Falcon Rising

You will probably find "Falcon Rising" to be entertaining the more that you are in an undemanding mood when you sit down to watch it. I'm not saying that it is a bad movie, but there are several things holding it back from being a great B movie. The faults with the movie do not concern its star, Michael Jai White. Although his acting is only adequate, he does make up for it by his strong presence and animal magnetism, and when he thrown into an action scene, he acquits himself very well. The main problems with the movie generally fall with the script. The story (which is to a large degree very predictable) is kind of padded out, and takes forever to get going (over a third of the movie goes by before White's character really starts to get down to business.) Also, the movie gives White less of a chance to show off his martial art skills or gunplay than you might think. But when the action does come, it's pretty decent, not the best I've seen but also far from the worst. So the movie ends up being an okay effort, best saved for a casual viewing experience rather than when you are really craving a lot of gratuitous violent action.

Maybe just a little bit above mediocre, which almost is a shame considering how captivating and how intriguing the character Michael Jai White is playing is. The beginning is quite strong, you get a strong character who is broken. So much so, that he questions his will to live.

And the way White is playing that is more than above average. White might not get too much credit from a lot of people, but he is a charismatic and at least good actor. See Black Dynamite if you question it. The action scenes are quite good and someone "stole" the summary I wanted to use "decent" - as in this is quite a decent movie. As I also say though it could have been more. If you like action movies, give this a try - just if you can do the uncut version. It might only be a few cuts towards the end, but if you watch a movie like this, you want the full impact

With the exception of a few landscape shots, its clear the producers passed miles away from Rio. Why they don't use brazilian actors rather than using spanish speakers trying to emulate something that is anything but portuguese?

OK action movie but there is some confusion concerning the place of action. You can clearly see the typical views of Rio DE Janeiro and not a word about Sao Paolo. Maybe it is a small detail to most viewers - thou I doubt it, but right is right. It happens in Rio and not in Sao Paolo, OK? Otherwise an entertaining movie, recommended. After that we can go on to say few words about the movie itself. It seemed a little like Jason Statham plot - remember Jason's "Homefront?" The Brazilian police couple for ex. was a little too obvious to me, but not surprising at all. The action is quite interesting as it takes us beyond the Favela and gets us to take an additional quick look into the world of trafficking. All in all really good acting on most characters and nicely photographed too, Thomas K.

I like Michael Jae White. I really do. It's just a shame that he doesn't necessarily have the best movies. Blood And Bone and Black Dynamite are probably two of his best movies. So is Falcon Rising up there? No, not exactly. For the most part, it's a pretty decent movie to watch, especially if you're a MJW fan. Think too hard and you'll start noticing flaws and soon you'll picking apart the film. The film is cheesy, but thankfully it knows that is. The humor can be off at times and the dramatic tones can come off as soap opera like. The dialogue can be a little so-so at times and the action sequences are, for most part, watchable. Even if the sound effects are a bit odd. The acting is okay at times and the pacing can be a bit of a drag, the characters can be clichéd and cartoony at times but for the most part you know their role in the film. All in all, it's not Jae's best movie, but it's something we can gnaw on as we wait for the highly anticipated Skin Trade coming next year.

6/10