Cross

I have always been a huge fan of Brian. He has always been my favorite actor...well, since ever! I've loved him since his days on 90210 and Desperate Housewives. Now, to see that handsome man wielding awesome powers with a really awesome Cross with powers beyond human ability, that was so cool! So hot! Not to mention, Green did it alongside a team of weapons experts…those weapons experts were the perfect charming accessory to the dark brooding handsome personality of Brian Austin Green. I guess you can say...My goodness, I cannot wait for the sequel to this movie! This movie keeps you pleasantly surprised everywhere!! Yeah, amazing! It really is an overall fun fun fun movie! Must see!

I felt a lot of heart went into making this movie, but it just doesn't make the grade.

Cheesy one liners, though delivered well and fit the spirit of the movie well, still end up being cheesy one-liners.

Special effects were worse than what you would see in an episode of a Sci-Fi Channel original or TV episode like Stargate.

The only thing that got this movie beyond TV was the mid level, mostly washed up actors, who have been popular in the past, or were in good movies at one point in their careers.

Regarding Danny Trejo at the top of the Bill, he shows up for literally less than 20 seconds, and wasn't even part of the movie from what I could tell.

Names like Shark,Ranger,War,Riot,and Backfire make me think they did everything they could do put the movie at C or worse. It's like they didn't even make a pretension of trying to be better than that. Almost like they all got together and said "let's make a really good D-movie, and let's work really hard to make it that way!"

Anyways, to sum it up...The heart and hard work was there, and the acting mostly decent, but I feel with the cast and the story line it could of been better...Maybe even end up something of a cult flick, but it doesn't quite get there.

Given incredible power by an ancient Celtic cross, Callan (Brian Austin Green) continues to fight evil... Now, joined by a team of weapons experts, Callan battles an unstoppable empire in Los Angeles.

I want to find the words to describe this film without being disrespectful, but it is just not a good movie. I see the potential, and some moments are better than others, but the film wavers between humor and seriousness with a cacophony of sound and juxtaposition of images that hurts the mind. Some films, notably "The Spirit", have balanced this well. This film has not. Would it make more sense if I had read the comic? Probably. But as a comic fan, I never heard of this one, so I think it is safe to say few people will know what is going on any more than I did. I learned a new word, though: Anzshlastic. Does it mean anything? Probably not.

Seemingly, the movie was made to coincide with the Green Lantern movie. Not that there is any connection, but someone here has a glowing green cross that gives him super powers. Sounds like another hero's ring. Beyond that, no connection, and the plot is a big mess. There is the concept of finding the bloodlines of the Greek gods. For some reason, only one person has the bloodline when you would think all their distant cousins would, too. And there are multiple villains, with little background offered about them.

The dialogue is written for a ten-year old. Sometimes we get decent one-liners (most of which come from Backfire, Jake Busey's character) and there was a good Gary Busey "Point Break" joke. But often we have everything dumbed down. Gunnar (Vinnie Jones) says over and over again that he is immortal and will be the last to die. Yeah, I got it. Did he have to repeat it? No. All this does is take a great actor like Jones and make him look like a fool.

The press release is far from accurate, too. It says "beautiful, young women start disappearing". Young, maybe. Beautiful? Hardly. And what is this about Gunnar being an immortal Viking? That never plays into the plot at all, and he clearly has an English rather than Norse accent. The only thing really going for this film is the cast. Besides those mentioned, we also have Brian Austin Green, Tom Sizemore, Michael Clarke Duncan, Danny Trejo, Lew Temple and C. Thomas Howell. How such a great ensemble ended up in this stinker is beyond me.

Nowhere in the press release or on the DVD cover is there a single quote from a review. Also, it arrived for me to review a week after it was released. This leads me to one conclusion: the people behind this film know it is not good and want to avoid more bad coverage (though, to do that, they should never have sent it at all). Possibly redeeming it is a director's commentary (I have not listened). There are deleted scenes, but those amount to single sentences trimmed from various spots. Why they were cut at all is beyond me. In short, avoid this film like the plague. Besides Jake Busey, it is a failure (and that is a sad thing when Busey is the best part of your film)

Actually, I have to agree with the message board post - Cross is an "action-comedy". It is not advertised as an Oscar film. It is a comic book hero movie. And it delivers. The movie takes the fantastic and plays it for keeps. It is a comic book adventure of fun, magic, awesome action, and an amazing cast! Viewers have been spoiled by big budget action movies with too many special effects and not enough of a story - as if enough effects will make up for the fact that there was no character development or plot. However, Cross is a story with a pay off. It is an homage to the campy cult classics, but the first one to be stuck in the pages of a comic book.

History, Mythology and old-style comic books! They all meet up in a film that sends you back to the feeling of past of serialized films. It's a story of good and evil with a bit of irreverence (and exploding balls!) that's meant to be fun! If you're looking for gun, explosions and jokes that poke fun at the genre, look no further. Oh... and... Michael Clarke Duncan!!! Who doesn't love Michael Clarke Duncan!!?? Then, add Danny Trejo and let the action begin! If you're expecting a deadly serious film with a lot of social comment, you'll be better off somewhere else. If you're looking for a fun night with popcorn, check out Cross.