Review of A Dangerous Man (2009) by Van R — 25 Oct 2010

Paunchy martial arts action star Steven Seagal finds himself trapped in.

A hornet's nest of murder and mayhem in the above-average contemporary crime thriller "A Dangerous Man." "Sweepers" director Keoni Waxman keeps the action lively in this fast-paced, profane, bullet opera with a high body count as rival Chinese drug smugglers, trigger-happy Russian mobsters, and corrupt cops lock horns with automatic weapons in the great Northwest. Caught in the middle is a poor Asian girl who wants to rescue her uncle from the Chinese gangsters. The uncle knows everything about the Golden Triangle drug trade in Southeast Asian and some Asians want him dead. Meanwhile, the girl escapes with a bag of Chinese drug money that contains a transponder, like the one in the Cohen brothers' classic "No Country for Old Men." Seagal plays Shane Daniels, a 14-year veteran Special Forces soldier who knows how to terminate people with extreme prejudice. One night an assailant attacks his wife in their car as Shane is coming to meet her. Shane kicks the stuffing out of the carjacker. Later, the authorities discover the carjacker's corpse and convict Shane for the assailant's murder. Shane spends six years behind bars until he is acquitted of the crime based on DNA evidence. The court plans to award Shane the sum of $300-thousand, but Shane wants his life back more than the money. When he walks out of the courtroom, he looks like he is metaphorically toting a giant tree on his shoulder. No sooner does he go back out in public than he roughs up a couple of car thieves trying to sell him a 'hot' ride. The fights are brutal and accelerated for spice.

Incidentally, "A Dangerous Man" amounts to a homage to the classic Alan Ladd western "Shane," particularly in the final confrontation. Not only does Waxman keep things turning over, but he creates compelling characters. The Russian mafia chieftain stands out in the crowd of equally ruthless gunmen who have no qualms about shooting first and posing questions afterward. When the corrupt cops try to question him, the Russian mob boss points that the police can do nothing to him. American prisons feel like paradise to him, and he used to sodomize the Russian police on a regular basis--he claims--when he couldn't rape livestock. Inevitably, as in all Seagal shoot'em ups, the proud, egotistical villains appear front and center to devastate our hero. Here there is a Dadu warrior, an invincible combatant who cannot be defeated until he is forced to eat humble pie, Seagal style. "A Dangerous Man" ranks one of the Seagal's best straight-to-video releases and rivals some of his lesser theatrical efforts. If you are a Seagal fan, this would be a good one to get in Blu-Ray.