Change Your Image
walterhoward
Reviews
Halo (2022)
This one is contending for best ever in my opinion
Finally someone doing a Sci Fi, Space Opera right.
I know nothing about the video game so I am reviewing this purely on its standalone value, not any adherence to some irrelevant lore. I've also only watched through episode three of the first season, but the quality of this is so good this early, I feel compelled to say something.
This series has multiple story lines going, about 8, and they all mesh, and the characters are not making stupid mistakes to doom themselves. Something I find intolerable and which makes me turn a show off right then an there. (Kwan's story line borders on this but luckily the rest of the story lines drown it into irrelevance.
Many of the characters have depth, they are not just there as backdrop.
A lot of work went in this and the creators should be very proud.
The Tourist (2022)
Exceptional entertainment
I've seen people mention this has a feel like the "Fargo" movie. It does but it's much better. The ingenuity of the writing amazes me. It's full of constant surprises, completely unpredictable. It's so refreshing compared to the boring material of most television which rehashes the same used up story lines.
The Fargo feel comes in because the character are all somewhat quirky, eccentric, but believable, basically like any of us but with their personalities on display where we keep ours to a mediocre middle.
But that's not the main appeal of this series really. What I really liked was that the story grew from what appeared to be a strange auto accident into a web of circumstances that I've never seen before in any story lines in modern media. Definitely give this one a try.
For All Mankind (2019)
Wow, just wow....
You might view this series as a precursor to the Expanse. Separated of course by a few hundred years. There is so much about this show that puts it apart from everything else in the media. Some reviewers say this is an alternate history show but it's used only as a gimmick to have the U. S. and Russia put a lot more resources into the Space Program so it expands instead of being left to wither like it has in the current history. If you are unhappy with alternative history just view it as what might be possible starting in the year 2040 after we get our act together here on Earth (hopefully).
1) It's full of surprises and never gets boring. I hate predictable stories. You won't be able to predict this one.
2) The technical accuracy is there except for the availability of fission and fusion engines (who knows, if we stopped wasting money on weapons and warfare maybe we could have this technology by now and, well, maybe we do. Wink wink, nudge nudge)
3) The characters are all deep and well fleshed out.
Congratulations to the writers, producers, actors, set designers, costume designers and CGI artists and programmers. I frankly don't know how you pulled this off. It must have been a lot of work but the end result was the best TV series ever.
This is now my favorite television series of all time.
The last scene of the last season left me with tears in my eyes it was just so cool.
Meg 2: The Trench (2023)
So much potential, such weak editing
This movie starts at 1 mph, I ask my wife, "How long is this movie because it's really slow" then jumps to 100 mph when they are underwater. The producers spent a lot of money on this with sets and CGI and it gets wasted by rushing through a lot of interesting underwater adventure. Sigh. This could have been a blockbuster if done right.
The evil characters are not written well and are very shallow and cliche however one does get the satisfaction of seeing them meet their deserved endings. I can't criticize the acting because the lines are too badly written to give the actors any leeway to show off their talent.
The movie is overflowing with scientific inaccuracies, implausable saves (which would have been plausable if the pacing wasn't so fast), and impossible movement of creatures from point A to B in minutes, which some people can forgive and others might not even notice so that definitely removes it from 10 category. The bad editing takes another 2 points off.
However, you will likely enjoy the movie for its non-stop action (once it gets moving) and bad guys being eaten alive.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Meh...
Let's see the saving the Universe has already been done. Saving the Metaverse. Saving the quantum realm. Saving the animated universe. Saving the all things everywhere, all the time etc etc etc.
Hmmm. What can we save next that's bigger? Now we need, oh wait, right, a super AI !!
Ok, here's the idea, you're going to love this: There's a super duper device that multiple groups are chasing, and it keeps changing hands, and there are car chases in Italy, and there is a female thief stealing the device, and the male lead keeps trusting her, and she just keeps stealing it and the male lead keeps trusting her, wait!! I just saw this movie! It was called Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny!
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Surprisngly good!
I had seen a few disparaging comments about this movie but people's tastes are so different, I went to see it, but didn't expect to much.
I was pleasantly surprised.
The movie starts off with a great "kill as many Nazis as you can", World War 2 train scene which I won't detail, but was choreographed well, in the Indiana Jones way.
A slow section follows which sets the stage for the adventure ahead and most of the rest is the standard hijinks where the weenie (the prize magic object) exchanges hands, back and forth, to and from one of 4 parties trying to grab it. It's even stated outright by a principal character, "You stole it, then you stole it, then I stole it. It's called Capitalism".
Each section is like the opening chase scene from a James Bond movie, but with comedy sewn throughout. (Movies that take themselves too seriously are hard to watch).
But what I really, really love is the ending. It's a scenario they get into that I have long fantasized about in a "What would happen if..." and they do it, right on the screen, and really, really well done.
I was at the opening night of the first Star Wars movie in Westwood California, and when that Empire Star Destroyer filled the screen the crowd went wild. It's the first time any of us had ever seen such realistic looking space ships.
This last scene in Dial of Destiny was like that to me. I was laughing in awe at both the coolness of the concept, and the hijinks that ensued there. Whichever writer thought of this must have had the same type of fantasy as I have had my entire life.
The Diplomat (2023)
Impressive. Most impressive.
Surprisingly good. I never expected anything to be this well written, directed and acted.
It sort of compresses all the situations diplomats have to deal with into a single normal crisis, not an end-of-the-universe scenario which everything thinks is required to make something interesting these days.
Very cleverly written. Every line is apropos, and most are full of hidden meanings. Every character is fleshed out as a real person with a real life and background and the interactions between them is fast and witty. I know real diplomats are not all this bright, but some might be. The solutions the parties come up with to deal with the situation are plausible and surprising. Surprise is important to me in dramas.
I am really in awe of the writer. To have penned this thing whole cloth from the imagination is almost godlike. It's just too complexly perfect.
I only spotted one implausible situation among about 100 that came up in the series.
I love Keri Russel but I think the creators are intentionally making her too scruffy in public. While it works, it would be better if she were refined on the surface, in public, but foul mouthed and utterly charismatic only in private, the Keri Russel we know from the Americans.
It's sometimes hard to tell who the main character is because the top 10 characters each have complete sub-adventures within the series. The best one of all is Russell Sewel who plays the ambassadors ex-ambassador's husband. He's the playful, mischievous fixer who takes nothing seriously because he secretly knows he can handle any situation that comes up.
Shadow and Bone (2021)
Exceptional. I love this series.
One of the best parts of this series is the people aren't stupid.
Everyone mostly takes the most intelligent and effective action given the information they have.
The characters are well fleshed out. Each person has their own arc, many of them more fleshed out that even the main characters.
When someone first told me about it I poo pooed the idea of "The Fold" and the magic angle of the show but I always give a series two a two episode chance, and I was hooked at episode one.
The Eastern Eurpopean/Russian cultural influence here is refreshing and the technology setting of around Earth 1890s brings a novel shot of creativity to fiction, a lot like Carnival Row. I'm so over the Medieval settings anymore.
I'm astounded by the level of detail in the sets, the costumes and the CGI effects. It adds that extra, as the French say, "I don't know what" that is the cherry on top of a 9 that makes it a 10.
The main baddie is somewhat locked into the classic psychopath role but at least his motivations are good, even if he proceeds in an evil fashion.
The main character Alina is not the best part of the show but she has enough charisma in her own quirky way that it's enjoyable just looking at her. I find her at her best when she gets aroused by one of the plethora of alpha males in her proximity. It looks like the actress actually turns off her acting and lets her juices really flow. It's the most sincere acting in the entire series. Honestly, I don't remember ever seeing such a convincing portrayal of enrapture than this in cinema. However, at times it looks like she's more turned on by Alexander or Nokolai than Mal. Poor Mal, stuck in the friend zone. Mal who is afraid of nothing, who can gut 10 enemies with a stick, is afraid of making a move. I think the director made a mistake by making this character so timid in this respect. So what? It's still very engaging. I have no complaints about any of the acting otherwise. I am thoroughly taken in by these players.
Better than GOT but, fewer shocking surprises.
Violent Night (2022)
The worst movie of all time
Are you kidding me?
I thought the Mel Gibson Christmas movie, Fatman, was the worst movie of all time but this beats it. Where should I start. I won't even criticize the subject material (yet). If you like slasher movies fine.
First of all, the plot is an amalgamation of Die Hard, Home Alone, The Bad Santa and The Santa Claus. I kept waiting for the bad guy to say he is doing this because he didn't get his Oscar Meier Weenie Whistle when he was 5 years old. They don't even explain any reason why any of this is happening. It's full of tropes that are totally used up:
The inter-racial divorced couple with the man pining over the wife
The kid who just wants mommy and daddy to make up
The rich, foul mouthed corporate grandmother
The trendy, snooty in-laws
The livecasting nephew teenager videoing everything
The terrorist hit squad
The Christmas Party that is invaded by terrorists/robbers
The stupid henchmen with German or Swedish names
Who wrote this script? There's not a bit of originality, creativity or continuity in it! There no funny lines in this, no funny gags, the best (creative) death was one guy gets sucked into a snow blower and gets ground up and shot out, while anyone who actually uses a slow blower knows that would jam the thing almost instantly and the guy would only get cut up a bit.
Santa Claus flashes back to his past life as a Viking where he used a hammer to kill people. Oh interesting! Santa Claus has a back story? He was evil and mean at one time. Ooooo. What caused his transformation??? Nada, nothing. They don't explain anything. Nothing about his past except that he knows how to use a hammer and finds a sledge hammer in the shed of the mansion and uses it to mash up the bad guys.
Santa Claus doesn't use any ingenuity or clever tricks to win. He just smashes 25 heavily armed guys with a hammer and avoids every bullet that gets shot. This is a movie that only a 12 year old, or an adult with a 12 year old mentality could love.
Oh, oh, and I at least thought Santa Claus, having been alive for 1100 years, would at least have some magic powers, or something but no: All he can do is pick his nose (literally) to shoot up a chimney, and reach into a never ending bag to pull out presents, none of which magically help him with his problem like Felix the Cat who at least had a Bag of Tricks. At least the Gritty Mel Gibson Santa Claus could resurrect from the dead after having been shot dead (a nice image for the kids) through the heart.
Oh, and the team of like 12 guys move to kill him inside the shed, and he kills 25 people. This movie doesn't even make sense. It's completely misedited, mispaced, no-humor, no plot, no character development, no nothing except, well, I would say nothing except taking my money but I have a monthly pass at Regal to see all the movies so all I can ask for back is my time. I left this boring, predictible movie early and waited outside for my wife and watched much more interesting material on YouTube on my phone.
Pathetic really. Maybe I wouldn't mind that the goodness of Santa Claus gets butchered by these types of movies, if they were at least good.
It is interesting that the same general story line is behind the greatest movie of all time, Die Hard, and the worst: this smoking pile.
I'm going to go home and watch, "The Room" again, to cleanse my mind.
I'm giving this movie 2 stars instead of 1 because the acting was passable.
Who blew the studio executive to get this turd made?
Andor (2022)
Oh boy, this one is a gem
I have not been impressed with any of the Star Wars spinoffs, however, this one, this one is something entirely different.
The acting is superb (Skeen is especially riveting) . Syril, the crusader, corporate security officer is a really difficult part to play, a troubled, apparently green, inexperienced, minor officer trying to fill his big corporate title, possibly a psychopath but I'm only halfway through the first season. The main character Andor isn't particularly charismatic or exceptional. It's mostly the support actors who bring this thing in.
The attention to detail is extreme in the sets and when the actors are talking about technical aspects of the equipment. I did however notice they were using current long arms like AK-47 in some of the scenes but, eh, I can live with that. Everything feels authentic, gritty, like how life would be in a somewhat backward technically, but advanced transportationally, equipped society. About all they have above our 21st century tech is flying cars and spaceships. Everything else is 1990s Earth which is ok. Too much high tech limits the swashbuckling adventure possibilities.
The story is one of the tried and true themes in story telling, perhaps the most favorite (a heist) but combined with a political conspiracy but I am only halfway through and am anxiously anticipating being surprised. The corporate security officer who screwed up. I sit here wondering whether he's going to go vendetta on Andor, or lose faith in the Empire and join the rebels. If this series is well written, you know where his destiny will lie. They are teasing us with that question. How delicious.
The characters are not making stupid decisions (which makes me disinterested in the outcome because, if you cause your own demise through stupidity, I can't really be bothered). The conversations are especially logical, appropriate and some are philosophical gems, even from the minor characters, "It's too random to be random". I'm going to use that one that work!
Whoever is behind this production, I stand in awe. This thing is about to reach number one of all time in my list of sci fi series if it doesn't mess up the ending.
I will say this is missing some of the Star Wars (silly) tropes like Storm Troopers who can't shoot, Jedi who have to throw items at an opponent with telekinesis (instead of just popping blood vessel in their brain to kill them), droids saving the day and other story elements targeted at 6 year olds (this is how the real world works kids!). Good. Those ruin the story for adults who realize that Frodo and Gandalf are not coming to save the day (most of the time).
Nope (2022)
Core story is original but the peripheral background stories dilute the impact
I really liked the originality and execution of the core story, the discovery, interaction, conflict and conquest of a creatively unusual, and nasty alien creature unlike anything in other Hollywood movies.
Some of the character backgrounds miss the mark and I didn't really think the amount of time spent on that contributed meaning in proportion to that time, especially with Ricky Jupe. So much time on a secondary character.
The stupidly, suicidal behavior of some of the characters detracts for me as whenever characters bring about their own doom, stupidly, it's essentially a negative Deus Ex Machina.
But you should definitely see this. I'm going to watch it again right now.
The Boys (2019)
Ug, this episode took the grossness of this show to an all time high
S3, E1, Did you guys really need to go there with Termite? That's a much too sensitive topic if you know what I mean. I had to curl up into a fetal position to protect my sensitive parts. I almost had to shut it off, and that's a pity because The Boys is top 10 of all time best TV show. Is all the dismemberment and exploded meat really necessary to get across the excellent basis for the story and characters here? Yes, No? I'm not sure I can keep watching. It's like the producers are actually trying to see how many people they can repel.
Uncharted (2022)
Hijinks and Wisecracks
What this movie lacks in plot, acting and credibility it makes up in jolly good fun and outrageous scenarios. Probably not a spoiler to tell you because it's in all the trailers, they have a pirate ship battle between two old ships being hoisted by helicopters. It's so whacky, with imaginative parallels with real sailing ship battles that I had to marvel at the creativity of the writers.
Laughing through any movie is good enough to get an 8, and this one was so silly yet not pretentious that I give it that mark.
Moonfall (2022)
Not what I expected
I expected this to be pretty bad, because the premise is completely implausible. However, after being an avid listener of Isaac Arthur's YouTube channel on the future of mankind, and the megastructures humankind will eventually be able to build, this movie was a refreshing exploration of doing the seemingly impossible, given enough raw power.
It's the most spectacular disaster movie ever and the CGI was acceptable, if not quite accurate (spaceships colliding with fragments of rock don't just make loud noises, they are destroyed in the blink of an eye) but barring a few things like that, added for the enjoyment of the scientifically challenged, it's not so bad. Typical disaster movie telling multiple threads of story of the disaster from everyone's point of view. The obvious fact that billions of people would have died in such a situation is not explored at all.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Funniest movie ever
This movie must be tuned to my sense of humor because I was laughing out loud every 15 seconds. It's a satire on modern American culture starkly illustrated by placing the country in an existential crisis, to show how the absurd sensibilities of Americans (and the rest of the world) would be unable to deal with reality. The writing is ingenious and once the humor gets rolling about 15 minutes into the film it never stops. The satire is largely focused on the writers' thinly veiled, media driven, mostly fictionalized but popular misconceptions of the Trump administration which the writers balanced a bit by having the President be female. It could be somewhat offensive for Trump supporters but try to have a sense of humor and enjoy it as ones indignation isn't going to amount to a hill of beans.
My favorite character was the nerd billionaire satire, Peter Ishwell played by Mark Rylance, an amalgam of Jobs, Dorsey and all the nouveaux riche who stumbles over his words and is total nerd right up to, well, I don't want to spoil everything.
I don't particularly see any brilliant acting here as the script is so good the actors can't help but appear brilliant, being just poured into the parts, and entertaining just to crank out what would be tired old cliche's had the script been lackluster. But of course what do I know and great actors probably make it look easy.
This was the funniest movie I have ever seen and I was very pleasantly surprised which is rare occurrence with the products coming out of Hollywood these days.
The Expanse (2015)
Is this show getting better and better?
Is it me? I don't know, but this sixth season is so engaging. I can't say why really, but I'm REALLY going to miss this when it's over.
One thing super interesting is they are taking time with very realistic, probably details about this environment, not even necessarily directly related to the plot, but just thrown in there to give a slice of what life would be like in the space faring world of the Belters, like "piggybacking a message on a comm test" or "the problems growing a limb back". It really adds to the realism for someone like me who has a background in real science and not the fantasy that is most often peddled nowdays, and called science-fiction.
T-34 (2018)
I tank battle action is your thing, this is your movie.
You might start by considering this a Russian made "Fury" but with a more interesting plot line, albeit slightly less believable, but so what? It's an excuse to have tanks, tanks, tanks!!!!
I find it hard to judge the acting in foreign language films because it's hard to tell if certain affectations in the actors behavior is cultural, or just bad acting. So I won't comment on that.
A lot of care went into the actual re-creation of the tactical aspects of tank warfare on the Eastern front of World War 2. An era when you had almost high tech weapons, but humans were still in full control. No real computers yet. A time when the only defense was to avoid being hit as even 3 inches of steel armor could be penetrated with the right ordnance. Even trenches for defense was only marginally useful.
They make a point of illustrating, the the point of glorification, the destructive capabilities of these machines by scenes where the tanks just plow through houses and buildings as though they weren't even there.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Tedious Deux Ex Machina
Breaking the multiverse.
Yes. Well, if you can do that, then why are you having problems?
As always, these latest Marvel movies go way too far in the powers they give their heroes, to the point it's impossible to believe they could have problems. This makes me unable to get sucked into the movie on-a "how would you solve this" hook so I'm just sitting there waiting for the inevitable end of the movie where I know the girl and the guy both survive.
If you like watching explosions, buildings getting smashed, people ping-ponging around at the speed of sound then by all means, enjoy yourself.
Me? I already left the theater to play the pinball machines in the lobby.
The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Resurrected? Yes. But brain-dead and still a zombie
WTF did I just watch? I'm still not sure what happened.
No one can be told how bad this movie is. You have to see it for yourself. Take my advice and before you get stuck in the theater, bring your VR headset and play Beat Saber or something in your seat. Don't worry about bothering your neighbors, they are quite likely asleep.
Random characters entering into the scenes for whom I was supposed to understand their backstory. Who is this? Why does it seem like Neo knows them?
The sound was bad, half the time the actors were slurring their dialogue so I couldn't understand what they were saying, or using Matrix vocabulary of unusual words that without context, sound like gibberish.
The 20th century has thousands if not millions of great sci-fi novels to draw from and this is the best they can come up with?
I could have been at home watching my ant farms.
Fatman (2020)
Movie is a obvious attempt to make gun culture look bad
This movie is so absurd and un-Christmas-like that the only possible reason for making it was to make guns look bad.
Writer1: "Ok, look guys. Let's have a gun crazy redneck shoot and kill Santa Claus"
Writer2: "I love it. People will actually believe this is what gun owners want to do, especially the young and impressionable. Let's get cracking".
Financier: "Guys, why would I make an absurd movie like this? It isn't even entertaining. It's not funny. There's not a single joke in it. No satire. No irony"
Writers: "Oh, that's not the point. We want people to think that some gun loving producer made this as gun porn and they'll be offended that Santa Claus has been portrayed as the gun slinging sheriff of The North Pole".
One of the most cringy movies I have even seen.
Santa Claus in a gun fight double wielding pistols?
Santa Claus shanked with bad guy hidden bayonet?
Mrs. Claus takes out the hitman, and then goes back to baking cookies?
Who writes these things?
Santa Claus is a fantasy for children. Nobody would make a movie like this for it's face value. It's really, really bad. Absurd story. No suspense. No empathy for characters. Nothing. There's a hidden agenda here.
I guess Goggins and Gibson needed the money because this movie is on par with The Room in stupidity.
House of Gucci (2021)
Can't put my finger on why this was so lackluster
I suspect it's because the movie was too shallow in the details about what happened, who did what, and the real conspiracy that happened behind the scenes. It's basically a bunch of super rich people doing things in their many mansions and offices around Europe and New York City. It seems like Patricia (Lady Gaga), the outsider that almost hijacks the entire family, didn't have a master plan (which would have greatly enhanced the film, even if fictional) but she just was very ambitious and took advantage of situations when they presented themselves. It was never really clear who "ratted out" the family and their questionable financial practices that got some of them into trouble.
People were overly critical of the Italian accents in the film. I think that's only something movie snobs would care about (though as a Russian and Italian speaker, I did notice the offness. I commented to my partner, "These sound Russian not Italian"). In their defense, my real Russian friend says I speak Russian with an Italian accent so the language sounds are close enough for even professional actors to slip up with.
Lost in Space (2018)
Pretty good if you accept a few far fetched things
The best "robots" ever. The robots in this show are way better than anything ever, in any show, anywhere. They are possibly unbeatable. Whoever conceived them, and the artists that rendered them, deserve an Emmy on that alone.
The scenery and alien landscapes are 10+. The space scenes are 10+ but a little implausible (Season 3). You could not have a ship orbiting a star that close. The temperature would vaporize even metals besides Tungsten, and especially a double star, which, if those stars were that close they'd be distended by gravity and there'd be a stream of hot plasma streaming between them and no orbit would be stable. The "asteroid" field would have pulverized itself into Saturn style rings within years or decades. You can't have a 2 mile deep valley with livable atmospheric pressure while the rest of the planet is vacuum. It's all total fantasy and I don't know why they bothered doing that when realistic scenarios would have been just as good visually. Also the people are too smart and capable. Judy Robinson is, wait, a doctor, a physicist, a technician who can fix a spaceship with bubblegum and a pencil, a captain, a star athlete, can climb vertical rock faces like she has rocket boots on etc etc it goes on and on. The show spends a lot of time on soggy emotions, worrying about inter-personal drama trivialities while they are struggling for their very survival.
But, if you accept all that stuff, the show is top notch. The stories are pretty good. There are enough surprises to make it interesting (lack of predictability).
As a note, if this show is intended for kids, the robots are way too scary. I think they would give children nightmares, really.
Total Recall (2012)
Surprised at how good this was, but still weak for all the effort put in
I was expecting a B movie production but this turned out to be a top notch film technically. It doesn't have the quirky novelty of the original (which had some corny elements). 90% of the film is chases and fights which makes the Total Recall story just get lost as irrelevant. Why have strategy and intelligence when fighting and escaping are all that matter? Granted, the chases are in a futuristic city maze full of stuff like flying cars and elevators going every which way which is a low IQ crowd pleaser for sure. But the last second getaways and luck Hauser has are just ridiculous after awhile. And the CEO going hand to hand with the greatest intelligence agent ever, well, it gets silly.
One really stupid thing, which occurs right near the beginning so no spoiler, is people commute by travelling 8,000 miles through the earths core. That is, and will probably always be, impossible. Not only because of the pressures and temperatures involved but they do it in 17 minutes which is about 32,000 miles per hour (asteroid impact speed) through a non air-evacuated tunnel.
All the sets and CGI are top notch in creating a realistic future Earth where this takes place. A hell of a lot of work was put into this, which makes it a perfectly executed flic, technically. However it's an industrial film in that respect and has little acting magic, and so many opportunities for clever lines just weren't taken, like they were in the original.
F9 (2021)
If you watch this movie with a sense of humor, you might enjoy it
LOL!! This is the worst movie I've seen in the last 5 years, except for the one I saw the week before, "Hitman's Wife Bodyguard". I found myself wanting to go home and do yard work instead of watching this. Or maybe I could have spent the time circumcising myself and enjoyed it more.
But seriously, This movie is just full of absurd situations but they put a lot of work into it. The bad guys are blazing away at the main characters with automatic weapons and can't seem to hit them. They drive over hundreds of land mines "fast enough" to not be destroyed. Cars crash at 100 mph into rock and the occupants just get out and go on with their day. It just goes on and on. The plot is just a bunch of corny old tropes and plot lines. The huge electromagnets they use in the chase scene where they are driving down the main streets of Tiblisi are pulling cars off their wheels, but somehow not causing a hailstorm of metal objects, forks, knives, tools, plates and iron fixtures not go flying through the pedestrians bodies ripping them to shreds.
It's all good fun but not serious. You might consider like a parody of a James Bond movie.
Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995)
One of my favorite moves
Although this movie is flawed, I admit, I'm going to give it a 10 instead of a 9 because it's in my top 10 list of all time favorites.
This is a film you either love or hate. The funny thing is, Steven Seagal is the flaw. Everything else is perfect. It seems as though he was doing the movie under duress. His acting is lazy he does it all with a quasi-gangster breathy voice for what reason I don't know. It just seems silly.
Now with that out of the way, the rest of the cast and story are top notch. This is a "one man against an army" genre movie. A lot of work was put into it and effort was made to get so many details accurate. Each bad guy for instance actually gets a little character development and there are a lot of them. I think the thing to do is just watch this clip to get an idea of the ingenuity in this film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDI83HvbtCE
If you like that, watch the movie.