Vigilante Chronicles

First half of the movie was pretty straight forward b-action that worked pretty well, but then the second half just inexplicably decides to jump forwards in time one month, just in the middle of a crucial point for a couple of the leadcharacters.

And Michael Madsen without spoiling anything (I couldn't spoil it even if I wanted to as it's never explained) simply disappears from the movie, like literally he goes from being an important figure who just did something crucial for the plot to just never be seen again.

That's not really true he actually does show up in the last 5 minutes together with a person who died 10 minutes prior to that, so clearly that was a scene that was in actuality meant to be shown a lot earlier but I guess the editors thought that no one would notice and it somehow would make sense.

My only guess is that Madsen was problematic on set and he was fired or simply didn't show up anymore so that they had to put another character to take over where Madsen left off. And to be fair his performance suggests that he was barely trying to act.

Jason Mewes also randomly disappears in a crucial moment in the first half.

So yeah it was just all really weirdly put together, it's a shame because the movie had potential and it has a lot of entertaining standalone scenes and some entertaining characters (Rampage and Mewes most notably) but as a whole it doesn't make an iota of sense.

I look at the blurb before the cast and writer and director but it didn't take more than a few minutes into this movie to suspect it's a writer/director effort! He really should have stuck to cooking! It comes with a second writer who also stars but that's no great shakes of a recommendation.

It's not a dire action movie, but it does come with the usual action flick clichés, improbabilities (impossibilities!), set pieces, contrivances and, yes, stupidities (when you've got the guy where you want him, yeah, put the gun away and go hand-to-hand! Doh! Moron! (er, that's the writer(s)!)! The bad guys speak English for most of the movie but 2/3rds of the way through they start speaking in their native language and we're treated to subtitles. Oh dear...

Oh yes, the hip hop/rap music is crap, too!

But the movie mainly falls down in the explanation department. It could be me, but trying to follow who's who and who's done what to whom and why, got off to a bad start and didn't really get any easier. However, if you just go with the flow you can enjoy an action flick (with just a twinge of gratuitous torture) for what it is.

The performances are nothing to write home about but Michael Madsen does well (although he doesn't actually do much) but must have been looking for work.

It's all sort of OK, but not brilliant and there's the ever-present feeling that it should and could have been better.

If you've nothing else to do on a weekday night, give it a whirl, but have a few beers with it, accept it for what it is and wonder why you're watching this when you could be watching a 7* movie.

This is a hard to rate movie.

The actors, I liked a lot of them - and not just the Asian hotties, I'll have you know. I mean the main character is a muscleman with no charisma whatsoever, but there you got Michael Jai White, Jason "Jay" Mewes, Michael "sooo annoying" Madsen, even Danny Trejo and James Russo do some cameos. Add to this serious dudes like Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson and the entire Armenian cast, who did very well, and you got some cool people there with both acting and/or physical action handled.

The story is all over the place, from a vigilante that is called The Vigilante, but doesn't seem to do anything during the movie, to the Armenian mob, terrorist nuke attacks, data hackers with weird 3D air interfaces, getting the captured wife and son back, shadow men that manipulate everything, etc. The problem is the script. It just ... sucks! Nothing is connected, no characters are developed, things go from one place to another with absolutely no emotional impact. It made the whole thing confusing and boring.

Then there is the production values. Expensive cars, weapons, some decent CGI... but the action stinks! The action scenes feel like little kids made them: no tactics, no strategy, people walking in a line without cover, ridiculous fight scenes. You feel it even stronger when Michael Jai White starts moving and you realize how pathetic everything was before that. Jax rules!

Anyway, it was a decent effort, with enough resources to make at least a good film, and with a lot more possible. Unfortunately, it isn't a decent movie: it's barely a 6.

There is no point in beating around the bush. This is a terrible movie.

It has big names in minor roles, but the main cast is actually one of the worst talent-less bunch I've ever saw. But by far the worst offender is Jason Mewes. I've never heard of the guy before but I'll be sure to avoid him in the future. He delivers all his lines in the wrong tone, evoking all the wrong emotions. Almost every second he's on screen is cringe worthy. Yes the writers wanted the character to be cringe worthy, but he's cringe worthy for all the wrong reasons, he's all over the place with his acting, or lack thereof.

The main hero / vigilante is your typical dull B action star, who fails miserably each time he supposed to show any emotion. Seems like a henchman level actor, who somehow ended up getting the title role trough some fluke.

And the story is a mess. All over the place. Out of sequence scenes, unexplained, confusing jumps in the time-line, that add nothing to the story or the drama. A prologue that does nothing to explain characters, and an epilogue scene which equally hangs in a void. Offering absolutely no explanation on not just the events in the movie, but you're left absolutely clueless even on what is happening in the epilogue. They even introduce a new character there. (Who is played by Trejo, so if you'd watch the movie because you're a fan of him, don't)

The action scenes suffer from lack of budget. Like they dump the G-Wagon because it's too expensive to do the chase scene with. But in the end they don't even smash up a single cheapo Russian transportation they switch to either. And even in this basic crash-less chase they manage to have some continuity errors. Like the bad guys vehicle changing from a different trim version of the same car from scene to scene. Gun fire is all done in post, so every car and person seems bullet proof in it.

Sound editing is terrible too. Some of the gun sounds are the worst I've heard on screen.

The only thing not messed up is cinematography which I guess could be called good, except for the shaky camera on action scenes, which some directors still can't leave behind.

All in all it's not the worst movie I saw, but I can't find any redeeming value in it. It's not as bad as the worst it could've been, but it's still very bad. Avoid it if you can.

I had been looking somewhat forward to the Vigilante Diaries after reading some interviews with the writer and star Paul Sloan. His enthusiasm for the movie had me intrigued.

The first thing that stands out from the movie is the excellent technical quality of the film. The production values of the movie definitely make Vigilante Diaries stick out from the DTV crowd. The bullet and blood effects are, although digital, done well and give the action a bloody, gritty feel.

The film is also shot in a number of location's, which is not usually seen in a DTV action movie. They travel to Russia, Glasgow, London and others. I ma assuming that Sloan and Sesma done this with their own money, to give the film an international feel. Unfortunately a lot of these scenes are not required and drag the film out. Although it was nice to see places like Glasgow in an American action movie It seems they were used just because the actor/director had the opportunity to visit these places.

Sloan as the Vigilante of the title, equips himself well as the lead. I don't think he will ever be a leading man, but is great at action, and I will look at the rest of his career with interest. Michael Jai White also shows up in a limited role, but does get a chance to show off some moves. Rampage Jackson is also good, in what is actually quite a humorous role. Of the leads, the only bum note is Jason Mewes, who is cringe worthy in some scenes, and wouldn't have been missed if he was cut from the film altogether.

As mentioned before, Director Sesma does a great job with the technical aspects of the film, and the action scenes are great. Unfortunately the film should have been edited down. Although the movie only runs to 105 minutes, it feels much longer due to some unneeded scenes. I feel bad complaining about a DTV movie being over ambitious considering some of the garbage that currently floods the market. At least I can say that it is miles better than some of the recent Steven Segal films and their like.

I would definitely recommend Vigilante Diaries to action fans, and would have given it a higher score if it wasn't for a few elements which bring it down a bit. Hopefully with Sesma's next film he will get everything right.