The Package

I watched THE PACKAGE last night and was surprised by it; mostly because the earlier Austin vehicles I had seen (HUNT TO KILL, TACTICAL FORCE) were really bad. Austin is still really stiff (both acting and physically) but the director plays upon these traits better than the previous helmers. Also, director Jesse Johnson handled the action scenes a lot better than most, not resorting to the shaky cam crap that a lot of DTV action guys use. Of course, the highlight for me is Dolph Lundgren, who delivers another juicy co-starring role much like he did in the Cuba Gooding, Jr. action flick ONE IN THE CHAMBER last year. While I'd still like to see Dolph get back in the directing chair, these smaller roles are good enough to fill the time in between.

After a long string of action films and the highly successful Expendables series, action starts Dolph Lundgren and Steve Austin team up to deliver an all-new action film The Package. Both these guys have proved themselves numerous times over and it's always exciting to see these kinds of guys team up to deliver the action, but does The Package deliver or need to be returned to sender?

The Package follows a man with a simple job to deliver a package to a crime lord named The German, but when another gang tries to steal the cargo, he is forced to fight to deliver it safely. But when he realizes the package isn't what he thought it puts him in deeper trouble than he thought. When you take two big bad ass guys like Austin and Lundgren you have certain expectations in an action movie. This movie plays OK, but nowhere near as fun and over the top action as you may hope. Lundgren is given some interesting new territories to go with a character that isn't the norm for what he does. Austin seems to be the more focal point of the story and has some decent action moments, but overall the film just doesn't deliver the epic punch you may hope for pitting these two together. The story is fine and simple enough to serve its point and they both do a fine job, it just seems to be missing something overall. What action is here is pretty good and Austin is getting better and better at delivering more realistic fighting instead of his wrestler persona style. Lundgren has always been a pro at the action scenes and is no different here.

Overall this is a fine film, just falls a bit short when it comes to delivering to big action guys like this together. As far as action films it still holds up well enough and even manages to toss in its own bit twists here and there to make it a bit more interesting. Let's just hope these guys get another just together at some point to really deliver that great action film we hoped for.

For being a low budget film, this one delivers quite a punch. Fight scenes are gritty and choreographed well. No CGI here, just good old fashioned camera work. Don't expect to be blown away, the movie knows it's audience.

I've read the reviews and I must say; some are very harsh. I also find the apparent lack of open-mindedness to be frustrating. It's a movie and they should evoke a sense of fun and excitement no matter the content. I've seen near all of Dolph Lundgren's movies and not all are great, not all are amazingly well written but all have something decent about them and this one is no different. I'm not the one to go to if you want to see someone denigrate someone's work. I try to find the good points in everything.

The Package, while ill acted at times, does have a good story line.

Tommy, played by Steve Austin, is the hired muscle employed by the mob. He's married, loves his wife and wants a better life for both of them. He doesn't like what he does and he doesn't feel good about it but he does what he has to, to make a life and pay the bills.

Tommy is paying off his brothers debt to his boss and with one more job, he is promised an "out" and a clean slate for his brother. The only thing he has to do is deliver a package to a man only known as "The German" played by Dolph Lundgren.

As he travels to his destination he is followed and attacked repeatedly by thugs from all sides. Their intentions are to take the package, kill Tommy and collect a huge payday. What they don't understand is that "The Package" is not what they think it is and Tommy is not just a delivery boy.

If you look past the semi bad acting you find a story that is actually pretty good. You end up routing for Tommy and feeling bad for "The German".

Not every bad guy is bad for bad reasons. Sometimes they need to be bad for a good reason.

At the time of this writing this film has 6 other reviews posted, most negative. Though difficult, I did come up with a few reasons to avoid this film: If you sell girl scout cookies, wear your sister's capri pants, share hair styling tips with your girlfriend, or watch Glee. I could go on but you get the picture. Bottom line, DTV film are rarely going to break any new ground in terms of action filmmaking, so hopefully by now action fans know this going in. Having said that, The Package is above average for such a film. A cool script, that is it mostly avoids ridiculous cliché dialog such as "I'm getting too old for this %$#" or the mandatory cursing that is often substituted for actual lines. Yes the story is old (as most all stories are), but here we get nicely written dialog. The direction is certainly above par, with plenty of well staged action shot in a terrific manner avoiding the jerky-cam style so prevalent today. The fight scenes are not the slapped together affairs often seen in many DTV films. Characters are interesting, including Dolph's (and no, his role is not a cameo). Anyone familiar with Martial artist/actor Jerry Trimble will enjoy his screen time. I recommend The Package not only for action fans, but lovers of romance, humor, and drama (sorry horror fans), and for any boy out there that hopes to one day grow into a man. Now that I've given it some thought, the film should be screened in high schools across the country as part of the "no male left behind" program.