what are your favourite bits? Spoilers!!!
me and my mates have just watched shadowman. its a classic. heres why.
1) its another installment of everyones favourite movie franchise. Bond may have 21 films under his belt, but that took him 6 actors and 40 odd years. The adventures of Steven Seagal number 26 or so in a much shorter time, with only one actor, albeit many different voices (and stuntmen). Like Bond, you always have a fair idea what to expect, you know the quality will vary somewhat, but will rarely be entirely without merit (although ticker and out for a kill were rather lame) and will usually entertain in some capacity.
2) you made one big mistake - you kidnapped my daughter. always a good premise for a seagal adventure. just like belly of the beast, which featured...
3) vincent riotta, who once again is a shady individual on the margins of the intellegence community, who may or may not be just quite the ally he appears to be. likewise, just like botb, he may or may not be mixed up in the dissapearance of seagals beloved daughter. you think mr seagal would have learned his lesson from last time. sadly he does not get to tell him "you ain't nothing but a trailer park bitch" this time. pleasingly, the nominal name change from story to story enables much loved characters from previous films to reappear, whereas in the bond series this might have been fraught with difficulties (in bond felix leiter grows back his legs and becomes black... i know its a prequel... whatever) we await a return of byron mann from belly of the beast... "how are your wounds?" "numerous"
4) the location. just like xXx (more about that classic shortly) the filmmakers clearly have opted for a more cost effective location, than say, hollywood, and have opted for the rough diamond that is bucharest in romania, shortly to become an EU member state tho not quite yet. again like xXx, rather than pretending its paris, london, dubai when its clearly not, it uses the locations well, effectively weaving them into the fabric of the film, and this is satisfying to see. the audience does not like to have its intellegence insulted.
5) jimmy carr, the much loved british comedian. there is one scene where seagal jogs across a road, only its not seagal, its jimmy carr. british friends, keep an eye out for it. its in the middle somewhere. check out his website, http://www.jimmycarr.com/main.shtml , the likeness is actually quite uncanny, he just needs a ponytail.
6) werher daehn - not a well know name but was yorgi's evil sidekick in the aforementioned xXx. he was the unfortunate gentleman who early on in the film, vin diesel warned him "the cigarette will kill you". this proved to be the case later on, via the business end of a heat seaking missle. So his b-movie action credentials are not in doubt. he features in one of the slightly more surreal sequences. seagal instructs his taxi driver to take him somewhere to get some "drugs and women". this is an unusual twist for his character to take, mr seagal does like his women, especially if they are a third his age and body weight, and he is allowed to remain fully clothed, even if the lady is not. but whos complaining he usually has good taste. so he turns up at this strange house, where lots of nefarious activity is going on, and a man with a peculiar mask. he then for no particular reason decides to kick lots of ass and kill everyone, including a pyschotic old lady. he picks up a couple of wads of cash and off he goes. surely it would be easier for a shadowman just to go to the cashpoint. the sequence doesn't quite fit neatly into the series of events, perhaps it was from an earlier version of the script. this is not uncommon in the latter day films of steven seagal. but we are clad its still there.
7) alex ferns - a legend here in the UK as the pychotic little-mo beating trevor in eastenders. why a british fellow is working for american black ops is not clear (likewise its not clear why the acclaimed english actress imelda staunton OBE is working an american embassy either - or what she is doing in a seagal film!). alex is a very talented actor whose malevolence dominated every scene he was in in eastenders, until he met his demise at the hands of little mo's iron. steven seagal is a lot larger than little mo, but trevors demise in this film is equally satisfying. put it this way corsodyl or bonjela won't do much for his sore mouth. excellent casting.
8) eva pope, british television veteran, is wondrously fit. there is one scene where she takes her shirt off for no particular reason. but she provides a complex, multilayered, and intellegent performance, and by the time you finally figure out just exactly what her role is in this film, you will empathise with her difficult position. although there really was no need for her to shoot the cute innocent romanian police lady, she only wanted to go for a pee, she didnt deserve to die.
9) the watermelon punch
10) mr seagal is able to make a gun out of a piece of piping, bomb from a fire extinguisher etc. a welcome reference to his playful mayhem in the under siege films.
11) the villians really were nasty pieces of work and deserved everything they got.
theres much more, but thats all for now i was just killing a wee bit of time while i put off doing something much more important. which bits of the film did you like?