The Keeper

The Keeper: Seagal's delivers another film. The regularity of his releases brings a sense of excitement (well, to Seagal's fans anyway) but also trepidation. Will it have dubbing? Will it have doubling? Will it just plain old suck? On the most part, Seagal's DTV release normally tick a yes to all those questions. In recent years, Pistol Whipped and Renegade Justice were watchable exceptions. Pistol Whipped in particular was almost worthy of Seagal films of old. His last two have been pretty poor. Kill Switch was abysmal, while Driven To Kill was mediocre, suffering from lacklustre direction, poor cast, an all too whispery Seagal, and terrible editing. So does the Keeper deliver? On the whole…yes! Okay, this film isn't great by any stretch. But it's serviceable, and it kicks ass as well. Seagal actually has a bit of character in this, and shows off a bit more of the charisma that made him a star. As well as that, the co-stars are better than in his last few films, while the previous company he worked with, for Kill Switch, and Driven To Kill, has a reputation for half-assing. At least for The Keeper, there's a greater sense of effort to make something that delivers for the fans.

The Keeper opens with a worrying start. Dubbing! Oh dear lord! Not dubbing. However it's just in the beginning few lines, and in truth it's a couple of lines that are really needlessly added in. There was only one other moment later in the film I noticed any, but again, it was pointlessly added in. Mr Stand in still gets some screen time of course, but not that much. I'm also pretty sure, Seagal's double was given a supporting role in the film as another character, because one of the cast looks like he could double for Seagal for behind shots.

But anyway, The Keeper is a Seagal film, and first and foremost, it needs to kick ass. And it does. The action has a bit of punch to it. The gun fights are quick and punchy, while the fights are bone-breaking and violent. Sometimes in Seagal films, they stretch the action scenes out, and make them dull, when short and snappy would be better, particularly in hiding the budget. Generally here, the action is short and to the point. The only problem is, that the film could have done with more action, as the pace drags at times. There aren't many fights, but they are tightly edited, and Seagal beats the hell out of the bad guys. There's not quite some of the ingenuity to the fights that we saw in Pistol Whipped, which is a shame.

Keoni Waxman does a service-able job in direction. He's got more of an eye for direction than Seagal's previous director, Jeff King (who's first name is actually Wan). Truthfully he never does anything beyond okay, but in DTV land, that can be a blessing. And in fairness to him, he never does anything that's too lame. Seagal himself seems more interested in what he's doing here. He's back to his badass self, and showing some charisma again too. He won't be winning any Oscars, but at least there is some sort of character for him, and the film manages to throw in some moments of humour too. His last couple of films were slightly wretched to be honest. Elsewhere, the music is not too bad, and the film is his best looking one for a while (the main disappointment on Pistol Whipped was that it was shot on Super 16).

Overall though, this is a decent DTV film. It delivers what you'd expect. Some action, and some badassedness. The plot is simple, and again, for Seagal, that is better. No CIA intrigue sub plots to drag the film down. It also avoids the usual Seagal, revenge line, that's become a little tiresome for him. Early on in the film there's a few moments in the plotting that are just really, really (and I mean really) dumb, but they don't really drag the film down too much. At least The Keeper delivers the minimum you'd want and expect from Seagal. As for Seagals next two DTV specials, he'll be back with director, Keoni Waxman, which is a good sign. On The Run looks more action packed, so hopefully won't suffer the pacing issues of this film. It might lack some of the character of this one though. ***

And so Steven Seagal continues his prolific career in straight-to-video product with THE KEEPER, another film completely indistinguishable from the dozens he's made since evacuating our cinema screens back in the 1990s. It's a completely serviceable movie that plays out as a string of action sequences well executed but completely unmemorable; there are scenes of Seagal fighting in hand-to-hand combat with bad guys, disarming bad guys and engaging in shoot-outs with bad guys. The plot is weak and the script limited; essentially, this is one of those action-star-as-bodyguard movies featuring our hero risking his life to save a young woman from the clutches of kidnappers.

The good things? The film is ably directed and the fight sequences short, snappy and well-handled. Seagal is pretty poor, it has to be said, and there's still far too much distraction from his copious use of doubles (not content with a mere body double in the fight sequences, he now employs a hair double for back-of-the-head shots). Thankfully his voice is only dubbed in the opening scene, which is something. The unfamiliar supporting cast is very bland with the notable exception of Liezl Carstens, who I found quite smouldering as the sultry young damsel-in-distress; if ever an actress could pull off the unconvincing romantic scenes involving her and Seagal's character, it would be her.

Steven seagal's "The Keeper" is one of his good straight to dvd films, it's got a Seagal who seems really into this movie & i saw on the credits that he also produced the film so it's clear that the Master actually wanted to make this film.

The Keeper is a straight forward Gritty Crime Thriller with shots of Action now & then with guns & fists!!!

Here Seagal plays a very tough grizzled LA Cop who gets betrayed,shot & left for dead by his partner but of course he's not dead & in a Cool Hospital scene Seagal's character "Roland Sallinger" gets his revenge on his evil partner when he comes back to finish off Roland.

After these events Roland is trying to get back to it but he's been badly injured in his shoulder & his superiors make him retire from the force but Roland gets an offer from an old friend who wants to hire him as a bodyguard for his young daughter.

Roland goes to Texas & gets mixed up with Criminals & thugs & Cops, he's extremely protective over the beautiful Nikita & will protect her at any cost, there's some really nice human & sweet scenes with her & Sallinger & we get to know he knew her when she was only a child & it's just nice & sweet & that's something that's not usually in one of Seagal's usual violent gritty action films.

I feel there's more time put to characters & story with "The Keeper" than alot of his other films, so yes IT'S a good movie & a solid performance from Seagal.

This is a really good role for Seagal as his Roland Sallinger is a tough as hell guy like he always plays, but this time his character has more heart & soul, Sallinger actually smiles & laughs some times & comes accross as a really good decent man & his performance is actually very good especially for "Steven Seagal" & for a low budget Action film like THIS!!!

Yes it's a cheap B-movie with an ageing & fading Action star but it's a well made,gritty & good looking MOVIE!!!

"THE KEEPER" is definitely one of Seagal's best straight to dvd efforts & is a gem like his "Driven To Kill" & his "Against The Dark" & his "A Dangerous Man" & is genuinely a solid Action Thriller, it's just a low budget feature but with a good little story & a heart at the centre of it all, Steven seagal's "Roland Sallinger" is a very good character & fairly different from his usual tough guys but we still get that quick edited martial arts fighting & lots of bloody shootouts with real fake blood splatter so that's Awesome!!!

Just another mid 2000s Steven Seagal action flick, hard cuts lots of stunt doubles doing crazy things while Seagal stands there and waves his arms and waddles around smacking and shooting ppl

this time he is a cop recovered from a near death who helps a friend with his kidnapped daughter mostly non sense script as per usual. Plot kinda useless in these

Just enjoy the cringy and absurd dialogue and lots of seagal smacking guys and slapping and tossing them all over the place just don't ask questions you won't really get answers

hey yall fahgot ya knife man in that Louisiana twang with a waddle swagger.

I think that even if there are still fans of Steven Seagal out there, they will agree that he doesn't seem to care anymore about how he appears in his movies, or the quality of the other parts of his movies. Oh, I admit "A Dangerous Man" was decent, but that was despite him, not because of him. In "The Keeper", he returns to the kind of movies he's been churning out ever since he moved to direct-to-video movies. He seems half asleep as he speaks his (limited) dialogue, and his puffy face and baggy clothing show he's in great need of going on a diet. But he's not the only one to blame for this movie's downfall. There is very little action in the first hour of this movie, and when the movie does get around to showing some action, it's often directed and edited in such a frenzy that it's impossible to figure out what's going on. While I'm speaking of an actor who doesn't care, I'd like to state that I don't care to see another Steven Seagal movie anytime in the future.