Maximum Conviction

Several years ago I essentially stopped watching Steven Seagal's new movies, because they had become unbelievably bad. However, this new film of his intrigued me because he was being paired up with Steve Austin, so I decided to give it a look. After watching it, I swear once again I will not rent any future Steven Seagal movies. Austin is not a great actor, but he does seem to be trying - certainly a lot better than Seagal, who is awful. Seagal has gained so much weight that he waddles instead of walks, and his martial art sequences are so rapidly edited that it's clear he can't pull off multiple moves like he did with his earlier films. Though plenty of blame has to fall on the shoulders of director Keoni Waxman, who films the action sequences (both martial art and gun battles) in the dullest way possible, and lenses everything in unattractive and murky colors. By the way, though the DVD box seems to suggest that Seagal and Austin fight side by side, in actual fact their characters have almost no time together.

"If you listen to me and do what I say I'll kill them before they kill you." Former black-ops agents Tom Steele (Segal) and Manning (Austin) are assigned to decommission an old prison, as well as deal with the arrival of two new female prisoners. When a team of mercenaries decides to crash the party and the identities of the women come out it becomes much bigger of a job then expected. This is pretty much what you would expect from a movie like this. Steven Segal and Steve Austin in the same movie. There is a lot of action, but Segal is a little older now so the fighting scenes aren't as exciting as they could be, but the gun fighting scenes are still worth watching. Steve Austin is pretty decent but he isn't in this as much as Segal is (in case your wondering). To be fair this isn't really my kind of movie. I know a ton of people will be all over this but I just have never really been a fan of Steven Segal so read this review with that in your head. I will admit this is one of his better movies though. Overall, if you are a fan of Segal and Austin this you will love this movie. I am not. I give it a C-.

The plot is customary, but tensions and thrills are there and shooting/fighting has some kind of meaning, not just for (viewers) fun. Inclusion of Steve Austin and Michael Pare provides also additional value: Seagal does not dominate on screen and - after reaching 60 years - does not have to kick butt or give factitious remarks all the time. The ending is guessable, of course, and there are trivial scenes containing kitchen utensils and hot steam, for example, but they do not seem ridiculous or dull. And due to the existence of inmates-intruders-defender, confrontation obtains extra dimensions.

In other words, Maximum Conviction is okay entertainment, a must for Seagal's fans and a killing-time for those not hating him and/or fond of military operation movies.

Steven Seagal's final line in this Movie is..."it's not over till we're dead". Possibly a shout-out to his relentless critics that endlessly tell him to retire or at the very least to lose some weight. In this Movie he seems to be trying to end the laziness. He is not dubbed here and manages to find just enough breath to make his lines understandable. He is not doubled here and actually does his own Martial Arts scenes.

So that is the upside. Steve Austin on the other hand makes the other Steve look like a thoroughbred Thespian. Seriously, does this guy have ANY expressions or changes of tone to his voice. He has got be the worst Action Hero Actor ever, bar none. But hey, he is an imposing physical presence and that is the minimum requirement to convince.

This is a darkly lit, endless trek down corridors and around corners. Stiff and long scenes in front of consoles and computer keyboards. It jumps and pulls the frame once in a while to try a bit of styling but no go. Anyway there is quite a bit of gunfire and a goodly amount of hand to hand and enough Characters to allow for a large body count, so if this is for you, have at it, and for the curious to see if maybe Segal is on a self-imposed comeback.

In general, this movie is not so good. But I can't say it's bad. I think that Steven Seagal has the same character in all his movies. In this movie he was like a bull in a china store destroying everything around him like a bulldozer.

As usual Seagal's movies are full of bone breaking and blood. But fight scenes are so exaggerated. We can notice that Seagal hasn't been hit all through this movie. And I think that the plot is somehow silly. On the other hand the director was good and some shots are so excellent. In conclusion, I didn't regret watching this movie, but Seagal can be better.