Skin Traffik

One of the best direct-to-video pieces starring Gary Daniels in recent years (another strong notable being the surprisingly excellent Tekken adaptation), Skin Traffik is an entertaining, fast paced thriller that delivers hard action. Daniels plays Bradley, a stoic yet rage-filled hit-man who is the best at what he does.

After an ordered job goes awry, the emotional trauma that results sidelines the former killer for hire into a quiet, subdued life in low-rent surroundings. One day, an aggressive pimp gets the idea that it might be a good idea to beat around his girls in front of Bradley, and chaos ensues. The power structure of the entire human trafficking ring is slowly targeted and lethally dismantled with cool, cruel efficiency.

Gary Daniels once again puts forward a physically believable character performance, fitting perfectly into the role of the remorse-filled reaper of death. His martial arts form looks as strong as ever, delivering his trademark roundhouse kicks with blurring speed, and a side dish of close-combat choreography to boot. Directed by Ara Paiaya, the camera work is quite adequate, and the story flows along at an extremely brisk ~96 minutes.

This necessitates a lot of quick camera work and a lack of exposition at times that leaves the viewer guessing as to how certain events may have played out in the interim, which is effective as a technique at times and somewhat distracting at others. Nonetheless, the decision to keep the film moving at a breakneck pace was a smart one, as the worst thing an action movie can be is boring. Viewers will certainly not be bored by the amount of fights and shoot-outs in the film.

It seemed that Bradley was a one-man killing machine throughout the entire running time which is gratifying for fans of the classic 80s-era action motif. Though some of the foley effects are a bit weak, at other times they are very effective, lending credibility and realism to an over-the-top premise. The acting is also fairly strong, particularly Daniels, Jeff Fahey, Michael Madsen, and Eric Roberts. Eric Roberts nearly steals the show as the soul-sucking Executive, countering Daniels perfectly as opposition. Also worthy of note would be the performance of Dominique Swain as Anna Peel, the first friendly face in Bradley's world in a long time.

A last yet excellent surprise was the narrative surrounding the character of Vogel, played by Mickey Rourke, again showing his chops in a light-hearted but ultimately dead-serious role that seems to flit in and out of our memory as Skin Traffik steams along. Fans of Gary Daniels and the other cast should not be disappointed by this rather modestly budgeted revenge film. The formula may be predictable but there is not much wasted screen time and Skin Traffik achieves exactly what it seeks to do — deliver hard-hitting action at a breakneck pace.

Skin Traffik excels, unapologetically, at what it seeks to be: a fun, violent action romp, built upon a amazing cast and plenty of action where Bradley (Gary Daniels) kills mobsters, assassins and all the middlemen in between. As for the actual narrative: it's blessedly simplistic and unsophisticated, with no illusions of grandeur: Bradley's hit goes sideways with Vogal (Mickey Rourke) and his old employer (Eric Roberts) wants him dead. He drops out the game and is hiding out in London where he comes across a hooker (Dominique Swain) who needs help. He makes a promise to help her find her little sister and from that point everyone who gets in Bradley's (Gary Daniels) way as he makes his journey of vengeance ends up in a body bag. Simple. The invincible tough-guy archetype and action mixed with the amazing cast of EVERYONE!!!!! which include MICKEY ROURKE, ERIC ROBERTS, DARYL HANNAH, MICHAEL MADSEN, JEFF FAHEY, DOMINIQUE SWAIN, ALAN FORD ! This is an independent film written, produced, directed, filmed, edited, action, fight choreography and co-starring all by one man ARA PAIAYA. The action and cast are the most enjoyable aspects of the film. Paiaya creates both the visual and physical dimensions of the film it's no surprise that the director is able to put together some of the slickest action sequences seen in an independent film with such a high profile cast being a martial arts expert according to IMDb Trivia and looks to have starred in a bunch of low budget DTV chop socky flicks. Certainly a step up from the usual Hollywood shaky cam action fare. The action is very well executed, slick and polished in design. When the violence and action isn't taking place, some good production and set design plus some nice cinematography help keep the eye reasonably satisfied whenever things slow down. It's action, it's British and it has an all star cast not the greatest story in the world but it's a little action gem.

Here's another of this grind house sort flicks, British style and pretty bad at that. Another indie sort, that does have it's share of action, it's lead, a likable bad arse. Daniels plays a hit-man, who makes a fatal error, ending the life of an innocent party, the daughter of his objective, a swelled, puffed up libosuctioned faced Rourke, in a why bother film. Daniel's who gone off the radar of his agency, is implored by a young Russian prostitute (an annoying overacted Dominique Swain who needs a good whack in the head) to find her younger sister, caught up in the rackets (stereotypical sexy scenes of young groomed girls, in sexy lingerie, going off reluctantly with older clientele) Daniels visits an illegitimate model agency, run by that memorable cockney guy from Snatch, and finally ends up seeing a guy (Jeff Fahey) who's mistaken for the infamous executive, who has the missing girl. High kicks and fistfights go hand and hand in some great choreographed sequences, but is just bottom b grade. It's frightening to see good actors wasted in crap like this, where more here, it's crap with a trashy b grade style of it's own. Again likable bad arse Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah, who looks terrible here libosuctioned lips share screen time as hit man accomplices, Madsen, providing one shocking amusing moment. The head of the agency, Daniels works for, is played with slimy sleek professionalism by Eric Roberts, (him and Fahey, the best actors in the movie). Daniel's does make a great action hero, but take Skin Traffik for what it is, trashy entertaining CRAP, nothing more.

When I realized a movie had come out in 2015 which counted as members of its cast- Rourke, Roberts & Hannah, I decided to go for it. I took a chance on a movie I had never heard of. This movie is about as different from "The Pope of Greenwich Village," as any film could be. The star of this movie is an actor I was not familiar with who plays the role of a hit man - so deluded that he believes his mission has been to do "good" in the world - at least until he began asking hard questions. You should take the title, "Skin Traffik," to mean exactly what you think it means. The main characters differ in how they relate to said, "traffik," and the varying degrees of moral relativism each of them possesses. A missed opportunity with this cast.

Ok - it isn't the worst movie I have ever watched but it is definitely lacking. It has a reasonable cast but the acting varies so much that parts of the scenes are almost unbearable to watch. The action scenes also vary greatly scene to scene. Some are well choreographed while others are sloppy and camera angles make it difficult to see the action. One of the biggest problems with the movie is the poorly written script. Some of the dialogue just doesn't make any sense. At times the dialogue doesn't even fit the story line and other times it doesn't fit the character. Despite its many short comings, the movie does seem to have some thought behind it - keeping it from being a total loss.