Tuesday, September 29, 2015

CHAIN OF COMMAND: GIVES SLEEPER A WHOLE NEW DEFINITION



If you find yourself in need of rest and don’t have a bottle of Sominex or even Benadryl on hand then you might want to consider popping this movie into your machine. It truly is a bad movie on all levels and while it’s classified as an action film the odds are it will help you sleep in no time flat.

Michael Jai White stars as special operative James Webster who has just finished a tour of duty and returned home. At his return party his brother seems concerned after a phone call but assures James it’s nothing and that he’ll explain it all later. He never gets the chance as he’s murdered during the night. Now James tried to find out who is responsible with vengeance on his mind.

As he digs deeper into what happened James discovers a plot involving members of the government and a shipment of drugs. How his brother is tied in isn’t revealed until later in the film. As he continues his investigation the drug runners try to put an end to it as fast as possible. The head man even calls in a professional to assist him in the form of Ray Peters (Steve Austin). The odd thing is that after calling him in his man keeps telling him they can handle things and yet never seem able to do so.

I like Michael Jai White. I came to know his career first when he appeared as Spawn in the movie of the same name. Critics hated the movie but I enjoyed it. I thought he did a great job. Years later I loved his performance and creativity with BLACK DYNAMITE, a movie I still recommend to people. So when I see him in movies like this it pains me. He has far more potential than it seems Hollywood is willing to allow him to live up to. That’s too bad because he deserves better than this.

As much of a waste as White is here, Austin is even worse. While he’s not the greatest of actors he has shown he is capable of handling a decent role and here he doesn’t get the opportunity to do squat. He’s given lengthy tirades to direct at the man who hired him that don’t even come up to par with the promos he did while working in the WWE. Worse yet, he has fewer action scenes here than almost anyone in the movie. Why hire someone who is known for that and keep them from it?

It’s difficult to decide what the worst thing on display here is. The script is terrible with dialogue that is below second rate. The cinematography is passable but below standard. The sets look terrible and out of place, especially the bad guy’s office. They show a glass building from the outside and when we go to the office it’s a hole in the wall with an old steam pipe heater by the windows that look nothing like the windows seen outside. The devil is in the details and no details were even considered here.

I hate to say a movie it terrible beyond belief. I know that the efforts of people who do things from being grips to set decorators to wardrobe people to assistants are behind every movie made. But whoever was at the helm of this movie let down that entire staff and owes them a deep apology. This is one movie that I have to say you should stay clear of at all costs. 

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