Blood of Redemption

This is a decent genre movie working through the codex, coupled with some veteran actors who performed with a various level of enthusiasm and talent. A nod to classical kung-fu movies, John Wu, Russian Mob, Italian Mob, Irish Mob, crooked senator, and a few more, for a bit of a hodge-podge that is best enjoyed while doing something on a side, like watering a lawn or solving a sudoku. With more gratuitous nudity, I would even skip my two visits to the fridge and a phone call. Directing and editing were loud and intrusive, like a drunk best man at the wedding, humor was cheesy and the story convoluted, so, all in all, and enjoyable experience, particularly after a third beer.

Once again Serafini, Lundgren and Capaldi hook up to make a Movie. And they fare somewhat better this time around.

Plot: small time Corleones need to step down to avoid jail time. They cannot agree on how among themselves, but some are prepared to kill to get their way...

Rush, which I reviewed a couple of Days ago, was far too complicated for its own good due to too layered characters although 3,1 is too low a rating. On this Point Blood of Redemption succeeds much better with not so complicated characters.

On the other hand, the plot twists and secrecy gets the better off of this one. In this Movie the writers try too much to create suspense whereas in Rush they try too much to create interesting characters. Perhaps the next Movie will get these things right. I like Movies that have different groups of people and/or individuals with different goals that at the end Clash together because they usually tend to be entertaining. but here it does not quite convince which may be due to lacking script, budget and acting performances.

However, the current rating is 4,1 which I Think is unfair. The acting is good enough and Lundgren, Zane, Jones and Capaldi do their job (at their capacity anyway) and the action sequences are decent enough, at least to the level where they do not bother you. the only thing that bothered me is that some of the bullet holes/blood splatters looked like CGI work to me, which is something I do not appreciate (CGI or not, they still look bad).

I give it 5 out of 10 because it is entertaining enough. The quality of the Movie is like Caught in the Crossfire, Nico, Marked for Death and Under Siege 2 for instance.

To start I began my love affair with Dolph Lundgren when I was about 12 and was heartbroken when he ceased making movies, or so I thought. It seems he'd been stuck in the straight to DVD funk and needed a good script or, in the case of his comeback, an old friend.

When the Expendable came out and I went to see it it was a little after my 40th birthday and I was astounded when I saw a familiar yet somewhat lost name in the beginning credits. "Dolph Lundgren" Oh joy! Needless to say, I had to own it once it hit DVD status and it reawakened my love for this brilliant man.

I began looking for his movies and to my surprise, I was met with titles I'd never seen before and future works in progress.

Since then I've seen almost all of his movies with exception of a few and that's only because they have yet to be released. So now, lets get started with this movie review shall we.

We are told that "It begins with a mans death." and in fact it begins with a family watched over by a man named Axel, (Lundgren)a long time body guard and friend of a mob boss. When his charge is eventually killed he takes it upon himself to find out two things. Why? and Who? With the help of a beautiful young woman named Laryen and an FBI agent he begins to put the pieces of a very troubling puzzle together. But the picture he ends up with is more disappointing then he anticipates.

In the end Axel must follow his own advise to stay alive long enough to exact vengeance on the one who murdered his friend.

*I enjoyed it so much that I bought it*

What drew me into seeing 'Blood of Redemption' in the first place? The reasonably likeable cast, a potentially intriguing story and that it was part of my low budget completest quest and popped up in my recommended for you section. Was also a bit apprehensive, with a less than favourable rating and generally reviews that were lukewarm at best.

'Blood of Redemption', when checking it out, certainly could have been much worse. There are definitely worse films about, of the genre and overall. Is it a good film let alone a great one? Not even close. Did it use its potential? No. Is it that bad? Not quite. Does it has redeeming qualities? Yes, but not many. To me, while having learnt not to trust ratings and not worry about going against the grain (though am in the minority here who respects critics opinions and tend to be on the same, or slightly above or below, page as them), the rating is about right and do have to agree with the criticisms here.

Dolph Lundgren, Billy Zane and Gianni Capaldi do serviceable jobs and are the reasons as to why 'Blood of Redemption' wasn't any worse, Lundgren being the best thing of the film.

Some of the story intrigued, namely the early stages, and the music while not the most memorable is at least listenable.

Unfortunately, Vinnie Jones and Robert Davi are poorly served and used. Jones overdoes it and shouts his way through a stock character and Davi is saddled with a clearly fake accent and spends the whole time looking uninterested. None of the characters are developed enough and are very difficult to get behind. 'Blood of Redemption' looks cheap, especially the badly organised and sometimes incomprehensible editing and catastrophically awful visual effects, so fake looking and doesn't blend well with the setting at all. The action is both dull and chaotic, there is nothing exciting and it's choreographed with no enthusiasm or finesse.

The script is too talky and has no tautness, the pace is flabby and the story gets far too complicated with the twists not being that much of a surprise. The direction seemed indicative of lack of experience or ease.

Overall, not horrendous but severely lacking in many areas. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Yes it's another low-budget Direct-to-video Dolph Lundgren film but this time he's surrounded by a damn decent cast of B-movie performers such as, Vinnie Jones, Robert Davi & Billy Zane.

Big old beefcake Dolph plays Axel, the head of security to a family of criminals but when the family falls apart & their empire begins to crumble Axel leaves & comes back three years later to find out what really happened & why.

Dolph is fine as always & plays the same type of special skilled Bad-Ass that he usually plays. Billy Zane plays one of the criminal families sons & big bro & goes to jail for three years when nutter Vinnie Jones takes over the family business with his uncle Robert Davi (with a dodgy British accent) & everyone is paranoid of each other because of the families fallout three years earlier. There's alot going on here with lots of twists & turns & raunchy scenes & some action here & there. Blood of Redemption is more of a crime thriller than an all out action flick & the cool cast do their best & are all pretty good.

I found Blood of Redemption to be entertaining & i liked it & i was surprised by the ending.

At times this little B-movie felt like a very low rent "The Departed" just mildly sometimes.

I did enjoy the cast of B movie veterans as I'm a fan of Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher, Battle of the Damned) & Robert Davi (Maniac Cop 2&3, Predator 2) & i don't mind Billy Zane (Demon Knight, The Phantom) & Vinnie Jones (Escape Plan, The Condemned) & the actors in the movie were fine too.

Nothing special but still a fun B-movie Crime Thriller.