Gridlocked

Some famous moviestar named Brody gets himself arrested. His punishment: riding along with a cop. Of course they don't get along; the cop (Dave) doesn't want to babysit, but the actor tries to be friendly and eventually wins Dave over. Dave agrees to take him to the clubhouse--his former unit's station. Dave was SWAT but for some reason, that we don't find out, he's now assigned to low-level tasks. We meet his unit made up only of another guy, a little girl, and a rookie.

Elsewhere some paramilitary guys are up to no good. They set up on someone's ranch after killing the owners.

It's late at night but for some reason a network repair team arrives. Of course they are bad guys and detonate an EMP device that cripple the station's electronics. They are also forced to kill some security guards there. This is witnessed by Brody but no one pays attention to him. Eventually Dave and the rest of the unit realize what's going on and a shootout ensues. The bad guys are directed by the paramilitary guys off-site led by Korver.

After SWAT takes control of the situation they finally get around to wondering what the bad guys were doing there to begin with. There's some underground rooms that include an evidence locker. We learn that Korver wants some bearer bonds stored there so he organizes an assault on the station. Our SWAT guys of course are undermanned and underarmed since stuff is being moved to another station.

There are a couple of surprises and lots of exciting action. The main cast is very strong with Purcell, Lang, Glover, Jones. Some of the rest of the cast are weak. The other SWAT don't look the part at all. The story is good though as it goes beyond just action. But the action does shine here. There is no shortage of B-action movies with one or two big names, but Gridlocked is better than most A-action movies that are released in theaters.

As a fan of 80s and 90s action movies, I had an absolute blast with this movie. Fans of that era/genre will no doubt love this movie and all that it has to offer. The film stars Dominic Purcell as David Hendrix, a hardcore, highly skilled detective forced to assist Hollywood actor Brody Walker (Cody Hackman) with his court-mandated sentence. After a recent run-in with law, Walker has been sentenced to ride along with a police officer instead of doing real time in prison. The gruff, no-nonsense Hendrix and the smart-ass, wise cracking Walker definitely butt heads, but are forced to put their differences aside when a criminal attack occurs at a police station.

This highly lovable throwback by writer/director Allan Ungar, who co-wrote the film with Rob Robol, wears its obvious influences on its sleeves, but has enough original and modern charms of its own. The film may deliver plenty of laughs, but the violence and action does get gruesome and realistic. Still, Ungar and Robol do great work in balancing the two, though a small amount of the jokes fell flat for me. The movie boasts an amazing cast in addition to Purcell and Hackman which includes Stephen Lang, Trish Stratus, Danny Glover, Vinnie Jones, and Saul Rubinek. If my positive review still hasn't persuaded anyone to seek it out, three words: Funky Cold Medina!

I originally heard of Gridlocked through the website Twitch, who had said that it was like a throw back to 90's action movie. They were not wrong. Felt like I was watching an old PM Entertainment movie. The only thing missing was an appearance from Jeff Wincott.

Originally I was a bit apprehensive, as star Dominic Purcell has not got the best track record. No fault to him, as he is always a welcome presence, but his films of late have been poor. This may be down to the fact that they have mainly been directed or produced by Uwe Boll.

Luckily there are no such drawbacks this time round, with great production values, and excellent action scenes, this is definitely one of the better DTV actioners I have seen in a while.

Performance wise, Purcell is his usual reliable self as the lead. Stephen Lang is great as the villain, although could have had a bit more screen time. Danny Glover gets limited screen time for his usual too old for this role. WWE superstar Trish Stratus still looks great and gets a number of decent action scenes, and Vinnie Jones is thrown in for good measure.

The only drawback is Cody Hackman, as the film star that has to work with Purcell as part of his Community Service. He can be slightly annoying, and the fact that he is playing an A list movie star, it would have been better to get someone that has movie star quality. This is a minor problem, and with the rest of the movie being of higher quality than usual, its not much of a complaint. Surprisingly Hackman is a karate champion, but he actually doesn't really participate in a lot of the action in the film.

There is a slight slow build to the siege part of the film, but once it begins it doesn't let up, with there being a number of violent shootouts taking place. The film definitely earns its R rating. The Director is going to be someone I will be keeping an aye on.

"Hey, I know you!" is a phrase you are likely to say to yourself with each new character introduction while watching the new action/thriller Gridlocked. It is stuffed with familiar faces such as Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Dominic Purcell (Prison Break), Saul Rubineck (Unforgiven), Vinnie Jones (Snatch) and Trish Stratus (WWE). It is a gaggle of competent bodies that lend their extensive talents to a film in the vein of John Woo's action adventures where bullets outnumber words on the script page.

Dominic Purcell plays former SWAT leader David Hendrix. David is a no nonsense bag 'em and tag 'em kinda guy. His job is his life and his life is put on the line in the daily pursuit of justice. David's rogue actions require muting when he is paired with movie action Brody Walker (Cody Hackman) who is court ordered to participate in police ride-alongs after his hard partying behavior jeopardizes his career.

The newly formed reluctant couple of David and Brody could not be further apart in their views on life in general but are thrust together mirroring Michael J. Fox and James Woods in 1991's The Hard Way. Brody attempts to win favor of the hardened Hendrix but the bonding lacks reciprocation. Hendrix does however take Brody to secret training lair where his fellow badass do-gooders practice their search and shoot skills.

The evening of fun and guns gets interrupted when a group of mercenaries infiltrate the training complex. Their objective is not immediately clear but their violent resolve is. Little is known of their purpose but they do share a connection with another handful of mercenaries lead by Korver (Lang) who has secured a nearby rural farmhouse much to the shigrinning death of its two inhabitants.

What ensues is a shootout. A shootout between the mercenaries that have breached the perimeter and the police, Hendrix and Brody inside. And then a shootout between more mercenaries and the police, Hendrix and Brody inside. And when Korver reveals his intentions, objectives become clear and bullets become commonplace.

Gridlocked transforms into a full blown shootout on par with a John Woo film. There is a stretch of bullet firing through the films third act that, had I had a counter, might just have set the record for the total number of shots fired within a 10-minute film span. Director Allan Ungar piles up a body count while unleashing an arsenal of unfathomable abandon.

Gridlocked is an action film true and through. There is a story to help jettison the firepower, but the story is worn and used with plot points used more admirably in better films. For what little original story is presented, Gridlocked takes its sweet ass time. Nearly an hour into the almost two hour adventure we still had no clue what the mercenaries were after. Luckily, the two main characters – particularly Purcell's Hendrix are interesting and compelling enough to help us wade through the urgency of the villain's purpose.

If you are the kind of individual who enjoy an all-out barrage of bullets then Gridlocked is the chicken soup to your flu like symptoms. Reminding us a lot of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is a relentless rat-a-tat-tat echoing through a theatres sound system. An assault of the senses, Gridlocked is the no-holds-barred action film that effectively uses its confined setting to provide a highlight reels worth of bullet ballet.

As it started out I was pleasantly surprised, the first 35 minutes is genuinely entertaining and I was starting to think it was cool to see Dominic Purcell in something good again.

But in the second third the plot just get stuck... or gridlocked if you will, set in the same building throughout and it becomes rather dull with little action and I'm sure this bit was meant to be intense and unsettling, but the acting really prevents that from happening.

Don't get me wrong, the actors are fine when it comes to the action bits and funnier parts but yeah they don't really have the dramatic skills to make the second third interesting.

Luckily it picks up a bit in the last third, but man... By then it was hard to start getting the same excitement you had in the beginning, so yeah could definitely done with some more excessive editing.

The ending opens up for a potential sequel, which I honestly wouldn't mind seeing but just hoping for they'll set it on a little more locations than they did this one.

Cool soundtrack though, some old school rap from Tone Loc and others.