Gridlocked (2016)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Simply A Masterpiece

Sadly Over-hyped

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Well I LOVED it.This movie was something small, I just happened to watch on a whim, and glad I did.It's about a washed up actor, Brody, and his need to resurrect his dead career. He wants to live the life of a cop for one day and he got more than he bargained for, as the cops he wanted to imitate, are in real danger.Low budget but still well shot. Some of the fight scenes and shooting scenes are really impressive. In an era with tons of CGI and mindless repetition, this was a refreshing movie I must say.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 9 out of 10. FUN, FAST MOVING, and SOME TWISTS along the way.

Former SWAT leader David Hendrix has failed medical clearance after taking a bullet on the job, and his efforts have been reduced to routine tasks for the NYPD. He's been forced to babysit Brody Walker, a Movie star that's been sent on a mandatory ride along as part of his probation. Obnoxious and irritating, Walker is the last thing Hendrix needs. But all of that changes when a police training facility comes under attack by a team of mercenaries. Now, Hendrix and Walker must band together with the remaining survivors to fight back and keep the mercenaries from overtaking the compound...When a film is mooted as 'the best action film of the year', one has a lot to live up to. So understandably, as a fan of B-grade action movies, my expectations were quite high, especially considering some of the 'talent' featured in this.But no, my worst fears were realised when its discovered that it's just another paint by numbers Die Hard rip off that features zero humour, lethargic action, and a lead that looks so bored, he may just shoot an unarmed person in cold blood.So on the one night he's escorting the equivalent of a 1992 Christian Slater, he stops by to see his old team, and they get infiltrated by a gang of nobody actors, led by special guest star Stephen Lang, and supported by special guest pain in the neck, Vinnie Jones.One of the team may or may not be a saboteur, Danny Glover cameos as a security guard, who embarrassingly references his 'too old for this ****' line from Lethal Weapon, and it all ends with Land and Purcell re-enacting the final fight from Under Siege.It's all tepid stuff, it's far too long, and the majority of the film just features one corridor and people shouting at each other.The high concept of having the main protagonist have an irritating sidekick could have made the film something different, having our hero save him from scrapes every other minute, and them quipping against each other, but no, the whole aspect of this is never used, and rather pointless.Just like the film.And to top it all off, after the siege is over, and everybody is safe, Purcell comes across the last bad guy, who is the token unarmed, bespectacled nerd, much like Theo in Die Hard, and literally kills him in cold blood.Words fail me.

As with the video generation before it companies releasing DVDs straight to video has created a niche market for various stars. These stars have name recognition for some but perhaps not the majority of moviegoers. That's a shame because many of them deserve better than they're getting, some doing better work in small budget films than many major stars.One such actor is Dominic Purcell. His first major break that I was aware of was as the main nemesis of Wesley Snipes in BLADE: TRINITY. A year later he became more recognizable as Lincoln Burrows in the now famous TV series PRISON BREAK. More recently he's starred in the new CW series DC LEGENDS OF TOMORROW. But in between these items he's starred in a number of low budget action films and done a great job in each. Why he's not making a bigger splash is beyond me.This week Purcell arrives in GRIDLOCKED. He plays David Hendrix, a SWAT team leader demoted to street cop and not pleased with that position. Worse yet he is now saddled with a temperamental bad boy young actor on probation after punching a member of the paparazzi. Brody Walker (Cody Hackman) is a stereotypical character here, the obnoxious brat styled young actor who had fame to fast and abuses it at every chance he can. As he tags along with Hendrix he wants to know more about when he can shoot a gun rather than take something useful back from their time spent together.Hendrix is no piece of cake either. Resentful of being stuck with Walker he does everything he can to ignore him. That is until one night when Walker shows up at Hendrix' apartment, six pack in hand and tries to call a truce. Hendrix breaks down a bit and takes him to the training facility for SWAT to show him what their real world is like.Unfortunately they've picked a bad night to do so. While Hendrix and his old squad are in the midst of an exercise, their own Hogan's Alley test area, a team of mercenaries takes out the power and ignites an EMP cutting off any and all access to phones. As a gun battle follows the old guard at the facility Sully (Danny Glover) is shot and reveals to Hendrix what this group might be after. As the two teams go head to head, skirmish after skirmish the leader of the group is revealed, someone who has bad blood with Hendrix. Just who will survive this night remains to be seen.Where the plot line of the spoiled and incompetent movie star partnered with a tough as nails cop has been done before the best thing about it here is that it's used to put the ball in motion but isn't the centerpiece of the film. That makes it work so much better than expected. Instead the writers and director have chosen to make the film about the assault on the training facility filled with enough backstory to make it believable and involving.Purcell's character fits his appearance and skills as an actor. He's an imposing figure to look at with a tough as nails attitude that oozes from every pore in each scene he's in. And yet there are moments when with just a subtle adjustment of body language or quick smile you can see there is more to Hendrix than meets the eye. That's the sign of a good actor.Perhaps the weakest character here is Brody. Hackman doesn't have the chops yet to pull off this character even though he gives it a decent try. As written the character is far too clichéd and it would take someone with more skill to pull this off. Even Michael J. Fox in THE HARD WAY (1991) wasn't able to quite achieve it. When I read that Hackman was a five time karate champion before going into film I wondered why those skills were never used here. It might have made for a more interesting character.The movie offers some great fight sequences, some over the top gun battles and a plot that may have a few holes in it but not enough to make it unenjoyable. The rest of the cast does a great job in their roles and for being a film on the low budget end every penny shows on the screen. I've seen bigger budget films in the past year with more major special effects that haven't compared to this one. So if you're in the mood for a solid action film that will keep you involved from start to finish then give this one a shot. And keep in mind that Dominic Purcell is far better than the roles he's been getting.

I originally heard of Gridlocked through the website Twitch, who had said that it was like a throw back to 90's action movie. They were not wrong. Felt like I was watching an old PM Entertainment movie. The only thing missing was an appearance from Jeff Wincott.Originally I was a bit apprehensive, as star Dominic Purcell has not got the best track record. No fault to him, as he is always a welcome presence, but his films of late have been poor. This may be down to the fact that they have mainly been directed or produced by Uwe Boll.Luckily there are no such drawbacks this time round, with great production values, and excellent action scenes, this is definitely one of the better DTV actioners I have seen in a while.Performance wise, Purcell is his usual reliable self as the lead. Stephen Lang is great as the villain, although could have had a bit more screen time. Danny Glover gets limited screen time for his usual too old for this role. WWE superstar Trish Stratus still looks great and gets a number of decent action scenes, and Vinnie Jones is thrown in for good measure.The only drawback is Cody Hackman, as the film star that has to work with Purcell as part of his Community Service. He can be slightly annoying, and the fact that he is playing an A list movie star, it would have been better to get someone that has movie star quality. This is a minor problem, and with the rest of the movie being of higher quality than usual, its not much of a complaint. Surprisingly Hackman is a karate champion, but he actually doesn't really participate in a lot of the action in the film.There is a slight slow build to the siege part of the film, but once it begins it doesn't let up, with there being a number of violent shootouts taking place. The film definitely earns its R rating. The Director is going to be someone I will be keeping an aye on.