Shoot the Killer

"When one mob family has a problem with another they call me. For the right price I solve it. I'm a fixer that's what I do, but that's not the only reason I'm here." Ray Carver (Gooding Jr.) is the best assassin money can buy. After being hired by both sides of a Russian gang war he sets out to do his worst. When he refuses to shoot a woman he himself becomes a marked man. Aleksey Andreev (Lundgren) is sent to take care of Ray before things get out of hand. I know what your thinking...a movie with Dolph Lundgren!! How can that be bad?? Without trying to totally disappoint you this is not really good at all. I'm not sure what happened to Cuba but after winning the Oscar he really lowered his movie standards. Dolph's were never that high to start with but I am really wondering why his Russian accent in Rocky 4 was better then his in this one. I assumed the more movies you do the better you get but I guess I'm wrong. I have to say though that I am not into the B-rate action movies though and if you like them you will probably like this one. Overall, exactly what I expected, maybe a little worse. I give it a C-.

Whether we like it or not we DO often judge movies by the title and/or cover art promo-poster at first. I expected a true 'B' movie here, but what I got was considerably beyond it. It is an intelligent, albeit formulaic plot line, but it also has very intelligent dialog, shot extremely well, and directed substantially better than MANY "Blockbusters" we end up paying far too much for.

Here you have the many clichés and standards of an average budget action flick, but what this movie does is engross you from beginning to end. I would NOT consider this a 'B' movie by any means. It stands aside as a well thought out and inspired piece of film making on the merits of writing, casting, crew, production values and certainly Directing!

Cuba is truly outstanding here. Best performance in years(I believe). Dolf is...well, still Dolf at his best average, but good casting and acting all around. I recommend this because it surprised me as to certain nuances of actual quality of direction and cinematography AND script writing that is rarely shown in movies of this genre.

Note: Many people and critics complain of not being able to 'follow it'. That is likely because a LOT of the story and scenes here are INTELLIGENTLY executed and THAT takes a disciplined attention span to pay full attention to what is going on.

On a side note; and part of what makes the 'Love' interest in this movie so good, is that, like 'Remains of the Day', you can truly feel the wistful melancholy of the 'Inapproachable' aspect of 'Togetherness' that, as much as we want it to be, it has another more romantic aspect regarding the questions that it leaves behind.

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.

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.

One in the Chamber, i can sum it up in a few ways. Its not that bad, its an average action flick with a few good and bad things. The things I liked about it was the good cast. Gooding Jr. and Lundgren make a somewhat good duo. The action sequences were good, I think they could have been slightly better. The story was a lil confusing to me but after a moment, I was able to figure it out. Its a mind-bending scenario. The things I didn't like about it was the clichés that I obviously saw coming. Like one point, I knew something unexpected was going to happen. Either a drive-by shooting or a car bombing. The love angle, I just didn't get. It was not thorough and poorly executed, in my opinion. Overall, Its a average action movie. With a few clichés here and there. I recommend this to anyone that just enjoys a lil action flick every once in a while. Replay value for me is moderate and I'd still enjoy it. Overall 6 out of 10.