Angel of Death

You know from the beginning this is not Quentin Tarantino nor is it trying to be , it's just a fun popcorn movie, but the main thing that ruins the movie is choosing a stunt woman as a lead actor. She just doesn't have the chops to pull this off. Even the third stringers out-act her here. She's not horrible, but she definitely can't pull off an ensemble part , and doesn't have one redeemable character trait she can use to make her character even slightly real. The movie is over the top violent and ridiculous, with a fun twist, but any other real actress would have solidified the movie. It has all the cliché elements you need for this type of flick, and good production values, but when the extra on the phone in the elevator delivers her lines better than the lead, there's a problem.

I was expecting more when the synopsis of the movie mentioned that Lucy Lawless was also going to star with it along with Zoe Bell, but after the fact I realized that that makes little sense, cause outside of Xena warrior princess I've never seen Lawless do action and the chick who actually did her action on that show is starring in the film.

I thought this was an good starting Vehicle for Zoe Bell. It was a decent story about a emotionless hit man hunted by her victims after getting a knife to the head.

Zoe did her best, showing her capable acting skills, and most importantly, showing her fighting skills, which I felt were top notch. Bell's got the action down pack, her fight scenes were impressive. Lucky for her, to be an action star, there's not much more you need.

I did not see this as the original web series it was, I saw it as a full feature. From what I herd this is a better way to do it.

I enjoyed this. I have the all i can rent blockbuster membership so i see A LOT of flicks. And many only the first chapter, then skip to last to see f/x or finale. This was thorughly enjoyable. Zoe did a kick booty job. She was hot, acted well, even the tough scenes, I never cringed at all. I sort of cringed in 'Death Proof' at the acting she did, which was non per Quentin's direction... but in this, she did it. she delivered her lines. Her acting, and her fight sequences were great. Hard, gritty, sexy but not SEXY ridiculous, but sexy hot gritty cool, you know what I mean. Her moves looked & felt real, like, oh yah, that's how a women can fight a big dude, like me, I'm buying it. gun play was excellent too, as in, no gunplay, just solid use of guns, knives, fists, mirrors, ground, ...great! story was simple, straightforward & well paced. direction was solid.

kudos to the Director of photo, i really liked the lighting, the contrasts, the light/shadow, the silhouettes, really done well. i think i'm buying this one. something i can enjoy watching every few years along with Leon/the professional, seagal's first 4 movies, bruce lee, streetfighter, old boy, & pink panther.

Ed Brubaker is a name to know in comics, but it should also be known in movies. Hopefully this will be a good calling card for him to get more work, or for more of his comics to reach the screen. While he's usually known for his spin on Captain America, he also has a series of hard-hitting hard-boiled comics called 'Criminal' (at the moment, I think, there's three volumes in all). Angel of Death follows along on the heels of those latter comics, and what he delivers here with this script is like an updating of a pulpy story that might have been found back in the 1950s put to film - only, of course, far less violent and expletive or on occasion trippy. It's like a Sin City yarn if it took itself not quite as much as a parody. And it works, mostly.

And another good thing about it, with its story about a hit-woman (Zoe Bell) who after getting a knife stabbed in her head and surviving- and becoming a loose cannon and seeing visions of a young girl she accidentally killed "telling her" to hit the entire mob organization around her- is that it leads on tough-movie dialog, kick-ass fight scenes and a really superb leading lady. Previously one could see Bell as a stunt-woman in Kill Bill or as herself, sorta, in Death Proof. But here she proves she can hold her own in dramatic scenes (maybe not quite her Uma Thurman counterpart but close enough) and seeing her fight is really extraordinary.

In fact, if you're just looking for a better-than-average direct-to-DVD action flick that chalks up a load of mob-movie/detective clichés, and don't know or care about Brubaker's name on the DVD, it's still worth watching. The fights are gritty and realistic, and the direction compliments these moments of torrid psycho-drama with Bell's knack for knocking someone's head in or any other kind of clever way of killing at a moment's notice. The film sometimes goes into a comic-book-panel kind of mis-en-scene, like if Zoe Bell's character is in a room walking around we'll see three different 'panels' of this. It's creative, if a little overused (and not so original if one's seen Ang Lee's Hulk). And, as a more obvious complaint, with the exception of Doug Jones and Lucy Lawless most of the cast is just 'meh', not terrible but nothing special.

But pick it up if you're roving around your video rental or if netflix gives the recommendation. You'll be surprised how much 78 minutes can go in delivering a hard-knock story of hard kills and harder consequences.

Ok the actings are not so great but it is a good action flick.