"DRIVEN TO KILL"
Blu-ray Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: * (out of 5 stars)
BLURAY EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) STARRING Steven Seagal as RUSLAN DRACHEV Dmitry Chepovetsky as STEPHAN Igor Jijikine as MIKHAIL Robert Wisden as TERRY Rated R Studio: 20th Century Fox Directed by: Jeff King Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
After years of working of the Russian mob, Ruslan Drachev (Steven Seagal) has retired to become a writer. However, on the eve of her wedding, his daughter and her family is attacked. Ruslan immediately suspects her fiancé’s family, which is a high-powered Russian gangster. Delving back into the world of his own past, Ruslan tracks down his daughter’s attackers and delivers his own brutal revenge.
WHAT I LIKED
Of all the popular 80s action stars like Stallone, Lundgren, Norris, Van Damme and Schwarzenegger, it is Steven Seagal that seems to have lost the most luster. He may not have fallen the farthest off the radar (as that honor goes to Jean Claude Van Damme, who only recently resurfaced in a goofy documentary of himself after disappearing following a “Friends” guest appearance), but he has probably gained the most weight of them all.
Still, there’s a certain level of guilty pleasure that comes from watching a Steven Seagal movie. If they are anything, they are predictable, not just in story but also in the action you might expect. For those out there that love Seagal’s brand of fat-guy martial arts, “Driven to Kill” will be more of the same.
At least I can say that Seagal is finding a comfortable niche in direct-to-DVD action movies, and he’s not showing up any more in the multiplex.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
“Driven to Kill” suffers from much of the problems of any number of Seagal’s recent films. (Come to think of it, these following problems were present in his theatrical releases as well, as far back as “Out for Justice” in the early 90s before a brief quality comeback with “Under Siege.”)
The acting is quite terrible, starting with Seagal. In his last film, he played a mumbling New Orleans cop. Now, he plays a mumbling Russian ex-gangster. I suppose he fancies himself a modern-day John Wayne with his imposing presence and one-note delivery, but he lacks the charisma of anything close to the Duke.
The story is murky and meandering, with poor writing that matches the level of Seagal’s pen on his previous films. While the general plot of a man searching for the people who attacked his daughter is intact, the details blur throughout the picture under the weight of incomprehensible dialogue and ridiculous situations.
Even the martial arts action sequences carry no weight, aside from what’s around Seagal’s own waist. Like his other films, there’s not even the professional wrestling-style peril in which the hero is beaten down for a final resurgence. Nope, Seagal always seems to be completely unscathed through all the fights and barely even takes a hit. No suspense there.
Even the Blu-ray release of this film is somewhat pointless, offering nothing more beyond who you’ll get with the DVD release... unless you’re just dying to see Seagal’s meaty mug in high definition... and who wants that?
BLU-RAY FEATURES
Neither the DVD or the Blu-ray release includes any special features.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Die-hard Steven Seagal fans.
