Trouble Man

Michael Jai White's Trouble Man delivers surprisingly engaging action-comedy that punches above its weight.

Following ex-cop turned Atlanta PI Jaxen hunting missing R&B star Jahari, the investigation spirals into conspiracy territory with enough twists to stay interesting.

White directs himself capably, keeping things brisk with genuine genre understanding. The Atlanta setting provides authentic atmosphere, and Method Man offers decent support, though the acting quality wobbles throughout.

Budget constraints kill the action sequences stone dead. Fight scenes feel stagey, chase sequences lack punch, and supporting performances range from adequate to wooden. White's charismatic presence can't mask these technical shortcomings.

What works is the film's genuine affection for classic detective stories. It's comfort food cinema-familiar, unpretentious, moderately entertaining despite obvious limitations. This would've found its audience easily in the 1990s, but feels slightly adrift now.

Rating: 6.5/10 (Decent detective story hampered by budget reality and uneven execution)

Ok, I have much respect for Michael Jai White and I've seen most of the movies he acts in.

This one is obvious that is very low budget. Acting is not good, fighting choreographies are well designed, but effects and direction are bad.

Script is so very cliche, you've seen variations of this movie before hundreds of times.

I'll be brutally honest, I've seen better green screen and effects from youtubers with zero budget.

Trying to star in and direct has left its mark. Its not easy to be in the directors chair as Michael Jai White has found out.

The plot offers a few twists but is simple enough. The fight scenes hold the movie together and are well done but the acting is weak and exaggerated throughout. A director with more experience would have fixed a lot of the problems. It was a good try but just not good enough.

Michael Jai White has made some fairly good films, but sadly, nothing that is exceptional. This film is not in either of those two categories.

From the writing to the action sequences, to dialogue, nothing here is worth the price of admission.

Each of the action sequences kind of looks like they were on runners starting blocks, waiting for the action command to start moving. It looks fake, totally scripted with no action flow.

The dialogue is stilted, and every scene fits into some phony gangster rap scenario. There is not a single bit that comes across as realistic!

The women are all wearing high-end street hoe outfits that come across as trashy.

Why is it that they only speak like bad tropes, instead of real people? It's really a bad script, with bad casting, acting, and direction.

I want to like Michael Jai White. He is a real martial artist, but direction seems outside his wheelhouse.

This was a watchable film because it's in the category of "A LOW DOWN DIRTY SHAME", "I'M GON GET YOU SUCKA" and "HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE" which those movies i enjoyed! Action and comedy rolled into one with a strong comparison with the other 3 movies i mentioned. Not to mention the Kung Fu was decent!!!!!