Absolution (2015)

Powerful

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Absolutely Brilliant!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

ABSOLUTION is another in the absolutely endless wave of action thrillers made in the past few years starring Steven Seagal and invariably shot in some East European country; this time it's Romania. Seagal plays the usual former special forces guy who moves in to help save a girl from the mob, only to find a sinister conspiracy in place surrounding a popular nightclub. Anyone familiar with the modern-era Seagal will know to expect shaking camera fights and plenty of doubling, with the hefty protagonist now one of the worst things about his own films. The rest is just about passable, with the likable Byron Mann (a Seagal regular) doing well as the second hero and Vinnie Jones randomly playing a serial killer in scenes that feel like they belong in a different movie. The fights are refreshingly gruesome with lots of justice meted out to the bad guys.

In the movie industry, all over the world there is an age for the hero but if you take the example of Mr. Steven Seagal who is now 65 and he still come as a hero in movies; than what will happen to young actors when they become heroes? I failed to understand Mr. Seagal is hero in Absolution and his actress is a girl who is much younger than his granddaughter if he has one? This looks funny and clumsy; the same girl is kissing him in the movie that looks absurd and disgusting. I don't know what is wrong with the Hollywood movies these days heroes like Arnold, Bruce Willis, Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren and many other, these all heroes have crossed the age of 60 and they still are coming as heroes; either Hollywood has very less young actors or young guys are not interested in cinema or movie industry. I just wanted to highlight that younger generation should be given a chance to prove their metal and old grandfather types heroes should stay at home rather they are jumping and roaming around like teenagers that bad I mean really bad and it destroys the entire movie, so please look into it. I will rate this movie 2 out of 10 as the main hero is too old to come as hero, thanks.

As a longtime Seagal fan, I've come to the realization that his glory days are long over and that I'll have to settle for whatever he puts out since he's been essentially banished to the direct-to-video market. It's had its ups and downs, with more downs than ups, but he's been able to generally maintain a consistent level of quality (for DTV) that's been on somewhat of an upswing in the past few years. I didn't exactly fawn over his last two films, but they were decent enough that I was anticipating what he'd do next. ABSOLUTION is that "next" project, and despite being a slight step back from his previous effort, it was at least watchable and has some elements to recommend it to fans. The plot, as if it really mattered, is quite simple: Seagal is given an assignment to take out an Afghan playboy who might sell weapons to Iran. However, things don't quite go as planned and he ends up rescuing a young woman from human traffickers who decide that they want their "property" back and come after him. First, the good. There were some decently staged and filmed fight scenes that weren't overly edited, even though there were several moments that were most likely stunt doubles. Byron Mann, a semi-frequent Seagal collaborator, plays his partner and actually gets most of the good, longer fights although the climactic fight scene in a club was mostly worth the time spent getting to it and Seagal gets to vary his style a little more than he had previously. I also noticed a few callbacks to previous films, like ABOVE THE LAW and MARKED FOR DEATH. If you're familiar with Seagal's filmography, you'll know when you see them. I also thought that addressing human trafficking in a low-budget B action movie was pretty cool, although it isn't really treated with much depth. The bad stuff is mostly complaints one could draw from any number of Seagal films. The plot really doesn't make much sense and serves as the glue that holds together several action set-pieces. I also thought the dialogue was particularly bad this time around, and most of the actors delivering it didn't do a great job. The standouts were Steven Seagal and Vinnie Jones, who plays the big bad boss. Speaking of Vinnie Jones, he has quite a charismatic screen presence and despite his limitations, he does well given the right material. Having a little more of him (he's only in a few scenes) would have made the film considerably more enjoyable. Lastly, as expected there isn't much character development to speak of, but what little there was felt like padding. There was a scene where Byron Mann and Steven Seagal reminisce about the past and how they came to be friends, which was nice, but all they end up using from that scene is a single piece of dialogue towards the end. It had no bearing whatsoever on the plot. There was also several flashbacks to Seagal and what appeared to be his wife. Again, divorced of context this had absolutely no bearing on the story and just served to extend the running time. Overall, I'd place this quite low in the pantheon of Seagal films. It isn't so bad as to be unwatchable, like ATTACK FORCE, but it doesn't quite have the charm of something like INTO THE SUN. Still, even though occupying a middle ground as far as Seagal's DTV output, fans will probably watch this no matter what.

For their sixth feature-length collaboration, Steven Seagal and director Keoni Waxman stick with the formula that had served them well for their last two pictures. Like FORCE OF EXECUTION and A GOOD MAN, ABSOLUTION features more fights, a recognizable supporting cast, and a beard for Steven…but it's not as good. This is a decent action flick, but while it has all the right components, it's missing the energy of its recent predecessors. It's worth watching if you're a fan, but it's much more of a middle-of-the-road outing for the Buddhist Bonecrusher than I would prefer.The story: A mercenary hit man (Seagal) becomes involved in a corrupt operation between the government and the underworld when he rescues a young woman (Adina Stetcu) from a vicious mafia boss (Vinnie Jones).In all fairness, I did not particularly enjoy the expanded storyline, but someone who has no problem with it might rate the film higher than me. A cornerstone of the plot involves Vinnie Jones' character as a sadist who kills trafficked women in his personal torture chamber; this isn't HOSTEL by any means but it is sadism purely for sadism's sake, and it makes for probably the worst role that Jones has ever played. Adrina Stetcu, playing his surviving victim, is a damsel who needs to be saved multiple times by Seagal and ultimately falls for him despite his relatively cold attitude towards her. This is a pretty cynical film, for sure...though it isn't without its light moments. There's a laid-back sense of humor for most of the runtime, and Seagal seems to enjoy teaming up with his on screen partner Byron Mann. This isn't BELLY OF THE BEAST, but the two have decent chemistry.Like Bren Foster and Victor Webster in the two films before this one, Byron Mann fills the role of a nimbler cohort to take the heat in half of the fight scenes. Of the nine full-length brawls, Byron leads five and the adrenaline is clearly on his side. Both Seagal and he are guilty of some doubling throughout, but particularly Mann's fights provide some thrills; I enjoyed his showdown with ex-UFC champ Josh Barnett more than I thought I would. Seagal is serviceable and even reaches into his repertoire to pull out some moves from his heyday, but overall, the brawls could use some better choreography. Vinnie Jones' single fight is particularly disappointing.This movie constitutes the third installment in Seagal/Waxman's "Alexander" trilogy, but it does not tie the story lines together any more than A GOOD MAN did. ABSOLUTION can easily be viewed as a standalone film, but if you were to watch only one of the three most recent Seagal vehicles, it should not be this one. While not such a big step down that I'd be amazed if Steven regained his composure with his next film, this one's still a minor disappointment for this fan and should definitely be approached as a rental.