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.

"When one mob family has a problem with another they call me. For the right price I solve it. I'm a fixer that's what I do, but that's not the only reason I'm here." Ray Carver (Gooding Jr.) is the best assassin money can buy. After being hired by both sides of a Russian gang war he sets out to do his worst. When he refuses to shoot a woman he himself becomes a marked man. Aleksey Andreev (Lundgren) is sent to take care of Ray before things get out of hand. I know what your thinking...a movie with Dolph Lundgren!! How can that be bad?? Without trying to totally disappoint you this is not really good at all. I'm not sure what happened to Cuba but after winning the Oscar he really lowered his movie standards. Dolph's were never that high to start with but I am really wondering why his Russian accent in Rocky 4 was better then his in this one. I assumed the more movies you do the better you get but I guess I'm wrong. I have to say though that I am not into the B-rate action movies though and if you like them you will probably like this one. Overall, exactly what I expected, maybe a little worse. I give it a C-.

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.

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.

I read the posted reviews posted about this one and they're massively wrong.

I'll keep mine brief:

The movie is rooted in the action and the characters and story are plot devices aside from the lead. The staples are all there (accent heavy thugs, withdrawn lead with a moral dilemma, back story dealing with his obsession with the female lead) and the female lead is gorgeous. I liked that it never resorted to objectifying her.

This is a hit-man movie. It's not aiming for realism over entertainment but it's not out right silly either. The shooting scenes are well done. The fighting scenes could use a little work since there were points where the use of a stunt double was too obvious. It's a hit-man in Prague playing sides in a Russian mafia war. That's about all you need to know.

Once the action gets going another player/hit-man is introduced. Dolph Lundgren steals his scenes with a great character that could have been developed more but is fun as it is.

A more menacing bad guy would have been nice. There are quite a few nasty Russians in this but it's all implied. Some scenes dedicated to showing them as bad people would have helped establish them as such. Don't just allude to him torturing someone. You've got the R rating so stretch your legs Mr Kaufman and let's see the guy tied to the ceiling getting killed so I know the guy doing it is more than just an angry Russian.

I gave this 8/10 because I judged it based on reception as a fan of action movies. If you like movies about professional killers you can put this on and not be disappointed. It's not Collateral but it's still fun to watch. Go into it remembering that it's a straight to DVD/VOD action movie and have a good time.

I look forward to seeing what the team behind this does next since this is a big improvement over their previous efforts. As long as they keep learning and striving for more their next movie could be something very cool to see.

Pros: *good shooting scenes especially with the long range guns *good acting *great locations *coherent and easy to follow plot *fun characters

Cons: *the script had weaknesses in the dialogue *the shots could have been more stylized *the texture of the film should have been adjusted by the DOP to reflect *the location and set pieces. I mentioned Collateral: compare the club scenes specifically to see what I mean. *the gun play (too many machine guns! don't double fist pistols!) *underdeveloped characters

8/10 for an action movie