One in the Chamber

I was very hesitant to watch yet another Cuba Gooding Jr. Direct to DVD film after the last handful or so, but the fact that Dolph Lundgren was a co-star eased up my trepidation long enough to justify to my better judgement about renting it from Redbox.

The film did indeed start off pretty awful, but got a bit better as the film plodded along, of course, picking up coincidentally when Dolph first appears about half an hour into the movie. Now that means you have to suffer the first 24 minutes and 40 seconds, so if you man up and tough it out as the seemingly trite, insipid tale of a Bible-quoting hit-man up against warring fractions of the Russian mafia, it DOES get better.

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.

As in many movies before, Dolph Lundgren deals with his love for Eastern European / Russian mob themes. And he has always participated in strong feelings movies where love, hate, betrayal etc have been clearly up and vividly performed.

Gooding is great as always (Academy Award winner!), but Lundgren does not seem his pale shadow - has he improved so much then? And the guys depicting Russians are equal to the task - if taking into account that none of them is of Russian origin. Alike in other movies by Lundgren, there are lots of long shootings, dead bodies and changing sides - with some unexpected moments, though. If you choose to see this movie, your time will not wasted - although Lundgren has starred in better ones.

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.

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