This week went much smoother than last week, but I still have some small kinks to work out. A lot of great topics, so feel free to sound off on anything you want!
You can actually hear my computer humming at certain parts, so sorry for the slight stuttering. Also, I changed the resolution, which altered the height of the pictures, so there is a slight gap at the top. But hey, practice makes perfect, right?
Assassination Games director Ernie Barbarash teams up with Jean Claude Van Damme once again in Six Bullets. Fresh off of the success of the Expendables 2, JCVD is looking to re-establish himself as both an action star and actor. The film follows a similar plot to another film, but does it have enough of an identity to justify a watch?
There is no way to talk about Six Bullets without referring to Taken, so I’m not even going to beat around the bush. Yes, the basic idea is the same, but that’s as far as it goes. Samson Gaul is a man hired to find people, and people come to him when all hope is lost. Unlike Taken, where the main character’s daughter was kidnapped, Samson has no connection to the victim. There are some similarities (which could have been a little more discreet) but this plot is much, much darker than Taken ever was. Six Bullets leaves very little to the imagination, which creates the concept that anything is possible, and the outcome is almost never for the best. While not the most gripping story, it has enough going for it to grab your attention without going for the “easy way out.”
I’m really surprised to say this, but Six Bullets has one of the most interesting characters I’ve seen recently. From the opening sequence, you can see how Samson’s actions haunt him. Most movies just do flashbacks for this, but you see the trauma unfold and affect the lead in a much more dramatic way. Van Damme does a fantastic job playing Samson Gaul, and I was impressed by how much he added to the character. However, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast. Most of the other characters don’t have anything grounding them in reality. One character in particular does a complete 180, changing from a passive individual into a killing machine while one of the villains doesn’t have an issue damaging “the goods” which are supposed to be for a buyer.
Action/Choreography
While the story and characters are pretty good, the action really doesn’t hit the same stride. The fights are very few and far between, with shootouts taking over the majority of the sequences. When you do get a fight, they are really hard to follow due to choppy editing (and absent lighting for one fight.) If you want to see JCVD in action, this isn’t really the movie to satisfy your tastes.
Own it, Watch it, Try it, or Skip it?
Six Bullets really surprised me with what it had to offer. JCVD does an excellent job with his character, and it helps the film out tremendously. If Taken didn’t exist, this movie may have fared better (but it wouldn’t have been created, either.) As it stands, Six Bullets is a good thriller with an interesting main character, but an inconsistent supporting cast. Try to go into it with as few expectations as you have, whether they are good or bad. If you give this a chance, it might just surprise you like it did me.
Time to catch up with all of the news that’s been floating around. Let’s start off with a sweet new poster for the Expendables 2:
Twitch says that this is the final poster for the film, and it looks pretty sweet. Hopefully there will be more trailers coming out, as I’d like to know more about the story and who will be fighting who.
Next up is a trailer for Jean Claude Van Damme’s Six Bullets:
While I’m glad that JCVD is getting more jobs recently, this seems like it’s almost the exact same as Taken was. Given the fact that Taken 2 will be out in October and this comes out in August, I’m curious how strong these connections are going to be.
Lastly, a final trailer has been released for Wu Dang:
To be honest, I’m not sold on the film. It still looks too showy to me, and I don’t think the action will be that good. While I’ll try to grab a copy when it come out, I don’t think I’ll be in any rush to do so.
