Direct Action (2004)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Sidney J. Furie

Writers:

Sidney J. Furie (story)
Greg Mellott (writer)

Release Date:

25 May 2005 (United Arab Emirates)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Can One Man Make A Difference?

Plot:

Frank Gannon, a veteran cop, is being hunted by his fellow police officers after they learned he has betrayed the brotherhood and exposed to the feds wide scale corruption of the LAPD. He has one day left to prove his case and survive. |

Plot Keywords:

Veteran | Corruption | Police | Shot In The Side | Corrupt Cop

Cast

Dolph Lundgren	...	Frank Gannon
Polly Shannon	...	Billie Ross
Donald Burda	...	Bryant
Rothaford Gray	...	Ed Grimes
Conrad Dunn	...	Captain Stone
Walter Alza	...	Espinoza
Alex Karzis	...	Agent Bill
Larry Day	...	Phil, Agent in Charge
Natacha La Ferriere	...	Adrianna
Daniel Kash	...	LoPresti
Stacey Coke	...	Loretta
Joseph Griffin	...	Carter (as Joseph Luna Griffin)
Vanessa Thompson	...	Katy
Tim Sell
Jim Codrington

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:18 | Canada:13+ (Régie du Cinéma Québec) | Canada:14A | Netherlands:16 | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:NC-16 | New Zealand:R16 | UK:15 | USA:R | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

GFT Action Films Inc.

Trivia:

Dolph Lundgren performed all his own stunts in the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Throughout the movie, cars and other vehicles are shot multiple times with pistols, shotguns, and submachine guns, but display almost no bullet holes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Making of 'Direct Action' (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Wrap Your Chops

Direct Agony...

This is supposed to be an action flick about police corruption in a small strike-force unit. I read good reviews about this movie, but found it sorely lacking as entertainment. I like direct-to-video action, but this is a lemon. Here's why:

Firing sequences: where did the machine guns come from? Everyone had machine guns, and more bullets were fired in this movie than Rambo. This is supposed to be a small police subdivision, not a paramilitary. But notice--no glass breaking, no holes in the cars, and people seemed to elude bullets. In one scene, Dolf is continually firing a shotgun at a van, and nothing hits the van! He's supposed to be a crack officer, so why can't he hit anything? And his rookie partner seems a bit too comfortable with machine guns, also. Dirty Harry, with a single pistol, seems to hit more in his movies than everybody did in this one. Cheap.

Dolf's character: Dolf did not act badly, but his character was 2-dimensional. He's supposed to be the hard, lonely, male--but the guy doesn't drink or smoke. It's hard to see what his motivation is to be so damned good. The film plays him up like this loner, "married to his job", and his only character trait/vice is...(get this) CHEWING GUM!?? That's the best they could come up with? His character makes Steven Seagal's stock samurai/special ops characters look deep! His partner refuses the gum he offers, and he actually says a couple times, "You don't know what you're missing." Gosh that's dumb! It's GUM. Also, Dolf's face looked tired and haggard throughout, although he was in excellent shape and could and kick ass during the film's many predictable action sequences. In the end, we are led to believe he is "softening up" a bit to the charms of his female partner. Sheesh, it's so cardboard cutout. Hard to sympathize with such a 2D character.

His partner: Polly Shannon is your typical, young,pretty, perky, annoying rookie sidekick, even though she's supposed to be an experienced cop just putting her time in a strike force under Dolf. Absolutely no character. Too pretty and stereotyped and typically "feisty". Why can't they use a woman who looks somewhat like she could really be an experienced cop? And where did she learn to fire machine guns?

Opening credits: The opening credits actually shows you all the action sequences, before you watch the movie! I couldn't believe they did this! This greatly removed a lot of the suspense of the movie. A terrible blunder!

Too ridiculous of a plot: You don't expect an action film to make too much sense. But you expect some. I couldn't figure out how the CIA got involved, but you bet they did. Also, there are scenes where Dolf just goes into some place and kicks ass, and you are left wondering whose ass he kicked and why. He often doesn't question his victims to get information that would help him. Apparently Dolf is scheduled to go into court and testify against his strike team, headed by a very corrupt (and over-the-top sleazy looking) captain. The whole film revolves around this basic plot. But instead of pocketing drug money or something, the strike team must have dealt with international arms smuggling, judging by the amount of machine guns, and the CIA involvement.

Scenery: The scenes were abandoned houses, a restaurant, and rarely in the city streets. You didn't see any bystanders. Machine gun fights take place on the beach and in a warehouse. How convenient. It made the film look a little cheap.

I can't imagine this film appealing to anybody but die-hard Dolf fans, or action junkies.