As others have stated, Shadow Man is a welcome return to form for Steven Seagal (who seems to be putting more effort into recent movies) but as usual with (most) d-t-v releases, it does have a rather jumbled plot, that detracts from what the big guy does best. Seagal plays (surprise, surprise) an ex C.I.A agent, who whilst on vacation with his young daughter, gets tied up in a plot to smuggle a deadly chemical agent (capable of doing serious damage to the human race) and in the carnage, his father in law is killed(?) and his daughter kidnapped......Which anyone will tell you, is the wrong thing to do to Seagal! The action moves fast and frantic (and the movie looks well, for it's modest budget) but as usual, there seems to have been post-production tampering. At the movies start, it shows Seagal teaching a martial arts class, and showing them the 'spiritual' side to the combat. Then (in a terribly doubled after-thought) Seagal (or his double) is then seen to start brutally going one to one with the class (dubbing is evident, at this point as well) so i chalk this up to the film-makers wanting extra fights (strange, given that Seagal performs all the other stuff himself?) Some ropey C.G.I and obvious body doubles asside (although Seagal is never around on set enough, to make an entire movie, given that he puts out 3-4 of these movies a year) the movie is a good solid little action flick (the people behind Van Dammes 'Second In Command'...take note!)
What Seagal now needs is to work with a decent director. One that cares little about scenes lasting longer than 2 seconds before an edit. It's good to see him kicking ass again, but the surrounding material is beneath him, and regardless of his good work, these annoying tactics only serve to make Seagal 'the star' look bad.
U.K fans will be keen to spot ex-soap regulars Eva Pope (Coronation Street) and Alex Ferris (Eastenders)......and remarkably (oscar nominated) Immelda Staunton(?)
The bottom line is this, Shadow Man has all the good quality fight scenes that Seagal is famous for, but suffers from this inexplicable 'filler-syndrome' that infests most d-t-v's. 'Mercenary For Justice' had the same problems (yet that movie, also grows on the viewer) Once Seagal can work with a plot without these distractions, and a director that can shoot action in a fluid style, that suits his beautiful Aikido skills, then expect to see the 'Stout Sensei' on the big screen soon enough?
Big Lee gives this (not quite) perfect action flick 9 out of 10
What Seagal now needs is to work with a decent director. One that cares little about scenes lasting longer than 2 seconds before an edit. It's good to see him kicking ass again, but the surrounding material is beneath him, and regardless of his good work, these annoying tactics only serve to make Seagal 'the star' look bad.
U.K fans will be keen to spot ex-soap regulars Eva Pope (Coronation Street) and Alex Ferris (Eastenders)......and remarkably (oscar nominated) Immelda Staunton(?)
The bottom line is this, Shadow Man has all the good quality fight scenes that Seagal is famous for, but suffers from this inexplicable 'filler-syndrome' that infests most d-t-v's. 'Mercenary For Justice' had the same problems (yet that movie, also grows on the viewer) Once Seagal can work with a plot without these distractions, and a director that can shoot action in a fluid style, that suits his beautiful Aikido skills, then expect to see the 'Stout Sensei' on the big screen soon enough?
Big Lee gives this (not quite) perfect action flick 9 out of 10