Striking Range

"Striking Range" has been a film I have been following for quite sometime- This usually works as a disadvantage because after so long I get let down with the end result. When the first seven minutes of the film was released on youtube I became very skeptical of the film. From the shaky camera work to the dialog I was like -"WTF"? It isn't surprising many people shared my opinion.

However the movie came out and I went ahead and rented it. sat through those seven minutes again and Im very glad I did because what follows is a very good film. The acting improved vastly as did the action and suspense. It was all quite interesting.

There are flaws of course- but knowing the budget and work that went into this ( via Internet and Indie Slate.) they are very easy to over look. My main issue was the purpose of one central character and while it does lend to one of the morals of the film ,it does kinda throw the viewer a bit off focus.

There's a lot good though- The moral of the story for one- ideals , agendas and power- what that can do to someone even if its not your own. The acting was Super. Honestly I have never really paid attention to Lou other than a brief TV series he did a while back...which was so-so. But he is very good as Vash. Another stand out is Glen Moreshower from 24-very good and Of course Yancy Butler great as always.

But seriously this film was low budget and you can't even really tell especially when you compare it with fims with a trillion dollar budget (you would be surprised.) that look very shoe string. this is high quality. and while it isn't the best thing ever it is waaaayyyy better than its current ranking.

STRIKING RANGE delivers what it promises, a shoot 'em up action flick packed with twists and exit wound gore. Lou Diamond Phillips gives a committed performance as a cash strapped gun for hire with a moral code that includes never challenging the US Government and never taking a bullet for a client (which is a good thing since most of his assignments appear to be protecting shady businessmen).

In STRIKING RANGE, Phillips and his three-person crew are charged with bodyguarding a "next generation" weapons maker who turns out to be an unscrupulous dealer who has no compunction against selling to the highest bidder. Naturally, squinty-eyed rogues, led by martial artist/actor Jeff Speakman, demand the latest weapons gizmo with a five-finger discount. This is where Team Phillips steps up to the challenge. However, a mysterious third party throws a hat into the ring putting the executive protection crew in a circle of crosshairs and ballistic mayhem.

The movie is a lot of fun, but by no means perfect. The opening sequence is a head scratcher as Phillips and his crew (including an excellent Tom Wright) casually banter about video games as they go on a search and destroy mission in an office building. The scene feels contrived and woefully unrealistic as we're asked to believe these guys need to alleviate boredom in the midst of a hostage rescue. And I'm still wondering what happened to Sharon, the poor executive they intentionally shoot to get the Bad Guy standing behind her. Quibbles aside, the low budget film looks great, shot in 35MM with fluid Steadicam moves, we also get nifty pyrotechnics, and a NRA member's wet dream in a variety of firearms. Thespians are first rate, giving us raw emotion in a scene where Phillips and Wright nearly come to blows as they argue about their failing executive protection business. Music cues nostalgically evoke 80's TV show "Miami Vice" at its highlight.

STRIKING RANGE doesn't offer anything new, but it gets its job done and it certainly gets a lot of bang for the buck.

A cheap movie full of bad imitation of great movies and clichés. The writer/director desperately and clumsily tries to catch your attention using great ideas from other movies IE the first part trying to use the "Pulp Fiction formula" by Tarantino. Since this is a valid approach (the use of references from other movies) when done with quality and class, in this movie the director/writer comes with a a very unfortunate solution. Inconsistent plot: is a mixture of action movie, with a little of horror, a little of suspense a little of love and hate story, a little of friendship… . The characters are poorly defined, uses the ambiguous character formula in order to create a "obvious surprise" at the end. The acting is weak. A cheap movie, with awful story and direction. An insulto to the public.

Striking Range is a class C shoot em up film about a business man who creates a destructive ray gun that can revolutionize military combat. He needs more money than his backers are willing to give him and that sets off a fight to save the crooked business man from his angry backers as they try and steal the technology and kill the business man. A special force is called in to protect the business man but someone from the inside is helping the bad guys out. The business man's whacked out son adds some interesting twists, but is not carried off well in th acting department. This intrigue is readable from square one and leaves little to the imagination. The action is OK, but everything else is low quality. The relationship between the two stars is carried off in a pitiful manner by the directing. The actors are pretty experienced, so I don't feel comfortable assigning blame to them.

great actors (Lou Diamond Philips, Glenn Morshower) and good actors (Yancy Butler), mixed with good action, a stolid if mediocre and predictable plot, and an obviously low budget = something kind of sad. While there are no major disappointments in this flick, and there are several glimmers of something beyond the typical B movie actioner... it just doesn't quite manage to make it over the fence from B movie to A movie. Halfway through it you feel like you don't need to see the rest 'cuz you know exactly what's going to happen, though the cast does a great job with the thin material they've been given. Lou Diamond Philips seems to be one of those great actors that's terminally unable to distinguish good projects from bad, he just keeps cropping up in these roles (and movies) that are far below his talents.