... Close your eyes and listen to all the explosions and the sound of limbs hitting flesh, and you may be happy. If you OPEN your eyes, however, that's when the implausibilities become much harder to ignore.
A CD-Rom is crucial in some megalomaniac's plan to extort money and terrorise the world. I've no problem digesting that, I've seen it happen before in the movies; but when said CD is dropped ON A ROCKFACE and left undetected for who knows how long, it still works as it needs to!! Funny that, I don't dare to even put mine on the coffee-table if I want to be able to use it again...
We see a shot of Seagal's large head within the cross-hairs of a sniper rifle... Game over, Casey? No way, within no time he's hiding under the train and explaining blithely that the bullet just 'grazed' him... However stupidly enjoyable the rest of the film was (and I suppose it has its moments) I could no longer in good conscience cheer for Mr. Ryback, he should have been dead by now, not completely impervious to harm so that he can continue with his rescue mission...
A train is a poor environment in which to stage skilfully choreographed battles. On the boat you had galleys, walkways, etc; but here everything's a bit cramped. This means we spend a lot of time watching dough-boy (What?! He's a chef, that's all I meant... :-) ) on top of the speeding vessel, making his ungainly way from carriage to carriage... Here's a general rule; as soon as a terrorist so much as peeks their head outside, they're a dead man (or woman). If Seagal ever gets his hands on a baddie, just assume that Stevie wins the day, since a lot of the time things are so poorly directed and edited that it's hard to tell...
Bogosian playing the 'tech-geek' villain does well. True he can't come close to matching the previous standard of Lee Jones or Busey, but that's to be expected. I have to admit, as hitherto mocking as I've been, that there is still a strangely unaccountable thrill in seeing the big man in black bust up those with shadowy souls... Darkness very much the theme, then. If you can manage to turn off the overhead light of your brain for awhile, then you can still find some entertainment in this as long as you feel your way gently.
A CD-Rom is crucial in some megalomaniac's plan to extort money and terrorise the world. I've no problem digesting that, I've seen it happen before in the movies; but when said CD is dropped ON A ROCKFACE and left undetected for who knows how long, it still works as it needs to!! Funny that, I don't dare to even put mine on the coffee-table if I want to be able to use it again...
We see a shot of Seagal's large head within the cross-hairs of a sniper rifle... Game over, Casey? No way, within no time he's hiding under the train and explaining blithely that the bullet just 'grazed' him... However stupidly enjoyable the rest of the film was (and I suppose it has its moments) I could no longer in good conscience cheer for Mr. Ryback, he should have been dead by now, not completely impervious to harm so that he can continue with his rescue mission...
A train is a poor environment in which to stage skilfully choreographed battles. On the boat you had galleys, walkways, etc; but here everything's a bit cramped. This means we spend a lot of time watching dough-boy (What?! He's a chef, that's all I meant... :-) ) on top of the speeding vessel, making his ungainly way from carriage to carriage... Here's a general rule; as soon as a terrorist so much as peeks their head outside, they're a dead man (or woman). If Seagal ever gets his hands on a baddie, just assume that Stevie wins the day, since a lot of the time things are so poorly directed and edited that it's hard to tell...
Bogosian playing the 'tech-geek' villain does well. True he can't come close to matching the previous standard of Lee Jones or Busey, but that's to be expected. I have to admit, as hitherto mocking as I've been, that there is still a strangely unaccountable thrill in seeing the big man in black bust up those with shadowy souls... Darkness very much the theme, then. If you can manage to turn off the overhead light of your brain for awhile, then you can still find some entertainment in this as long as you feel your way gently.