Submerged

We are usually Steve Seagal fans but as time goes by, we find the plots get murkier and murkier and harder to follow. The director was over-enamored with jerky forwards; this device can be used to effect but not if done too often.

Most disturbing, however, was that early on I could no longer suspend my disbelief when the action takes place in Uruguay and they showed Mayan ruins (the Mayans lived in Central America and Uruguay is northeast of Argentina). Shortly thereafter one of Seagal's crew sits down to drive a submarine and notes in dismay that the instructions are in Spanish. Hello? The instructions are in Italian.

Also, even though most of the inter-acting protagonists were Americans, Spanish is the language spoken in Uruguay. I think I detected about two words in Spanish; it did not lend to the over-all authenticity.

I really had my hopes up for this one. After reading the original description of the film describing biological cargo...submarine...terrorists I thought we had the makings of an unrelated "Under Siege" sequel and since "Under Siege 2" was better than "Under Siege 1" and with the recent likable Seagal film "Into the Sun", I figured let me give it a look. And it wasn't even worth my viewing it for the full 90+ minutes. The storyline was way off the original description and it seems that we are now watching a poor man's "The Dirty Dozen". Though I rented this movie because I am a Seagal fan, I found that Vinnie Jones played a pretty good role and B+ movie action lead Gary Daniels is totally under-utilized. And the direction style used by Anthony Hickox does not lend itself to the movie in any way. It's a shame that this is what Seagal has come to with the movies he makes. Perhaps he should take a step back and look at "Into the Sun" which brought him back to his original form.

I'm Uruguayan, and in fact, I'm not offended at all... I mean, OK, it has a lot of misconceptions, and I think it is actually funny that they put mayan ruins in Uruguay, the Italian instructions that were supposed to be in Spanish (and a latino validating this!! simply priceless) and also the fact that there is a port to the NORTH of Montevideo? I mean, if you researched Uruguay enough, at least look at a map and see that the coast is in the SOUTH.

However, I'm really sick of my fellow Uruguayans being offended with everything (The Colbert Report incident as well... come on!! It was a joke!! put it in context!!!)... it is just a made-for-TV movie, nothing else, so don't expect to much. Also, quit attacking Americans for portraing us as terrorists... as far as I'm aware, the US government didn't play any role in the production of this film.

IN synthesis: loosen up!!!!!

Unfortunately, this total stinker of a movie repeats all the previous mistakes from Steven Seagal's recent films. I'll mention a couple of them

-Almost no fighting. The action scenes mainly consist of really boring gunfights, and they are performed rather badly. I guess Seagal just got to lazy to try something more physical. Shame on you, man.

-Very stupid story. It was rather hard to follow, and had so many twists and turns that the movie instead seemed like a mess of a mix of random events.

It's just so clear that Seagal doesn't care about his movies anymore, since everyone can see that he makes no effort at all here.

Also, it was very sad seeing Gary Daniels sinking into the gutter together with Seagal here. A great martial artist like him, and he only had one very bad fight who involved no fighting techniques at all. A total waste, people. Do your hear me? A TOTAL WASTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please quit the business, Steven.

Hello Everyone:

I have just rented and watched Steven Seagal's latest film entitled," Submerged." To tell you the truth Steven Seagal is not only the reason why this movie is so poor. To start with you have poor lightening as many, and I mean many of the scene's were shot way too dark, and even at times you really can not tell what is going on cinematically. Onward now we get to the director, as Hickox did a lousy job with this movie as I do give him respect for trying to attempt to entertain us with all of his directing tricks to keep us, the audience riveted, but it truly did not work.

Now in getting to the script, as it appeared to me that very little care went into this portion of the film. A total bust as far as I am concerned. The producing was terrible as well.

I have a question with this particular film. Why is Steven Seagal's vocal parts being dubbed? He was not overdubbed for a minute or two as in the case with his last five film's, but throughout more than half the film and that is way too much. It really seemed as if nobody gave a damn with this flick as the disappointment just sets in and sinks really hard!!

I know for a fact that Seagal's film," Ticker," was done rather quickly but ended up a good solid feature, which by the way starred not only Steven Seagal, but veteran actor Mr.Dennis Hopper and Mr.Tom Sizemore who did a great job, as these are clearly experienced actor's who know just what to do with a little bit and turn out a fine movie.

And finally let us get to the acting..... ah yes the acting. While I was watching this monstrosity I quickly learned that I really could not care about any of the actor's that appeared on the screen as they really could not hold my attention at all. Clearly these are all in-experienced actor's who need to get back to the basic's in their craft if they really want to go anywhere.

To sum it up, " Submerged," is a poor film as it clearly is Steven Seagal's worst to date. Even with the straight to DVD release's such as, " The Foreigner," " " Out For A Kill," " Belly Of The Beast," " Out Of Reach," and one of Seagal's finest movies that should have had a theatrical release here in the United States, " Into The Sun," (no overdub's with Seagal's voice as far as I could tell) were all great and very enjoyable in their own personal way. I own all of Steven Seagal's film's, yes, some of them are better than other's, but this film will not see a space on my DVD rack. Forget this one.

To close this commentary out, Steven Seagal is truly my all time favorite action hero as he alway's will be. I have a lot of respect for him and I alway's have enjoyed his film's whether or not they ended up on the big screen in recent year's. Nobody can compare to Seagal as he is in a class all by himself. Remember fan's, we all get older too each and every day so give Steven Seagal the respect he deserve's. Every action hero is entitled to a dud so let us just forget about " Submerged," and make like it was never made.

Now I am looking forward to September 2005's release of " Today You Die," and the December 2005 release of," Black Dawn." These two are expected to be much better films, more like his last grouping of movies. ( As of February 1st,2006- " Black Dawn," was a great Spy/Drama/Action film. Seagal had very little action sequences in the release, but the story was quite interesting. There were also very little to no dubbing on Seagal's voice. Check it out.)

Peace:

Nicky Tuzio

e-mail: tuztones@peoplepc.com