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!

The Fight (2001)

The Fight (2001)-* *1\2

AKA: Shadow Glories 

Directed by: Ziad H. Hamzeh

Starring: Marc Sandler, Sarah Rachael Isenberg, Michael Denney, and Linda Amendola










Simon Penn (Sandler) is a terminally depressed former kickboxer and now trainer. He feels a lot of sadness and has some regrets about his life as a fighter, one of which is the dissolution of his relationship with his wife Jenny (Amendola). He tries to channel his negative feelings into positive ones by training and mentoring children. His partner running the dojo is a woman named Cathy Jean “CJ” Keyes (Isenberg). 

Because of traumas in her past, she decides to put herself to the ultimate test: fighting a man in the ring. But not just any man, the brutal Killer Kuzinski (Denney), a man who has killed two men in the ring, and who has a tumultuous past with none other than Simon. So she trains hard and both she and Simon fight their inner demons along the way. Then fight day arrives. What happens next will change everyone’s lives forever. Who will win THE FIGHT?

The Fight is an interesting little movie. It’s highly dramatic, even melodramatic at times, and feels like it potentially could have been a play. It seems like it was made by people more interested in creating high drama than a Martial Arts film. For a low-budget independent movie about broken people trying to find solace in a harsh world, and using Martial Arts as a vehicle to do that, The Fight does stand out among the myriad Meathead movies.

Just the fact that the title of the movie was changed from Shadow Glories - which is a more evocative and appropriate title - to the dumbed-down, bland and forgettable “The Fight” tells you all you need to know, really. The movie seems to be a labor of love from all involved, especially Marc Sandler. We were unfamiliar with his work prior to seeing this. He resembles James Gandolfini and always tilts his head down. 

It’s mainly during his overly-heartfelt voice-over narration that the movie seems like it’s trying too hard to be gritty, or just trying too hard in general. Plus at almost two hours, the movie is far too long and overstays its welcome. There’s only so much goodwill this movie can hope to have, and by trying our patience with an extended running time, it expends its capital with the audience. How much time are we supposed to want to spend with these troubled people and their sad lives?

Fans of more traditional action movies (like us) will find the pace slow, and the copious use of slow-motion only slows things down to a crawl even more. But the movie predated Million Dollar Baby (2004) by a solid three years, and Sandler (who we are guessing isn’t related to Adam...or maybe just hoping) has a great yell. 

Killer Kuzinski, not to be confused with Killer Kowalski, or Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, is an appropriately evil and heartless man, unafraid to be put in the impossible position of fighting a woman in an exhibition bout. If he wins, he looks like a jerk, if he loses, he was beat by a girl. But perhaps CJ’s mighty cry - from a crowded audience - of “I can beat you!!!”, which he somehow heard from the ring, really got to him.

A movie highlight occurs when two elderly men in Karate Gi’s have a conversation. They don’t seem like guys that would be wearing those outfits or be in a dojo. It looks like two grandfathers named Sid and Morty and they should be at a deli discussing Matlock. It’s a funny scene, watch out for it.

Shot in Lewiston, Maine, The Fight is something of an oddity. There’s too much drama for your standard Punchfighter (or almost-Punchfighter), but too much hand-to-hand combat for patrons seeking a standard drama. It seems only very specific audiences will warm to The Fight.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty