One in the Chamber

Another movie filmed in Romania, even in Brasov the town that I was born and live for twenty-five years but still this fact doesn't save this not even the few cars explosions in it. It's just the same scenario with mobster that seeks revenge for the death of their sons, customary shooting, a few tender scenes involving some beautiful girls that plays the role of the lover of one of the mobsters. It has the same elements seen in 6 Bullets and Assassination Games with Jean-Claude Van Damme, movies also shot in Romania.

So, in conclusion it's not worth your time this filling movie with the same scenarios and story that we are all ready use to.

Cuba Gooding Jr. And a visibly aged Dolph Lundgren (wearing a very bright shirt and a rather fetching hat) find themselves in the midst of a dispute between two warring groups of organised criminals in a film where there are plenty of bullets flying in both directions, and a reasonably high body count.

Dolph doesn't figure until about a third of the way in.

The acting is...not great, but that's standard for these sorts of movies. The Eastern European setting is in keeping with the gritty subject matter - the violence is graphically bloody - and the scenes between Cuba and Dolph are good, if not plentiful. The action movie cliches, however, are most definitely plentiful.

You know what you're going to get from a Dolph Lundgren film. Has he made better? Yeah, sure. But this is nonetheless a reasonable direct to video film. You could do worse than this on a Saturday night.

Whether we like it or not we DO often judge movies by the title and/or cover art promo-poster at first. I expected a true 'B' movie here, but what I got was considerably beyond it. It is an intelligent, albeit formulaic plot line, but it also has very intelligent dialog, shot extremely well, and directed substantially better than MANY "Blockbusters" we end up paying far too much for.

Here you have the many clichés and standards of an average budget action flick, but what this movie does is engross you from beginning to end. I would NOT consider this a 'B' movie by any means. It stands aside as a well thought out and inspired piece of film making on the merits of writing, casting, crew, production values and certainly Directing!

Cuba is truly outstanding here. Best performance in years(I believe). Dolf is...well, still Dolf at his best average, but good casting and acting all around. I recommend this because it surprised me as to certain nuances of actual quality of direction and cinematography AND script writing that is rarely shown in movies of this genre.

Note: Many people and critics complain of not being able to 'follow it'. That is likely because a LOT of the story and scenes here are INTELLIGENTLY executed and THAT takes a disciplined attention span to pay full attention to what is going on.

On a side note; and part of what makes the 'Love' interest in this movie so good, is that, like 'Remains of the Day', you can truly feel the wistful melancholy of the 'Inapproachable' aspect of 'Togetherness' that, as much as we want it to be, it has another more romantic aspect regarding the questions that it leaves behind.

One in the Chamber was directed by William Kaufman, written by Benjamin Shahrabani and Derek Kolstad, and stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Dolph Lundgren, Louis Mandylor, Andrew Bicknell, Leo Gregory, Claudia Bassols, and Billy Murray. It's about a hitman attempting to evade another hitman after a job sets off a battle between crime families.

The Plot: Kolstad has come a long way in a short time. From cowriting generic fare like this to John Wick and Nobody. One in the Chamber's plot isn't terrible, it just isn't special in its frequent usage of action movie tropes without adding any personal spin to them. Ray (Gooding Jr.) has reluctantly taken on a hit in Prague, of course, for heads of the Suverov crime family Mikhail (Bicknell) and Bobby (Gregory) to wipe out the Tavanian family, headed by Vlad and Demyan (Mandylor). Of course the dispute is over a drug proposition, with the Tavanian family overstepping their bounds, why wouldn't it be? Ray kills Vlad in the hit, but not Demyan, who escapes and hires Ray through his handler Leo (Murray) to retaliate while the Suverovs sends the Wolf (Lundgren) who uses anything he can, including Janice (Bassols), a love interest, after Ray. That's about it for the plot, which is smartly (and thankfully) not stretched to be some kind of epic, but still could've used more meat on the bones. Some betrayals, some grander scheme, some different scenes that aren't used in nearly every modern DTV action movie. There's a flashback to an unethical kill, a handful of threatening phone calls, the whole drug-based motivations for the families, and not much else. Everything is merely functional, as though designed by an algorithm to satiate action appetites.

The Characters: One in the Chamber is one of those movies where the bad guy is more entertaining than the good guy, it's the Wolf (Aleksey, in actuality) who holds the movie together by his sheer disregard for all social standards and professional behavior, as well as the most casual attire ever seen on a gun-for-hire. Ray is another one of those reluctant hero types, his defining characteristic is that he's a reader and quoter of Biblical scripture, but that's a trait that's only used as dressing and never comes up in any significant manner. He does, however, have an appreciable insecurity in his approach to women in that he never talks with Janice for too long, even after coming to her aid. It's not much and the relationship is generic as most other things here and quickly becomes a savior and damsel situation but that little quirk helps liven a couple scenes. The crime families are as cliché as they come. War veterans who came back and went bad for the money, doing whatever pays them the most while maintaining a fair business relationship in the city. Demyan is more spiteful than the average bad guy but that's not enough to make him memorable. Gooding Jr. Is fine here and Mandylor is good, as are the supporting cast, but this movie belongs to Lundgren who oozes smugness and enthusiasm as Aleksey. He's having fun but dials his performance in when necessary. He's become a very good actor as time has passed.

The Action: It's most likely down to the low budget, as Kolstad isn't one to skimp on spectacular action scenes by choice; or maybe that comes from Shahrabani's input. Either way, One in the Chamber doesn't have that much action and most of what is provided is sourced from Ray sitting in a chair firing a sniper rifle or assault rifle with a scope on it into a crowd of bad guys from a safe distance. There's some good sound design and foley work done for his weapons of choice but the outcome is all too familiar. Lots of shot-reverse shot sequences of Ray shooting and Czech enforcers falling over with the occasional spurt of blood. Aleksey's action scenes aren't much better as far as the action itself goes, but his character elevates them with his nonchalance about his work. He counts his targets and estimates the number of rounds he'll have left in his guns and stands in disbelief when Mikhail tortures one of the characters. It makes his scenes a lot of fun. When he and Ray are fighting each other the movie does pick up by quite a bit but those encounters are few and far between. Still, Lundgren's scenes are worth seeking out.

The Technics: Eastern European countries offer tax benefits for film productions, hence the numerous movies that have been at least partially shot in the region over the past two decades. Those production values are present in this movie and help give it a grander look and feel, but that feeling is nothing that hasn't been felt before in a laundry list of other action movies. Camerawork in One in the Chamber is better than a chunk of its peers thanks to having talent behind the camera and a lot in front of it. Almost any movie with Lundgren has a few decent fights. The 91-minute runtime can drag at a couple points but that comes from the lackluster writing and characters. A decent score or a slightly tighter edit could've aided the movie but it's the lack of impressive action or any personal touches (that aren't from Lundgren) that damns the movie to the back of the viewer's mind.

Lundgren owns One in the Chamber. After having played at least four other Russian characters he's nailed the role. It's not a memorable movie by any stretch, proved by the workmanlike story, characters, and action; but it can pass the time.

54/100.

One in the Chamber is o one of the better straight to DVD action films.

Cuba Gooding Jr and Dolph Lundgren play assassins for rival Russian mobs. Gooding turns on his paymasters when he fails to complete a hit. Lundgren has been called in to finish the mess.

Gooding brings a quiet dignity to his role, now looking older, he has been given a bit of a back-story and plays his role with less histrionics and gets to do some action scenes well.

The presence of an Oscar winner means Lundgren has to raise his game and gives a sardonic performance as the lone wolf, almost moving as a lounge lizard. He is even called Sinatra on steroids at one point. You do sense that Lundgren is getting a bit long in the tooth for the action scenes and they do seem to be a tad lethargic or speeded up.

There is nothing much of interest in the story, it is a pretty standard gangland mobsters with Russian accents and plenty of tattoos. There is a damsel in distress at the climax with enough fight action and plenty of shooting. An entertaining film of its genre type but not exceptional.