Recoil

The film opens with some slow metal music, and is perhaps a grindhouse "light." Ryan Varrett (Steve Austin) "sneaks" around in a Dodge GTX muscle machine, cruising Washington State (Seagal's territory). He plays a vigilante ex-cop who goes after the bad guys who killed his family and any other bad guys who know them. (Don't try this at home.) The film mixes dry humor with stone cold action. The first kill is a man hunting rabbits with an automatic weapon. He misses a bunny at about 10 yards. Austin crushes his neck and tosses him off a cliff. The cops describe the body as "abstract art." Austin has flashbacks to the killing (happens before movie starts) and the police are searching for the bunny killer. These provide a very minor subplot.

A waitress remarks, "Canada, not much up that way but Canada." I am laughing at the dialouge and I haven't figured out if the comedy is intentional. Austin ends up in Hope, Washington. "Hope" is a common name for symbolism or irony...normally from writers who couldn't come up with something better, or if the did, wouldn't think their audience could grasp it. Serinda Swan plays Darcy the local motel owner. She is a widow who smokes, drinks JD, and knows muscle machines.

Austin makes friends with the local bike club known as "The Circle" when he beats up a member who threatened to shoot a puppy (I love this stuff). Danny Trejo, in one of his "rare" bad guy appearances, plays the Drayke, the gang leader. Noel Gugliemi as Rex did a great job as a gang member. The gang has hobbies such as cage matches with electrified fences, drug manufacturing, and town terrorizing. It is the typical movie gang, one that runs guns but fights with tools. Stone Cold has other hobbies.

I enjoyed this action film. It had the right amount of action, humor (intentional and unintentional), and plot filler. It doesn't bother to give us any character build up as they all fit stereotypes. No plot twists, and if you seen enough of these, you can write the ending before the opening credits. As a fan of Austin, Trejo, vigilante films, and grindhouse it is worth a view. In the realistic scheme of things, this is not a five star movie, but I enjoyed it as much as one.

F-bomb, woman violence, CG explosions, Obama picture in police station, no sex, no nudity (Hey! It's Canadian.)

"I think you know why I'm here." After the murder of his wife and child former cop Ryan Varrett (Austin) becomes obsessed with revenge and justice. When he gets to the town of Hope he finds what he is looking for. I have always wondered why wrestlers (who pretty much act for a living) have never been good movie actors. I liked Stone Cold when he was wrestling but as an actor he is quite bad. This is a hard movie to review for me. The opening five minutes were so bad I was laughing and wanted to turn it off, but the longer it went on the more I liked it. I'm not sure if it was because it was actually a good movie or if I just got used to it. I think I mainly liked it because of the idea. I loved "Boondock Saints" and while it's impossible to compare the two, any movie about a vigilante who doses out his own justice to those who fall through the cracks is OK with me. Overall, Steve Austin's best movie so far (which isn't saying much). I recommend this though. I surprisingly give it a B+.

Stone Cold Steve Austin plays Ryan Varrett, a cop that survived a gangland style execution and he's out looking for revenge against everyone that did the deed. Through his travels, he stumbles into the town of Hope and finds the corruption that is there. Danny Trejo plays Drake, the leader of the Circle, a biker gang that runs the town. Varrett kills the person that he is after, but has to stay around to take care of the biker gang.

The acting is decent for a movie of this type. There are no award winning performances in the movie, just a lot of people playing their part. Austin is an honorable vigilante. Trejo plays the ruthless, but honorable bad guy. The good guy cop that wants to clean up the town is at arms against the corrupt sheriff. There is a bereaved widow, the comic relief character, and the cocky henchman.

If you like 80`s style action movies, this is the right movie for you.

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