The Warrior Class

I love this genre, so it's gotten to the point that I've seen so many films like this that I've apparently worked my way down to the C list.

This film, "Warrior Class" from 2007, went right to video. The biggest name in it is Jamey Sheridan. I will admit I was unfamiliar with some of the other actors, except for Jake Weber from "Medium," Robert Vaughn, of course, Dan Hedaya, and I thought I went to school with Michael Medeiros, but I think it was another person of the same name. So it's evident it is a strong supporting cast.

The story concerns a new attorney, Alec Brno (Anson Mount), who wins a case in court and then is assigned to a huge, career-making case. A mob boss has stolen a billion dollars in oil. The main gangster involved is Phil Anwar (Jake Weber), who has a little daughter and a drug-addicted wife, Annie (Erica Leerhsen) who has enough information to put him away. Alec finds himself falling for Annie, and vice versa, and realizes she's in grave danger, and he's up against some powerful forces.

Unfortunately, this film did not hold my attention. I think it could have been either shortened or better directed. Also, as attractive as Anson Mount is, I can't say I found him a strong leading man. Erica Leerhsen was better - of course she had a showier role, but she acquitted herself well.

For me, this was an uninvolving, derivative, and predictable film.

The film looks like it had a decent budget, but there is nothing to make it really special. With a big name and some work on the script, it might have passed muster.

I bought Warrior Class at Blockbuster with very high expectations because I'm a big fan of Erica Leerhsen (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and after seeing it for the first time yesterday, I must say that not only this movie didn't disappoint me, but that it's probably one of the best thrillers I have ever seen!!

The plot focuses around Alec (Anson Mount), a lawyer who has just been assigned the case of his career- exposing a billion-dollar oil scam led by a ruthless mafia boss Phil Anwat (Jake Weber). But when he falls in love with Anwat's drug-addicted wife Annie (Erica Leerhsen), who is also his key witness, Alec realises that he has to take the battle for justice in his own hands.

No doubt the best thing about the movie is the amazing Erica Leerhsen, who's portrayal is one of the best acting jobs I've ever seen. Jake Weber is great also, and Mount is pretty good (much better than in Britney Spears' Crossroads), even though I expected more from him. Alan Hruska, a former lawyer, has nicely put the movie together, and the script is very interesting, even though the ending could have been better.

Either way, even though it did have some bad points, Hruska's Warrior Class is a very fresh and well-put together thriller which will give you a very entertaining 90 minutes! Definitely recommended!

I knew Petina Clark as Tanya Lawson in the early '80s. She was paying for her flute lessons by acting in NY based films that you couldn't show your mother. Her boyfriend back then was Ron Jeremy. I put myself through medical school the same way, having done about 50 films and saw her with Ron Jeremy frequently at adult film hang outs such as Platos Reteat the the Underground nightclub. If you are looking for material to put on film, she picked the right places. It's a shame her talent was wasted on this film. Her experiences as an adult film personality and go-go dancer at topless bars would have made a great film. I only went to see this film because my first cousin, who was an even bigger name in the business told me he had a surprise for me. With all the familiar names in this film, my surprise was that it was so bad.

From the get-go, Anson Mount's acting was terrible. It continued to be terrible throughout the movie. Fortunately, the acting of everyone else in the movie was quite good. In particular, Robert Vaughn was excellent. All the actors but Anson gave very believable performances and made their characters more than 2-dimensional at the least. The acting saved this movie from being a 1 or a 2 / 10.

As for the plot, it was a bit contrived, something like you'd see from "Law and Order", but I have seen worse. There were a number of loose ends never tied up, and a few places that didn't really explain things very well. A number of the questions stemmed from the questions arising about the main character played by Anson. It makes one wonder whether his acting was sufficiently terrible, or whether it was a combination of bad acting and poorly done character development in the script.

Cinematography was adequate; it wasn't bad, and wasn't fantastic, but it certainly didn't look like some horrid soap-opera shots.

Overall, the movie was bland, save for some of the acting. I rented it on dollar movie night, so I didn't feel cheated, but I wouldn't pay more to see it.

This movie was just too painful and too amateurish to watch. It bears all the marks of a beginner director/writer and mainly inexperienced actors. I had to force myself to stay seated in my film discussion class out of courtesy and respect for the moderator who had chosen the film. Attendees in the two rows behind me were laughing through the ending of the film...which was to be this suspenseful showdown of the attorney and the husband. Alas, this film will consider itself lucky if it makes it to a DVD! The director/writer - a former attorney - should perhaps watch a TV show like Without a Trace and learn how to build suspense, create believable characters and care about them.