Mercenaries

After having had a sneak-preview of Mercenaries, i must admit it just wasn't very good, even for a Balkaneze guy like me.

The plot seems rushed, the actors are mediocre at best, and there just isn't any substance to get you hooked on the story. The only character you can sympathize a little with, is Andy Marlow(played by Robert Fucilla). Along with Kirsty Mitchell, they did a decent job acting.

But having watched it, i was like "was that it?", and i started wondering if it was worth the time in the first place.

I hope somebody out there enjoys it...

because i didn't.

This film was written and directed by Paris Leonti, an up and coming British guy.The vast majority of cast/crew are British. It was low budget, not a multi-million pound production. Get real with the negative comments ! Sure, he has been let down by some of the acting but it is not a bad way of spending 90 minutes of your life. The film is better than OK but not brilliant. The production company have done a great job as well so I wonder what Mr Leonti could do with a much,much bigger budget? The British film industry should get behind people like Paris Leonti and bring some good talent into the limelight.Daylight Robbery was a good entertaining film of a different genre. So, what's next? Look out for this guy... he's good.

After watching so many great special forces movies, all we expect from such a movie is that it to be an action packed explosive one. with that expectation I started watching this movie and I was totally disappointed.the plot is simple, a guy takes over a country and threatens the region. so the good guys have to go and take care of it.instead of sending the army they decide to send a bunch of ex SAS mercenaries. the actors don't at all look like ex SAS soldiers. instead they look a bit too girlish to portrait such tough characters.that is enough to kill the mood. their acting isn't strong enough at all to convince the audience that this is going to be something fun to watch.even the dialogues lack the punch . instead you feel like shooting yourself for choosing to watch this. sometimes the muscle flash of the gun just blinds you.give the movie a cheap look. you see hardly any action that is normal to a movie of this kind. All i can say is that it's lacks everything a good action movie should have.

P.S. The actors in the movie don't look tough at all like the ones in the poster.

So .. the American military (ie Billy Zane) entrust the rescue of a US ambassador somewhere in Serbia (where else !) to a rag bag of British mercenaries (we mustn't forget the word "elite" here !) led by an investment manager from Brixton , London !

They walk around somewhere in a wooded area at night talking loudly ... knowing that only the cameraman and soundman are listening .

We know who the top bad guy is because he wears an eye patch , of course ! More walking in illuminated woods at night follows , while the bad guys are torturing everyone they can find !!

Now this is where it gets exciting ... the investment manager (turned actor / cameraman & producer) from Brixton , decides to attack the bad guys , based in a shabby building ... not to be confused with the American Embassy say , and liberate the hostages . Armed only with Kalashnikovs (don't ask !) the good guys liberate the American hostages including the one-eyed bandit.

Here , excitement reaches a zenith ! After firing many blank bullets and more flashing lights , the liberators go back to the woods with the Americans and a captured bad guy ! Surprisingly, the woods are very well lit .

Anyway , the producer / actor investment manager tries to hit on the only female with them . But eventually Billy Zane is there with the obligatory coffee to welcome what is left of the rescuers !

There is a lot of trees in this film , but little daylight.

Breathtaking , don't yo think ??

I am a film reviewer so frankly I don't care that the lead actor, Mr Fucilla, is, according to the Guardian newspaper, a merchant banker who believes he can bypass training as an actor and has bought bought his way into a project. I don't care that the director was a unit driver called Barry Leonti (according to IMDb) and reinvented himself as a director, called Paris. I don't care about the fact that MERCENARIES advertises itself (on Wikipedia) as being shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 when it wasn't (I was there and there is no official record of it in any competition). What I care about is what I see when I pay my money and watch what is on the big or small screen in front of me. And unfortunately, in this case, it would not be an exaggeration to say it is an absolutely unwatchable mish mash mess. The starting problem is the fact that no attempt has been made to put it in the right geographical setting. Even low budget films need to make an effort, though. Srebenica? This has clearly been set in the local park. This in itself is bad but when you throw a clearly unconsidered plot and script in to the mix then you have problems. Derivative, would be putting it mildly. Where is there any attempt at being original. Low budget is no excuse for making no effort. Quite the opposite - it is the absolute opportunity to do something original. Clearly, Billy Zane, sticks out like a sore thumb, bring the pay check face on the DVD cover (though, as many reviewers have pointed out - even he has disowned the film by refusing to be on the DVD cover). The dialogue just seems to have been thrown together and the acting is a mix of amateurism and half-heartedness - it's difficult to tell what could have been made of this if the script had not been so bad.

Ultimately it is a sad old mess and reflects really badly on the struggling UK film industry. This is not what is needed in the industry, it will just drive investors further away from investing in films. What a sad, missed opportunity. Let's hope this film can be quietly forgotten and the UK film industry can provide us with some low budget, quality, original films again.