On DVD/Blu-ray: HARD TARGET 2 (2016) and THE DUEL (2016)

HARD TARGET 2
(US - 2016)

On the heels of the 27-years-later KINDERGARTEN COP 2, Universal's "1440" DTV department delivers another belated, in-name-only "sequel" with HARD TARGET 2. There's no direct connection to the 1993 Jean-Claude Van Damme hit that marked the American debut of legendary director John Woo, other than than the MOST DANGEROUS GAME concept and some occasional appearances by doves to pay appropriate homage to Woo. HARD TARGET 2 is more or less a remake of HARD TARGET that could've just as easily been titled AVENGING FORCE 2 or SURVIVING THE GAME 2 were it not for the doves and the hero working "hard targets" into a sentence. DTV sequel specialist Roel Reine (DEATH RACE 2 & 3, 12 ROUNDS 2, THE SCORPION KING 3, THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2) is always good at making these low-budget affairs look as big-screen as possible and HARD TARGET 2 is no exception, with some outstanding cinematography (handled by Reine himself) and location work in Thailand. After losing his cool and accidentally killing his best friend in the ring, MMA superstar Wes "The Jailor" (sic) Baylor (Scott Adkins) is a disgraced pariah, fleeing the States and doing what ostracized anti-heroes do in DTV action movies--becoming a top fighter in the illegal underground fight circuit of Bangkok. Down on his luck and content to crawl inside the bottle, Baylor is offered a shot at redemption by expat American fight promoter Jonah Aldrich (Robert Knepper), who's got $1 million on the table if Baylor agrees to fight at a major event in Myanmar. Once there, the ruse is up: Aldrich runs an exclusive club where the world's wealthiest assholes hunt humans for sport, and Baylor is their latest target. Obviously, he's never seen HARD TARGET, AVENGING FORCE, or SURVIVING THE GAME.

Given nothing but a two-minute head start and a pouch of valuable rubies that's his if he makes it to the Thai border, Baylor flees into the dense jungle surrounding Aldrich's camp, followed closely by the hunters, among them Aldrich's right-hand-man Madden (Temuera Morrison), and humorless, bloodthirsty oil heiress Sofia (Rhona Mitra, who seems to be using this as an audition reel should she ever be up for a 007 femme fatale gig).. Baylor gets some help from local village girl Tha (Ann Truong), whose brother was also pursued in an Aldrich hunt. The rest is yet another MOST DANGEROUS GAME knockoff, tailored to Adkins' martial-arts skills for the cult audience the prolific actor has acquired in his many films with DTV action auteur Isaac Florentine and others. There's some terrific stunt work and action scenes throughout, though as good as the film looks, Reine isn't quite a match for the style of John Woo in his prime. Still, as far as derivative DTV knockoffs go, HARD TARGET 2 gets the job done, with a gritty performance by Adkins, whose acting skills are improving, and an entertainingly over-the-top one by a game Knepper, who knows exactly what kind of movie this is and is having a blast with it. HARD TARGET 2 suffers a bit from the same kind of jank-ass Bulgarian CGI that's an albatross for the entire DTV industry--watch out for the blood in that throat slitting that looks like wax slowly leaking out of a lava lamp--but thankfully, it's used sparingly. We're not dealing with high art here, but HARD TARGET 2 is solid, moves fast, and is further evidence that Adkins is one of the best-kept secrets in action movies today. By that same token, like his contemporary Florentine, Reine is more than ready for bigger assignments in the big leagues. (R, 103 mins)



THE DUEL
(US/Canada- 2016)

Dumped straight-to-VOD by Lionsgate, THE DUEL is a gritty and occasionally unsettling western that tries to juggle too many ideas to be a complete success, though it's never not intriguing. In 1888, Texas Ranger David Kingston (Liam Hemsworth) is sent by the Governor (William Sadler) to investigate the discovery of scalped corpses found floating into a stream outside the desolate town of Mount Hermon, near the Texas-Mexico border. Traveling with his wife Marisol (Alice Braga) under the guise of settlers looking for a new place to call home, David is quickly welcomed to Mount Hermon by Abraham Brant (Woody Harrelson), the town's dapper, charismatic leader, who almost immediately makes him the new sheriff. David isn't fooled by Brant's hospitable exterior: 22 years earlier, Brant killed David's father in a "Helena duel"--a knife-to-the-death duel that originated in the border town of Helena--which makes his assignment personal. It's not long before David gets a bad vibe from the Mount Hermon locals, including local prostitute Naomi (Felicity Price), who straight-up warns him that nothing is as it seems and she's tried to escape but can't. Brant is a religious fanatic and a virulent racist, fire-and-brimstoning the word of God with his flock holding snakes and speaking in tongues, while at the same time organizing MOST DANGEROUS GAME-type hunts where captured Mexicans are set loose to be pursued and picked off by wealthy visitors. Brant also casts some sort of spell on Marisol that makes her sick and brainwashes her against her husband, for whom she was already harboring a certain degree of resentment for being betrothed to him by her father.

Writer Matt Ross (TRIPLE 9) and director Kieran Darcy-Smith set up THE DUEL as a fairly standard-issue revenge western, with an added second villain in the form of Brant's sniveling, bullying son Isaac (Emory Cohen), who's such a snotty little shit that you know it's only a matter of time before David shuts him up. The added element of Brant's Jim Jones/Col. Kurtz-style psychological grip on the town and its residents is interesting, but the film never decides what Brant is, even briefly flirting with supernatrual elements before quickly abandoning them. Harrelson does what he can in the role, but even he seems unsure about exactly how he's supposed to be playing it. More impressive is the career-best work from Harrelson's HUNGER GAMES co-star Hemsworth, who really seems to be relishing the chance to play a western badass in the way David is handed a sheriff's badge and, instead of being the puppet his presumed master expected, immediately decides he isn't taking shit from anyone and refuses to tap-dance around Brant when it comes to enforcing the law.  Ross and Darcy-Smith obviously wanted to make something more than a rote vengeance saga, but the disparate parts don't always add up. Still, THE DUEL gets enough right that it's worth seeing. It just could've had a more steady consistency to it. (R, 110 mins)

On DVD/Blu-ray: THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 (2015); [REC] 4 (2015); and KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN (2015)

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2
(US - 2015)

The RZA's ragged and likely compromised (his original cut was rumored to run a self-indulgent four hours) kung-fu homage THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS wasn't really a hit when it was released in theaters in the fall of 2012. Grossing close to $16 million, it made just enough to recoup its $15 million budget, thus justifying a DTV sequel. Minus the cosmetic "Quentin Tarantino Presents" banner, RZA returns in the title role and co-wrote the script with ROMEO MUST DIE screenwriter John Jarrell (whose last writing credit was the 2002 Bruce Campbell vehicle TERMINAL INVASION), but hands directing chores off to straight-to-DVD action sequel specialist Roel Reine (THE MARINE 2, DEATH RACE 2, DEATH RACE 3: INFERNO, THE SCORPION KING 3, 12 ROUNDS 2: RELOADED). As far as these things go, IRON FISTS 2 is dumb but reasonably entertaining, has some better-than-expected CGI, humor in the form of some intentionally anachronistic verbiage and delivery and, like many of Reine's movies, looks a lot more expensive than it really is. The film opens with RZA's Blacksmith leaving Jungle Village on a journey of peace to find his chi, but instead being attacked by the brother of the dead Silver Lion, his chief adversary in the first entry. The Blacksmith, named Thaddeus, is injured in the melee and is eventually nursed back to health by the family of Li Kung (21 JUMP STREET's Dustin Nguyen), the leader of a village of oppressed, slave-laboring miners ruled by tyrannical warlord Master Ho (Carl Ng), whose ruthless quest for power and "The Golden Nectar" has rendered the paraplegic, wheelchair-bound Mayor Zhang (the great Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) a helpless figurehead.

Of course, Thaddeus the Blacksmith will aid Li Kung and the miners in their fight to take back their village from Master Ho in what essentially amounts to a martial-arts redux of SHANE and PALE RIDER. Where RZA paid homage to '70s kung fu in the first film, here he sets his sights on things like Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH and Sergio Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, right down the final showdown between the miners and Master Ho's feared Beetle Clan being set to a sampled remix of Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold." Rivers of blood flow, and there's one very well done and exceptionally splattery and chunky full-body explosion, plus a visual shout-out to CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST with Master Ho having some miners impaled on wooden poles going in one end and exiting through the mouth. While it's lacking the first film's flamboyant performance by RZA buddy Russell Crowe playing vulgar mercenary Jack Knife as a fusion of Richard Burton and Oliver Reed, THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 isn't bad for what it is. While RZA's heart was in the right place when he took on directing duties in the previous film, Reine is much more solid and polished with action sequences and ensuring that its Thailand location-shooting has a near-epic scope that you wouldn't expect considering its low budget and straight-to-DVD/Blu-ray/Netflix Instant release (it actually looks better than its much bigger-budgeted predecessor). You could almost see this turning into a franchise or a cable series with RZA's Blacksmith functioning as some sort of wandering, 19th century David Banner, drifting from village to village helping those in need. And I don't know about you, but Ng's Master Ho declaring "You just walked into a windstorm of flying elephant shit!" is pure poetry. (Unrated, 90 mins, also streaming on Netflix Instant)



[REC] 4
(Spain - 2014; US release 2015)

The fourth and allegedly final installment in a franchise that was already superfluously padding an 85-minute running time as early as [REC] 2, [REC] 4 marks the return of Manuela Velasco as reporter Angela Vidal, the central character of the first two films, as well as director Jaume Balaguero, who co-directed the first two entries with Paco Plaza before Plaza flew solo on the third while Balaguero went off to direct SLEEP TIGHT. Balaguero is back and Plaza is out, but it hardly matters. After a very well-done first film, the [REC] series has been running on fumes since about 40 minutes into [REC] 2. [REC] 3: GENESIS was the odd-man-out, HALLOWEEN III/THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT of the franchise, instead focusing on a different cast at a wedding reception where the demonic virus outbreak spreads at the same time as the events of the first two films, a concept that allowed Plaza to rip off Lamberto Bava's DEMONS and Michele Soavi's THE CHURCH. One survivor of that reception (Maria Alfonsa Rosso) turns up here, but Velasco's Vidal is again front and center, rescued from the apartment building from the first two films and quarantined with others on a ship in the middle of the ocean. The ship's been commandeered by secretive medical researcher Dr. Ricarte (Hector Colome), who's working on a retrovirus to counter the outbreak and is convinced that Angela is the key to finding a breakthrough. That is, until all hell breaks loose when the ship's infected cook contaminates all of the food, and everyone's trapped onboard since Ricarte cut off communication and disabled the lifeboats to eliminate the chance of any infected making it back to the mainland. If nothing else, [REC] 4 deserves some credit for completely jettisoning the exhaustingly overplayed found-footage element, even if that's what gives the [REC] title its meaning. It's also telling that the [REC] movies have overstayed their welcome to the point that they've outlasted the very craze the original had a hand in popularizing ([REC] was remade in America as QUARANTINE). There's nothing really exciting here: those infected by the virus crave human flesh and sprint and banshee-howl through the ship when attacking. It's pretty much a fast-zombie apocalypse on a boat, though there is a nice nod to the great DOCTOR BUTCHER, M.D. with one of the infected being on the receiving end of an outboard motor head-shredding. There's nothing more than can be done with this story, and while Balaguero has insisted that this is the final film in the series, the door is of course left open for a fifth (or even worse, a reboot), even if he may be the only one who still cares: Magnolia released this on VOD and five screens in the US for a total theatrical gross of $837. (R, 95 mins)

KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN
(US/UK/Netherlands/Belgium/Canada - 2015)

At the time it took place in 1983, the kidnapping of Amsterdam-based Heineken Brewery CEO Freddy Heineken led to the biggest ransom ever paid for an individual, the equivalent of roughly $17 million. Heineken and his driver Ab Doderer were abducted outside of Heineken's office on November 9, 1983 and held for three weeks before an anonymous tip led police to suspect a small group of friends and failed businessmen led by Cor van Heut and Willem Holleeder, who split the money five ways and fled. All were eventually apprehended and served prison time. It's a fascinating story, and it was just made into the 2011 Dutch-language film THE HEINEKEN KIDNAPPING, with Rutger Hauer as Heineken. In this English-language telling--made with the input of famed Dutch true crime journalist Peter R. de Vries, author of the 1987 chronicle The Kidnapping of Alfred Heineken--Anthony Hopkins pulls out all of his Hannibal Lecter tics and mannerisms (in other words, "Anthony Hopkins") for a perfunctory performance as Heineken, making schmoozing small-talk and attempting to manipulate his kidnappers. Even going through the motions, Hopkins effortlessly walks away with the film, which isn't hard since it's also a gathering of the hottest new talent that 2008 had to offer, with Jim Sturgess as van Hout and Sam Worthington as Holleeder. Other than Hopkins and a couple of well-acted bits by David Dencik as Doderer--knowing he's expendable and that if the kidnappers want to show how serious they are, he'll be the example--nobody makes much of an impression.  There's a reason Sturgess never became a big star after ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and 21 and Worthington's career never took off after AVATAR, the highest-grossing film of all time: they just aren't very interesting actors. Competent, yes, but guys like Sturgess and Worthington (and, I guess, Ryan Kwanten, who plays kidnapper Cat Boellard but, like the other two actors who make up the quintet, more or less just blends in with the background) are a dime a dozen and never stand out when given headlining roles. And judging from this film's almost non-existent theatrical release, the Sturgess star vehicle ELECTRIC SLIDE getting dumped on VOD two weeks ago after celebrating its fourth anniversary on the shelf, and that Worthington's most recent major gig being a supporting role in SABOTAGE--one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's worst movies--Hollywood has apparently finally given up trying to make them happen.

It doesn't help that KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN rushes through the set-up and never establishes a clear time element (van Hout and the others spent two years planning their abduction of Heineken), but it's also packed with every kidnapping thriller trope and cliche imaginable. You can predict with almost clockwork accuracy at what point the Amsterdumbasses will turn on one another and question their loyalty, or how fugitive, homesick van Hout's insistence on calling his girlfriend back home in Amsterdam will eventually lead the cops right to their door. It almost takes a special effort to make a story this inherently interesting so utterly bland and instantly forgettable. Lifelessly directed by Daniel Alfredson, who helmed the second and third inferior entries in the original Swedish GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO trilogy, KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN doesn't even work hard enough to earn the participation medal of being deemed a harmless time-killer, or to justify its existence just four years after another film told the exact same story. (R, 95 mins)

On DVD/Blu-ray: VIOLET & DAISY (2013) and DEAD IN TOMBSTONE (2013)

VIOLET & DAISY
(US - 2013)

The directing debut of Oscar-winning PRECIOUS screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher, VIOLET & DAISY is an oddity that starts as an almost chick-flick version of THE BOONDOCK SAINTS before becoming a stagy character study.  It's a little too "cute" at times, only very rarely crossing the line into "quirky." It could almost be a play, and it definitely feels like the kind of movie made by a screenwriter stepping behind the camera for the first time.  Violet (Alexis Bledel) and Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) are two teenaged assassins about to start a much-deserved vacation when they get a call about a quick-money hit from their handler Russ (Danny Trejo):  rub out a guy who stole some money from their boss.  Wanting some time off but needing some extra money to buy matching dresses from the trendy clothing line of teen pop sensation Barbie Sunday (Cody Horn), Violet and Daisy take the assignment.  Arriving at the target's apartment only to find he's out, they wait for him but fall asleep on his couch.  When the schlubby target (James Gandolfini) arrives home, he covers them with a blanket and gives them cookies and milk when they wake up.  The girls unexpectedly bond with the target, who turns out to be a nice guy who's had some shitty luck, and find it difficult to pull the trigger, causing them to re-examine their own friendship and working partnership while the boss sends his top assassin (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) to trail them in case they can't complete the job.

VIOLET & DAISY doesn't always work, and it belongs to that KILLING THEM SOFTLY and THE AMERICAN school of denying audiences the kind of payoff that the set-up seems to ensure (I imagine this would've gotten an "F" from the insipid CinemaScore had it opened wide), but it has its moments amid the inconsistencies.  Ronan and Bledel are quite good, and they get a great intro dressed as nuns, mowing down a roomful of mobsters to the tune of Merrilee Rush's version of "Angel of the Morning."  Other odd touches include the pair being prone to hopscotch and lollipops, riding a large tricycle to a job, and Daisy playing patty-cake with Russ while talking over their assignment.  The joke, of course, is that they're basically little girls in a cold, violent profession, though Violet--played by a well-cast Bledel, who's about a decade older than she looks--hides that she's a bit more hard-edged and worldly and tries to shield that from the naïve and childlike Daisy; Violet is almost like a few-years-older version of Natalie Portman's Matilda from Luc Besson's THE PROFESSIONAL.  At times, there's a bit of a SUCKER PUNCH thing going on here as well, though VIOLET & DAISY was shot in 2010, well before that film's release.  It's also worth a look for the always-excellent work of the late and already much-missed Gandolfini, who died two weeks after the film's belated, 17-screen theatrical release in June 2013.  At just 88 minutes, the film feels a bit hacked down (a pre-OFFICE and MAGIC MIKE Horn is in the credits but is only seen on a magazine cover and a billboard) and hits and misses in equal measure, but the fine performances of the leads make it an interesting curiosity, as does Gandolfini's brief reunion with his SOPRANOS co-star John Ventimiglia.  (R, 88 mins)


DEAD IN TOMBSTONE
(US - 2013)

With films like DEATH RACE 2, DEATH RACE 3: INFERNO, THE MARINE 2, and THE SCORPION KING 3 to his credit, Dutch director Roel Reine is usually mentioned along with Isaac Florentine and John Hyams as a top name in the world of straight-to-DVD.  The surprisingly entertaining DEATH RACE 3, in particular, demonstrated that Reine--who frequently functions as his own cinematographer and camera operator--was adept at making low-budget action films look like big-screen contenders.  The idea of Reine helming a supernatural western is full of potential, but DEAD IN TOMBSTONE is a disappointment, primarily because he falls into the trap of shaky-cam action sequences that reduce everything to jittery, headache-inducing incoherence.  Reine's camera never stops moving and swirling, and he also gets a little too distracted with directorial wankery, usually in the form of bizarre POV shots that bring to mind what a spaghetti western might look like if Sergio Leone had access to a Skycam.

The outlaw Blackwater Gang, led by Guerrero de la Cruz (Danny Trejo) and his half-brother Red Cavanaugh (Anthony Michael Hall), arrives in the small mining town of Edendale to steal some gold from a bank vault.  They successfully steal the gold, but the psychotic Red kills the sheriff (Daniel Lapaine) and goads the rest of the gang into killing Guerrero.  Trapped in a Purgatory that looks like a leftover SILENT HILL set, Guerrero makes a deal with the Devil--who appears in the form of a philosophical blacksmith (Mickey Rourke)--to save his soul in exchange for the six remaining members of the Blackwater Gang.  A year later, Guerrero pulls a HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and shows up in Edendale--now taken over by the power-mad Red and renamed Tombstone--to exact his revenge.  There's no reason that this shouldn't be a fun B-movie, but Reine can't restrain himself and just shoot a sequence in a straightforward fashion.  He wants to go for a classic Sam Raimi feel with a contemporary, video-game aesthetic--Reine's a talented genre director but he's not Raimi and the results are simply eye-glazingly dull.  If he'd just buckled down and made a normal-looking western, he might've had a minor cult movie on his hands instead of the forgettable DTV throwaway it turned out to be. Trejo is perfectly cast, Hall has some fun playing a dastardly villain, and Dina Meyer is good as the sheriff's vengeance-obsessed widow.  Rourke, presumably here because he torched the last remaining bridge built after his short-lived WRESTLER renaissance by walking off of SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS and trash-talking its director, Martin McDonagh (Woody Harrelson replaced him), looks even worse here than he did in JAVA HEAT.  Reine directed the 2008 Steven Seagal dud PISTOL WHIPPED and seems to employ some classic Seagal tactics here as he has a bloated Rourke a) wearing a big duster in a hapless attempt to conceal his gut, and b) dubbed by someone else in most of his scenes.  There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why Rourke--who has a distinct sound--has an obviously different voice on and off throughout.  Perhaps a plot point was changed and this was the best they could do rather than deal with him coming back to record some new dialogue?   DEAD IN TOMBSTONE makes impressive use of some unlikely locations in Romania, utilizing some still-standing COLD MOUNTAIN sets that have been seen in several westerns since (the History Channel miniseries HATFIELDS & MCCOYS was also shot in Romania), but when it's all said and done, it's unfortunately a missed opportunity.  Available in both R-rated and unrated versions, the R-rated running 99:59 and the unrated 99:58.  What the hell is that all about?  (R/Unrated, both 100 mins)