Falcon Rising (2014)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

After watching two Steven Seagal movies this weekend, I have a basis for comparison to say that this is fine action entertainment. Surely, the plot/story could have been better, but it's far from boring, and one does get to care for the characters. Most of the actors playing Brazilian didn't quite speak proper Brazilian Portuguese, but unless you speak Portuguese you won't notice it, and I didn't care that much, although it does take away some of the authenticity. There's some predictability, so if you're expecting something very original, you'd be disappointed.This movie delivers different scenes and locations, a story that makes you wonder a bit what's going to happen next, great martial arts fighting from Michael Jai White and even some cool Capoeira moves from Lateef Crowder. The gun fights are also pretty good. If you love action, this movie is fun and leaves you wanting more. Wish there was a sequel...

"When you work with animals you're bound to get bit" Dumb, dumber, dumbest. That was my first thought after seeing this action flick. Despite that I've always been a fan of hard, straightforward action-movies and an ardent fan of films with Jean-Claude Van Damme (and that's not because he's a fellow countryman) demonstrating his fighting techniques. Even a film with Steven Seagal (in his heydays when he still had enough oxygen to whirl round his opponent) would get my attention. But compared to these old-school action movies, "Falcon Rising" isn't a big deal. Even the grimace John Chapman (Michael Jai White) had on his face after overpowering two robbers in a shop, is a lame imitation of Van Damme's or Bruce Lee's victory grin.In terms of predictability this film tops everything. Falcon (the nickname of John Chapman) is a former Marine suffering from PTSD. And apparently he doesn't experience joy in life anymore. As a result, he sits at home in his shabby couch, playing a game of Russian roulette and consuming gallons of liquor. Until it appears that his sister Cindy (Laila Ali. Yes, daughter of the famous boxing legend), a kind of Mother Teresa helping in the favelas of Rio, has been found more dead than alive. Of course Falcon finds the miraculous power to put aside his drinking problem plus suicidal tendencies and flies straight to Brazil. Having arrived there, he starts searching for those responsible immediately and bumps into both meaningless local rascals as drug gangs. Even the notorious Yakuza are involved somehow. And yes, also a couple of corrupt cops turn up.I know these type of films don't exactly excel in coming up with a credible and engaging story-line. But the nonsense was nevertheless massively present. Don't you think it's ridiculous to check if someone's still alive after putting a bullet through his head? And I'm still wondering how John managed to crawl into the trunk of a car in that short time. And when he starts messing things up in a brothel owned by the Yakuza, they call all hands on deck. To my surprise only four men were ordered to fix it.The focus is of course on the fight scenes (what a surprise), demonstrating all kinds of techniques from different martial arts. Unfortunately, there aren't really a lot of of these scenes in "Falcon Rising" during the first half of the movie. Also, it looked more like shadow boxing or demonstrations most of the times. It seemed as if they were afraid to hit each other. Also, the progress of John's Brazilian adventure is similar to that of a PC game. Like "Mortal Combat" for example. A standard course where he has to work his way up through different levels. From local punks to the tattooed leader (who isn't easy to beat).The acting performances weren't particularly impressive either. Only Michael Jai White's torso impressed. Laila Ali is famous because of her father, but she didn't get the chance to prove herself as an actress (Kind of obvious since she was in a coma large part of the film). Masashi Odate's tattoo was breathtaking and his samurai sword was without a doubt razor sharp, but ultimately Hirimoto was nothing more than an easy prey. Probably bought his way into the Yakuza. The only noteworthy person, and that's because of his charismatic appearance and pronounced character face, was Neal McDonough. So "Falcon rising" disappointed in many ways. Substandard acting, a few disappointing brawls and a simplistic script. Even the ending of the film is a failure and totally implausible (working for the intelligence service as a sort of hospitalization insurance). But it has a whopper of a cliffhanger in order to knit some sequels to it. Hopefully the scriptwriter has a bit more original ideas.More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

I've watched most films on the IMDb list "Best action movies in 2014/2015" (http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075110196/), from the highest rated down to "Falcon Rising".I really do not understand why other users have given "Falcon Rising" such a low rating (at present, 5.7/10 from 4,359 users). In fact, I gave the film 10/10 simply to counterbalance the naysayers.During the film, a character states that Brazil has the second-largest population of Japanese people besides Japan. I noted to myself, "After the film finishes, I will try to verify this statement; if it's true, I will write a review on IMDb".It's true. (See the article "Japanese Brazilian" on Wikipedia.) Such attention to accuracy reflects well on the film to me."Falcon Rising" is an excellent action film. Definitely better than "Non-Stop" (7.0/10), "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" (6.2/10), and "Taken 3" (6.0/10).

Great balance of humor, fight scenes and story. Its got a good plot that keeps it interesting, not overly complicated but better than your average sister/friend/wife gets beaten or killed then uncontrollable rampage, there's a little more going on. There's a few twists in the plot some easier to spot than others but for an action film its does the job perfectly. The acting is good, a little dry in places more so from the other characters, Michael Jai White plays his part really well and has some great throw away lines. There's some good choreography and use of weapons and different styles of fighting, plus its not ill take on an army with guns using just kung fu, the fights adapt as the need arises. Will be recommending this to some friends and probably watching it again.All in all fun film well worth a watch.