Shoot the Killer

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.

One in the Chamber was directed by William Kaufman, written by Benjamin Shahrabani and Derek Kolstad, and stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Dolph Lundgren, Louis Mandylor, Andrew Bicknell, Leo Gregory, Claudia Bassols, and Billy Murray. It's about a hitman attempting to evade another hitman after a job sets off a battle between crime families.

The Plot: Kolstad has come a long way in a short time. From cowriting generic fare like this to John Wick and Nobody. One in the Chamber's plot isn't terrible, it just isn't special in its frequent usage of action movie tropes without adding any personal spin to them. Ray (Gooding Jr.) has reluctantly taken on a hit in Prague, of course, for heads of the Suverov crime family Mikhail (Bicknell) and Bobby (Gregory) to wipe out the Tavanian family, headed by Vlad and Demyan (Mandylor). Of course the dispute is over a drug proposition, with the Tavanian family overstepping their bounds, why wouldn't it be? Ray kills Vlad in the hit, but not Demyan, who escapes and hires Ray through his handler Leo (Murray) to retaliate while the Suverovs sends the Wolf (Lundgren) who uses anything he can, including Janice (Bassols), a love interest, after Ray. That's about it for the plot, which is smartly (and thankfully) not stretched to be some kind of epic, but still could've used more meat on the bones. Some betrayals, some grander scheme, some different scenes that aren't used in nearly every modern DTV action movie. There's a flashback to an unethical kill, a handful of threatening phone calls, the whole drug-based motivations for the families, and not much else. Everything is merely functional, as though designed by an algorithm to satiate action appetites.

The Characters: One in the Chamber is one of those movies where the bad guy is more entertaining than the good guy, it's the Wolf (Aleksey, in actuality) who holds the movie together by his sheer disregard for all social standards and professional behavior, as well as the most casual attire ever seen on a gun-for-hire. Ray is another one of those reluctant hero types, his defining characteristic is that he's a reader and quoter of Biblical scripture, but that's a trait that's only used as dressing and never comes up in any significant manner. He does, however, have an appreciable insecurity in his approach to women in that he never talks with Janice for too long, even after coming to her aid. It's not much and the relationship is generic as most other things here and quickly becomes a savior and damsel situation but that little quirk helps liven a couple scenes. The crime families are as cliché as they come. War veterans who came back and went bad for the money, doing whatever pays them the most while maintaining a fair business relationship in the city. Demyan is more spiteful than the average bad guy but that's not enough to make him memorable. Gooding Jr. Is fine here and Mandylor is good, as are the supporting cast, but this movie belongs to Lundgren who oozes smugness and enthusiasm as Aleksey. He's having fun but dials his performance in when necessary. He's become a very good actor as time has passed.

The Action: It's most likely down to the low budget, as Kolstad isn't one to skimp on spectacular action scenes by choice; or maybe that comes from Shahrabani's input. Either way, One in the Chamber doesn't have that much action and most of what is provided is sourced from Ray sitting in a chair firing a sniper rifle or assault rifle with a scope on it into a crowd of bad guys from a safe distance. There's some good sound design and foley work done for his weapons of choice but the outcome is all too familiar. Lots of shot-reverse shot sequences of Ray shooting and Czech enforcers falling over with the occasional spurt of blood. Aleksey's action scenes aren't much better as far as the action itself goes, but his character elevates them with his nonchalance about his work. He counts his targets and estimates the number of rounds he'll have left in his guns and stands in disbelief when Mikhail tortures one of the characters. It makes his scenes a lot of fun. When he and Ray are fighting each other the movie does pick up by quite a bit but those encounters are few and far between. Still, Lundgren's scenes are worth seeking out.

The Technics: Eastern European countries offer tax benefits for film productions, hence the numerous movies that have been at least partially shot in the region over the past two decades. Those production values are present in this movie and help give it a grander look and feel, but that feeling is nothing that hasn't been felt before in a laundry list of other action movies. Camerawork in One in the Chamber is better than a chunk of its peers thanks to having talent behind the camera and a lot in front of it. Almost any movie with Lundgren has a few decent fights. The 91-minute runtime can drag at a couple points but that comes from the lackluster writing and characters. A decent score or a slightly tighter edit could've aided the movie but it's the lack of impressive action or any personal touches (that aren't from Lundgren) that damns the movie to the back of the viewer's mind.

Lundgren owns One in the Chamber. After having played at least four other Russian characters he's nailed the role. It's not a memorable movie by any stretch, proved by the workmanlike story, characters, and action; but it can pass the time.

54/100.

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.

As in many movies before, Dolph Lundgren deals with his love for Eastern European / Russian mob themes. And he has always participated in strong feelings movies where love, hate, betrayal etc have been clearly up and vividly performed.

Gooding is great as always (Academy Award winner!), but Lundgren does not seem his pale shadow - has he improved so much then? And the guys depicting Russians are equal to the task - if taking into account that none of them is of Russian origin. Alike in other movies by Lundgren, there are lots of long shootings, dead bodies and changing sides - with some unexpected moments, though. If you choose to see this movie, your time will not wasted - although Lundgren has starred in better ones.

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.