Skin Traffik

The promo looked good. In the first 10 minutes i knew i wasted my money. Acting bad, filming bad, plot worse. Its just compounded all together. I don't like to say it, but an Adam Sandler movie is better. Please trust me and move on in your search for a good action movie to watch. As with previous reviews, the director wears too many hats. The lead could be reading his lines from someone yelling to him off side. Action actually not that bad, its the shot angles and editing that i found disjointed. All, the other stars probably saw this as a quick buck. It is painful to see these quality actor go through the motions. It all looks rushed as if to get in to DVD release asap.I feel bad for me and any other who see the preview, as that was all you need to see to not enjoy what little there is.

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.

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.

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 is my very first movie starring Gary Daniels and it not a good start at all.With this movie i finally know what Gary capable of when he display his martial art skills but the whole movie is just a big hot mess.The movie editing is absolute horrible when something happen it cut very fast with many shot that so ugly to watch.I give credit for the director Ara Paiaya with his hard work behind the scene and hope his next movie Instant Death will be much better