belly Of The Beast (2003) and Shadow Man (2006). Who’s titling these things? And are they getting a good chuckle? And is Seagal getting wise to it? Isn’t it a bit too easy -- “Out Of Reach” -- for a sandwich? For a donut? Make up your own fat joke. And the fact that some of the movie was set in Turkey can’t be an accident. 

The filmmakers probably asked Seagal where he wanted to shoot the movie and he just blurted out “Turkey”. But odds are he was just going to blurt that out anyway and wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying to him. But to be fair, there is some cool camerawork and good shots in this movie. But Out Of Reach needed more Martial Arts. Fencing battles and gunplay is all well and good, but we want to see Seagal do more of his classic slap-fighting. Isn’t that why we’re all really on board?

In all, Out Of Reach is a pretty entertaining entry in the 2000’s DTV canon of Seagal. There’s enough out-and-out silliness to keep you engaged, and that’s more than you can say for a lot of his other work.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, DTVC and The Video Vacuum!

Sniper 3 (2004)

Sniper 3 (2004)-* *1\2

Directed by: P.J. Pesce

Starring: Tom Berenger and Byron Mann










Beckett’s back! Yay? This time around, Beckett (Berenger, of course) is summoned to back to Vietnam to kill some terrorists. He teams up with a local cop to clean up Ho Chi Minh City, but as his mission is getting underway, he realizes a former ‘Nam buddy had stayed behind and now is his nemesis. Beckett will now have to grapple with demons from his past, his current alcoholism, and a sort of culture shock to dust off his old sniping skills. Can he do it?

Okay, okay, we get it. Thomas Beckett. He’s a sniper. He’s the best. Why on God’s green earth there needs to be THREE movies to tell us this cannot possibly be explained. There’s no possible way anyone demanded another Sniper movie after the lackluster Sniper 2 (2002). Now there’s even a fourth one, but Berenger had the good sense to steer clear. But Billy Zane returns, so it’s not a total loss. However,  the movie at hand today is not Sniper: Reloaded (2010), it’s part three of the Berenger trilogy.  But the problem is, there are only so many ways you can snipe. There are only so many times you can say “One shot, one kill” before it starts to lose all meaning.

We see what they were trying to do here. They were trying to bring it back to a more dark, serious and human level after a mediocre part 2, exactly what happened with the Universal Soldier series. Part two of that was lame, but Regeneration redeemed itself by dispensing with the stupidity and going for the jugular. While Sniper 3 appears to be following that formula, the results are not the same. While we appreciated Beckett calling the city “Saigon” and reminiscing about his past, and his struggles with alcohol, somehow it’s just getting harder and harder to care. Not that there aren’t some cool moments, such as the scene at the nightclub. But if there must be a Sniper 3, they should have gone in a grittier direction and stuck with it, not just give Beckett yet another temporary partner and call it a day. But because it’s a DTV film of the 2000’s, there’s plenty of techno on the soundtrack. Due to the presence of Vietnam vet Thomas Beckett, a new genre is formed: “Beckno”.

The four Sniper movies made to date have four different directors. Coincidence? Perhaps no director has come back because after they finish directing it, they feel they’ve taken a movie about sniping as far as they can and feel no need to return. Apparently that rule doesn’t apply to the viewing public. The people behind the Sniper series seem to think there’s an endless appetite for this out there. While Sniper 3 is not a bad movie by any means, it’s unnecessary on top of unnecessary. Even the presence of the great Tom Berenger can’t save it from feeling like a retread. It’s hard to get very enthusiastic about a third Sniper movie. To date, the best one remains the first one.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Try to Remember (2004)

Try to Remember (2004)-* *

Directed by: Jeff Beesley

Starring: Gabrielle Anwar and Max Martini













Try To Remember is a mild thriller you would watch on LMN when you're bored.  Lisa (Anwar) is a detective. She is investigating a crime that happened 15 years ago. It's reopened because the witnesses are starting to die under suspicious circumstances. There aren't many clues, but can she figure it out before there's more victims?

The main problem with this film is that there's too much exposition and buildup. You have to wait for an hour to see anything happen. The acting is fine, but the mystery itself is a little predictable. The writing could've been stronger. The movie takes the easy way out.

Overall, it's an okay mystery film if you don't have high expectations.

Comeuppance review by: Ty

The Easter Egg Adventure (2004)

The Easter Egg Adventure (2004)- *1\2

Directed by: John Michael Williams

Starring the voices of: James Woods, Brooke Shields, Eli Wallach, Joe Pantoliano, and Nancy Kerrigan














I can see why Easter Egg Adventure didn't make it to theaters. I think it's the very poorly done animation. It looks unfinished and sloppy. The story is okay through. The voice cast is mediocre. James Woods does not have a big role in this. Joe Pantoliano does a decent job as Timmy. Brooke Shields and Gary Littman are very annoying as Ms. Hare and Gracious Grasshopper.

The writing mostly consists of play on words for Rabbits and Chickens. The songs are also pretty weak too. The only saving grace in this mess are the funny close ups of the characters.

Definitely for little kids only.



Comeuppance review by: Ty

Sunland Heat (2004)

Sunland Heat (2004)-* *1\2

Directed by: Halder Gomes

Starring: Jay Richardson, J.J. Perry, and Alex Van Hagen













Sunland Heat is a average action movie. Alex Van Hagen plays Jennifer. She leaves her abusive husband Daniel (Richardson) and goes into hiding in Brazil. Jennifer then meets Matthews (J.J. Perry) and she falls for him. Daniel won't leave without a fight and kidnaps Jennifer's daughter and sends goons after her. Can she escape from his clutches?

The acting is very weak. Everybody goes over the top especially Jay Richardson and Alex Van Hagen. But the fight sequences are decently filmed, and the locations look great.

In the end: The acting isn't the best, but the fight scenes are OK and because of that it's worth seeing once.


Comeuppance review by: Ty

Sugar Valentine (2004)

Sugar Valentine (2004)-* * *

Directed by: Jean-Claude La Marre

Starring: Jean-Claude La Marre, Clifton Powell, and Ingrid Sonray










Sugar Valentine is a hidden gem. It is low-key and different. Jean-Claude La Marre plays the main character. Sugar wants to have a simple life. He takes care of his father in the hospital. To pay the bills he borrows money from some gangsters. He can't afford it because he's a pimp and business is slow. Then he meets Rachael (Ingrid Sonray) and it changes his life. He falls in love and starts to not care about his profession.

This is a very good movie because it's low-key and well-directed. Clifton Powell and Jean-Claude La Marre put in decent performances.

If you liked (or disliked) La Marre's Brothers In Arms (2005) give this a chance and you'll be surprised how good it is.

Comeuppance review by: Ty

Simple Revenge (2004)

Simple Revenge (2004)-* * *

Directed by: Brian Averill

Starring: Holly Perkins, Anne Hawthorne, and Andrew Garman










Simple Revenge is a well-made thriller. The plot concerns Alex (Perkins) who is about to get a promotion at her job until it's taken by Ann (Hawthorne). Alex is very mad about this and decides to get revenge on her by seducing her husband (Garman). Ann finds this out and confronts her. The confrontation leads to an accidental death and now Alex has to cover up the body.

Simple Revenge has a lot of twists and turns. It's very unpredictable. The acting is top-notch for the genre and it's fast-paced.

If you're sick of the usual boring mystery\thrillers out there, rent this. You won't be disappointed.

Comeuppance review by: Ty

Premonition (2004)

Premonition (2004)-* *1\2

AKA: The Psychic

Directed by: Jonas Quastel

Starring: Casper Van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg









 

Premonition or "The Psychic" is a decent thriller. It's basically a variation on The Dead Zone (1983). Instead of Walken it's Casper Van Dien.

Van Dien plays Jack Barnes, a cop who gets killed in the line of duty. He's brought back to life and now he see visions of disasters. These visions somehow connect to a terrorist group.

Casper puts in a good performance. Everybody else is mediocre. The action scenes are well-filmed, but the special effects are cheesy. The helicopters and explosion at the end of the film looked too fake.

In the end: It's definitely not a bad film, if you watch it with low expectations.

Comeuppance review by: Ty

Gang Warz (2004)

Gang Warz (2004)-* *1\2

Directed by: Chris McIntyre

Starring: Chino XL, Coolio, Pablo Patlis, Reni Santoni, and Robert Vaughn













I expected the worst and got a surprise here. Gang Warz is actually good.

The Crime Strike Force was great at catching criminals. Until corruption and bribes surfaced, and because of that, violent gang members were let out of prison. One gang member, Marco Cruz (Patlis) vowed to kill the people who put him away. Ro Conner (Chino XL) is the cop who has to stop him.

The biggest surprise of the movie is that Coolio's performance was first-rate. He was subtle. Robert Vaughn makes an appearance and spouts cop clichés. Chino XL was a little wooden in his delivery. 


The action scenes were goofy because during the gunfights, it looked like they didn't have a budget and winged it.

Besides that, if you want a pretty decent cop\gang flick, this isn't a bad choice.

Comeuppance review by: Ty

Admissions (2004)

Admissions (2004)-* * *

Directed by: Melissa Painter

Starring: Amy Madigan, Christopher Lloyd, John Savage, and Lauren Ambrose








Admissions is a fine drama even though they're are some problems with the ending.

Lauren Ambrose plays Evie who is trying to avoid college. To make her overworked mother not notice, she makes up poems that everybody thinks her mentally challenged sister wrote. All the acting is first-rate especially CT's own Lauren Ambrose and Amy Madigan. They both put in great performances. The climax is also very powerful. There are only two bad parts. First is the character of Stewart Worthy played by Christopher Lloyd. His part is underdeveloped. The other weakness is the ending. It goes around in circles, which I didn't expect with the 84 minute run time. Besides that, the movie is definitely worth watching.



Comeuppance review by: Ty

Doing Hard Time (2004)

Doing Hard Time (2004)-* *1\2

Directed By: Preston A. Whitmore II

Starring: Boris Kodjoe, Giancarlo Esposito, Michael K. Williams, Sticky Fingaz, and Steven Bauer











I thought Doing Hard Time was a decent movie. All the performances are good especially Williams as Craig and Sticky Fingaz as Eddie.



The plot is about Mike (Boris Kodjoe) who purposely gets himself thrown in prison because the killers of his child are in the same jail, and he wants revenge. It does have all the clichés you expect in a prison movie (The corrupt guards, every prisoner has a cool nickname\disability). It tries to be different by showing the killer to have a heart and be remorseful and in the long run, it does work. The script is a little weak at points because it sometimes tries too hard to be "the outside the box prison movie".

In the end: It's worth seeing for the odd plot line and gritty performances.





Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Target Of Opportunity (2004)

Target Of Opportunity (2004) -* * *

Directed By: Danny Lerner

Starring: Dean Cochran and Todd Jensen










Target Of Opportunity is an entertaining action movie. There's no need for a plot synopsis, because it's just non-stop action! Finally Nu-Image films are going in the right direction. If they put up a good budget and not rely on stock footage, they can knock it out of the park.



Of course, the acting and writing are mediocre but who cares? You definitely won't be disappointed.

You also have to support First Look Home Entertainment for putting this out. They have been releasing some other good films including: Direct Action, The River King, and Chrystal (2005).





Comeuppance Review by: Ty

The Confessor (2004)

The Confessor (2004) -* * *

Directed By: Lewin Webb

Starring: Christian Slater, Molly Parker and Stephen Rea










The Confessor AKA "The Good Shepherd" is a well-acted drama.

Father Daniel Clemens (Slater) has uncovered a murder mystery involving other priests and corruption in his church. Can he uncover the truth?



Christian Slater puts in a good performance as usual. Parker also holds her own. The mystery is a little uneven and the ending is weak, but overall the movie is worth seeing. It goes in too many directions. The director made another movie called Gone Dark (2003) which is a hidden gem.

The Confessor is decent little mystery if you don't take it too seriously.







Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Rottweiler (2004)

Rottweiler (2004) -* * *

Directed By: Brian Yunza

Starring: William Miller and Irene Montala









Rottweiler is a surprisingly decent horror movie. William Miller plays Dante. He wants to have a better life with his girlfriend. They go on an illegal immigrant boat, but they are stopped by an evil warden and his killer rottweiler. One year goes by and Dante's girlfriend is missing and he's on the run from the rottweiler. If you are a gorehound, you will enjoy this movie. The storyline is odd, yet fun and the acting is above average.



The main problem is the editing. It could have been cut down a little because the third act lags a bit.

Besides that, Rottweiler is a movie you watch when you have nothing else to do. Even if you don't like killer dog films (why would you not like them?) Rottweiler is still an entertaining movie.




Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Blueberry (2004)

Blueberry (2004) -* * *

Directed By: Jan Kounen

Starring: Vincent Cassel, Michael Madsen, Juilette Lewis, Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Izzard, and Colm Meaney










Blueberry or "Renegade" (U.S. DVD title) is an interesting movie but it will give you a headache. Vincent Cassel plays Mike Blueberry, who is the Marshal for a old western town. Michael Madsen co-stars as his nemesis Wallace. Juliette Lewis plays Maria, who falls in love with Mike.



Also appearing in Blueberry: Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Izzard, and Djimon Hounsou. They all do a good job, with Madsen standing out as the bad guy. Lewis sings (poorly) but does get nude towards the end. The movie is overshadowed by almost non-stop CGI effects. The climax between Wallace and Mike is one the weirdest things ever. They both drink peyote and have hallucinations. All these hallucinations will give you a headache.

There is also some unintentionally funny dialogue like "Animals are beasts, but men are monsters"



It's a different type of movie and it's worth seeing once.


Comeuppance Review by: Ty