6 reviews
A poor show indeed for Daniels fans
Gary Daniels headlines in this sadly flat and by the numbers action flick which was shot on the cheap in Eastern Europe.
Our man plays Captain Strong of the SAS who is assigned the task of Queen's messenger - a role which seems to attract trouble like a magnet. Indeed, no sooner has our hero cuffed the requisite briefcase to his arm, he is besieged by a succession of loonies, all eager to murder him and anyone around him. Unfortunately, the above synopsis probably makes this sound much more interesting than it actually transpires on screen; In fact, in regretful truth, the film itself is somewhat of a chore to sit through from beginning to end suffering from bland action scenes, clunky dialogue and some pretty risible acting from most of the (clearly non-English speaking!) cast. Most disappointing of all,Daniels himself hardly gets to show off his fine martial arts skills! - Sacrelige!!!
How sad especially, to compare the production values of Daniels earlier, Fist Of The North Star to this shoddy effort made only five years later. A real shame for Daniels who could and indeed should, in an ideal world, have gone on to much greater things.
Our man plays Captain Strong of the SAS who is assigned the task of Queen's messenger - a role which seems to attract trouble like a magnet. Indeed, no sooner has our hero cuffed the requisite briefcase to his arm, he is besieged by a succession of loonies, all eager to murder him and anyone around him. Unfortunately, the above synopsis probably makes this sound much more interesting than it actually transpires on screen; In fact, in regretful truth, the film itself is somewhat of a chore to sit through from beginning to end suffering from bland action scenes, clunky dialogue and some pretty risible acting from most of the (clearly non-English speaking!) cast. Most disappointing of all,Daniels himself hardly gets to show off his fine martial arts skills! - Sacrelige!!!
How sad especially, to compare the production values of Daniels earlier, Fist Of The North Star to this shoddy effort made only five years later. A real shame for Daniels who could and indeed should, in an ideal world, have gone on to much greater things.
- HaemovoreRex
- Apr 26, 2010
- Permalink
"Rrr! Die! Rrr!"
After working as a full-time action hero for nine years, Gary apparently chose 2001 as the year to begin a hiatus from filmmaking. This was just as well, because the man's supply of decent movies was definitely drying up. QUEEN'S MESSENGER – the sequel to WITNESS TO A KILL – is the last film Daniels released during the golden era of his career, and the fact that it has yet to receive a Region 1 release is far from mystifying when you see how boring it is. This is a dreary, international thriller with mostly sluggish action scenes and a handful of bad directorial decisions that seal the film's tedium.
The story: While delivering a top-secret communique to Kazakhstan, Captain Anthony Strong (Daniels) is caught up in the revolutionary plot of a violent separatist (Christoph Waltz) to overthrow the government.
The movie's predecessor was not perfect by any means, but in comparison to its sequel, WITNESS TO A KILL is an action masterpiece. I counted only two full-length fight scenes, and while one of these is pretty decent, it cannot make up for the poor quality of the rest of the action content. The shootouts are old hat, but the two lengthy chase scenes are so very, very boring. Whether Gary is on a motorcycle or in a tank, the pursuits he's in are relentlessly slow-paced and devoid of surprises, making what would otherwise be the adrenaline highlights of the movie simply chores to sit through.
The Bulgarian shooting location - with its gray and white color palette - is boring to look at, and the prominence of European actors speaking in accented English gets all the more tiring thanks to the dopey dialogue ("Get me closer; I want to kill the bonehead"). Costar Trie Donovan delivers the best performance of the cast as an international reporter, even though her character mispronounces words like "Sunni" and "Czech." Everyone else is pretty lackluster, whether it's Gary with his newly-adopted cockney accent or Ivan Ivanov with his 100% dubbed voice. Even though villain Christoph Waltz would go on to win two Oscars for his work in Quentin Tarantino features, he kinda sucks in here.
The fact that the movie is competently-made with good production values almost plays against it at this point: I would have had a much better time with a questionably-produced disasterpiece than a movie that looks fine but is all the more boring because of it. Gary puts up a strong front throughout the picture, but I have a feeling that my desire for the movie to end mirrored his desire to just go on vacation at this point. It's easy to avoid this one, so keep on ignoring it.
The story: While delivering a top-secret communique to Kazakhstan, Captain Anthony Strong (Daniels) is caught up in the revolutionary plot of a violent separatist (Christoph Waltz) to overthrow the government.
The movie's predecessor was not perfect by any means, but in comparison to its sequel, WITNESS TO A KILL is an action masterpiece. I counted only two full-length fight scenes, and while one of these is pretty decent, it cannot make up for the poor quality of the rest of the action content. The shootouts are old hat, but the two lengthy chase scenes are so very, very boring. Whether Gary is on a motorcycle or in a tank, the pursuits he's in are relentlessly slow-paced and devoid of surprises, making what would otherwise be the adrenaline highlights of the movie simply chores to sit through.
The Bulgarian shooting location - with its gray and white color palette - is boring to look at, and the prominence of European actors speaking in accented English gets all the more tiring thanks to the dopey dialogue ("Get me closer; I want to kill the bonehead"). Costar Trie Donovan delivers the best performance of the cast as an international reporter, even though her character mispronounces words like "Sunni" and "Czech." Everyone else is pretty lackluster, whether it's Gary with his newly-adopted cockney accent or Ivan Ivanov with his 100% dubbed voice. Even though villain Christoph Waltz would go on to win two Oscars for his work in Quentin Tarantino features, he kinda sucks in here.
The fact that the movie is competently-made with good production values almost plays against it at this point: I would have had a much better time with a questionably-produced disasterpiece than a movie that looks fine but is all the more boring because of it. Gary puts up a strong front throughout the picture, but I have a feeling that my desire for the movie to end mirrored his desire to just go on vacation at this point. It's easy to avoid this one, so keep on ignoring it.
- The_Phantom_Projectionist
- Nov 22, 2015
- Permalink
Horrible
The worst accents I've ever heard , the worst thing is Gary Daniels trying to speak British when he is British but where on earth he got this accent from , awful b movie with no good features at all . Utter garbage.
- mrcowdenbeathfc
- Dec 18, 2021
- Permalink
Even more disposable than I had expected
- bernard-70142
- Mar 5, 2016
- Permalink
Strong on action
Imagine a sandwich of gun fight, car chase, fist fight, gun fight, sex, car chase, gun fight etc, with thin slivers of dialogue in between to explain why the protagonists are fighting or chasing each other. Our hero, Captain Strong, is diverted from his day job in the Special Air Service to take on a diplomatic mission to one of the former Soviet republics. With steely eyes and firm chin he manages to avoid several million rounds of ammunition fired in his direction by some very bad men and still finds time to engage in unprotected sex with attractive women who can scream very loudly when necessary. Nice to see that Brits can still save the world and avoid STDs.
Noteworthy for providing an account of how Saddam Hussein hid some of his weapons of mass destruction. Turn off brain, forget about plot and enjoy some jolly decent baddy-bashing.
Noteworthy for providing an account of how Saddam Hussein hid some of his weapons of mass destruction. Turn off brain, forget about plot and enjoy some jolly decent baddy-bashing.
Very Entertaining Gary Daniels Actioner!
- tarbosh22000
- May 10, 2011
- Permalink