Recoil

First of all, I should mention that I enjoy a lot of made-for-video movies, so you might understand why I was pumped up when I got my hands on a copy of RECOIL, because it starred not only Steve Austin, but Danny Trejo. However, I have to confess that I felt somewhat let down by the end results. The production values are okay, though some of the photography has that dark look you find in a lot of other low budget Canadian movies. But the screenplay is lacking, making a lot of time go by between action sequences, and containing plot elements and characters we have see A LOT before in other B movies. The action sequences, when they do come, aren't very exciting. And while Steve Austin and Danny Trejo do bring some presence to the movie simply by showing up, they don't deliver that much more - maybe they too found this story routine and predictable as well, and didn't think it was worth the effort to be more energetic. I guess the movie deserves some praise for giving some of my fellow Canadians some work in front of and behind the camera - but that's about all that's positive about this movie.

"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+.

First things first: If you like brawl fighting, this will be your thing. It also won an award for this fighting, so the stunt people (coordinators) must have done something right. Apart from that the story is nothing special, you've seen it before. But it has a charismatic Steve Austin and a very good Danny Trejo in it. Serinda Swan fills in the beautiful woman in distress department.

Effort is really good, but the story still lacks a punch here and there. It really begs you to suspend your disbelief, especially right before the big finale. Morality might not be the strongest theme in this movie, but it will do the job, if you don't expect much

It opens with ex-cop, Ryan (Steve Austin) arriving at a small town called Hope with an agenda, which is to seek retribution to the criminals responsible (shown in flashbacks throughout) who wiped out his entire family. And when he arrives, he arrives by driving a 1968 Plymouth GTX, booked himself to a motel/ inn owned by a young widowed, Darcy (Serinda Swan). While there, and as it turns out, the town is overrun by a motorcycle gang called "The Circle" gang lead by Drayke (Danny Trejo) for the intention of illegal activity including guns and drugs. And it isn't long before Ryan's first victim happens to be Drayke's younger brother Rex (Noel Gugliemi) whose supposed to be an alleged ped before he slowly goes after the rest of the gang.

One of the main problems of this movie is the fact that although, Drayke played by Trejo is a known criminal who deals with guns and drugs, that he does not really use any guns against Ryan until more of his own men are killed, until it's to Austin's convenience but it could be the result ex wrestler Steve Austin who's also credited as "executive producer" and that they were unable to afford a dummy car.

I'm a big Danny Trejo fan, and he seemed to really have a meaty role in this film. Otherwise, I would have dismissed it as another ex-wrestler grabbing a paycheck for kicking butt. Of course, Serinda Swan also made the time spent watching it worthwhile.

I typically like a good revenge flick, but this one was missing something. It was like, "They killed my wife, and now I am going to do something about it." There wasn't any real passion in Austin's character. Trejo chewed the scenery every time he appeared. This was his best role, but Austin just didn't have the stones - he was cold.

Austin needs to find some John Cena passion.