Slam Bang is one of those incredibly low-budget, straight to DVD movies that still manages to entertain despite all of its faults. Imagine if Jason Statham had become an office worker instead of a lean action star, and you've got lead actor Roland Gaspar (even down to the Statham hairline).
Virtually everyone in the film is a first-time actor, but it's not a totally lost effort, as some of them seem to have backgrounds in entertainment. I wasn't the least bit surprised to discover that Malcolm Ferreira, showing natural screen presence as The Turk, happened to be a South African comedian. I also liked that this is one of the few movies where I've heard Xhosa, the South African language, being written into the dialogue of an English-language movie.
Slam Bang has it's faults. The dialogue is weak, the cinematography and color correction were average at best, and the score had a soap opera feel to it. The film obviously bites from elements of crank, with someone who sounds like Kahn from King of the Hill calling our protagonist on his cell every few minutes. But despite all of that, I think Mark Lebenon did a decent job directing his first film. I also give him credit for the dark comedy aspect of the film, especially the way in which the stolen data is transported. And I definitely give Lebenon a pat on the back for the film's totally unpredictable ending.
Slam Bang might be a low-budget thriller that is average on so many levels, but I have to admit that it was an entertaining movie with an ending that I didn't seem coming.
