Sombras da Justiça

The plot: After a violent heist, a dirty ex-cop/ex-con is tasked with recovering the stolen money and avenging the death of a mobster's son, only to face increasing pressure and suspicion from both the cops and mob.

While undeniably clichéd, the story had some real potential. The movie even starts off well, introducing all of the stereotypical characters that you expect to find in a traditional crime drama. Obviously, I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking or unique, but, for what it was, it looked like an above-average entry. Somewhere around the middle of the movie, however, they just give up and decide to hit every cliché they can, while half-heartedly shooting a bunch of boring action sequences.

The biggest problem is the fight choreography. When you cast a giant bruiser as your protagonist, people are going to have certain expectations. This movie does not meet them. There aren't enough fight scenes, and the few that do exist are terrible. None of them are believable. The action sequences suffer from similar problems.

The acting was alright. There are a few B movie veterans that you'll probably recognize. Dave Bautista, the star, gives a decent performance, but I can't really say that I see him going anywhere but direct-to-video action movies.

If you're a fan of gritty, urban crime drama/thriller/action movies, you might like this, but there are much better choices.

In the very beginning, say, maybe 10 minutes, the movie seemed to be quite promising and I really thought at that moment, Bautista might pull through like Stone Austin or the 'Rock' to become the next WWE superstar turned movie star. But after ten minutes, I have realized that this was a very hollow boring movie due to a very weak elementary level screenplay so boring, so clichéd and so contrived. What I saw was a chain-smoking down-and-out ex-cop and ex-con who could not find a decent job after a 9 years sentence and was released from prison. So of course he became a mob's night club's doorman+bouncer+floor manager, got the authority to give credit to gambling loser. And of course, lousy things always happened to bad luck chain smoker, the night joint was robbed by a bunch of ....then, of course....then, "you lost my money on your watch, and my son was killed during your watch. I want you find out who did this, who killed my son and, I want my 300G back!" Wow, what a junior high school script. The only thing I liked in that movie is the leather coat that Bautista wore and some of the pretty night scenes of the city. That's all.

"You find the men who murdered my son and bring them to me." After the club he works at gets robbed on his watch ex-cop Ray (Bautista) is told by the owners that it is up to him to find and retrieve the money and get the man who killed the owners son. When the clues he follows leads him to question everything he wonders who's side he is really working for. This movie surprised me a little. The main reason is that nine times out of ten movies with wrestlers as the main star are not that exciting. They seem fun and good for the first twenty minutes then really drag and become repetitive. This one is the opposite. The last twenty minutes in this one are good, the build up to them is a little slow. For a B-rate action movie starring a wrestler I have actually seen much worse. This is not a great movie, but it was much better then I expected it to be. I did feel that the fighting could have been better, being that Bautista is the lead actor. Overall, not a bad movie. Better then I expected. I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I will.

*Also try - Blood Out

The major issue with this film is the script. Its awkward, flabby dialogue, when played out by already-mediocre actors, results in something that is painful to watch. People just don't talk to each other in the way this film portrays. Its story is (by design, it seems) completely predictable.

The sad thing is Bautista comes across as one of the better actors in this. I haven't seen any of his wrestling but I'd have the guess that his signature move was diving over a table to escape bullets.

You occasionally get some okay music (but this is a film, not an album) and the camera work and production values are generally pretty good. It looks and sounds like it should be a good film but it's really just a well-polished turd.

Avoid it. You won't get that 80 minutes back.

(2011) House of the Rising Sun CRIME THRILLER

Adapted from the novel by Chuck Hustmyre co-written and directed by Brian A Miller, that has Ray (Dave Bautista) as security guard of an illegal gambling racket. When Ray presumed one guy was throwing up, he then pulls up a gun, others follow him into the club to steal money from it's proceeds. As it turns out the entire thing had been fixed set up by someone working in the inside.

I had seen bad movies in my life but this movie is amongst the worst. This must be during the time when former WWE wrestler was dipping his toes into acting, and it's one of the worse performances. There is barely any action nor anything excitement for the few stars I am giving it is the result of the few breast scenes that looked real.