Bad Ass (2012)

I'll tell you why so serious

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

..So says a police officer that is on Frank Vega's (Danny Trejo) side. The film is a by the book revenger. There are probably a thousand and one films like "Bad Ass." But Danny's the star, and that makes all the difference. Also, he's a nice guy in this one and doesn't start beating people up until the bad guys force him to beat them up. Lots of action, some blood, and a whole lot of butt kicking. If you're a fan of revenge films, it is recommended.

I rented this movie yesterday, mostly because it had Danny Trejo in it, and it looked like the kind of crappy action movie I like. The dialogue in this movie is the best kind of action dialogue there is. There's a lot of swearing and all that, and it feels natural. Also most of the comedy in this film comes from the dialogue. The story of this movie is alright. There's a lot of good ingredients there, like the character Frank Vega is awesome and would do better in another type of movie. But honestly, it just feels like he's a cheap, slightly altered version of Machete. But the thing is, I don't think anyone would watch Bad Ass for the story. It's an action movie, and unless an action movie is very special, you watch it for the action parts. And when it comes to action, Bad Ass was good. The action scenes were easy to watch and to keep track of, and they were neither long nor confusing.It is Danny Trejo who makes this movie good. Like Danny Trejo is awesome by default, he could do anything in a movie, and I'd watch it. I'm not kidding, there could be a 30 minute movie with him eating tacos and I'd probably be like "Trejo is so bad ass wow!" I haven't seen him enough, I need to search for more movies.Bad Ass is an alright action movie. Few details are nice, but as a whole it's barely above average. I recommend it to people who like action movies, no matter how good or bad they are.

BAD ASS is a straightforward action vehicle for star Danny Trejo, almost unrecognisable underneath a thick beard. Bizarrely, it's based on a Youtube video that went viral and featured an old-timer standing up to a couple of thugs on a bus. This is the opening of the film, but things become pretty generic from this point in.It's obvious that this is a low budget movie, because a pivotal bus chase has been stolen from the movie RED HEAT (and it's not the first movie to steal this scene). Otherwise we're in the territory of macho one-liners, small-time hoods, and some serviceable fight sequences. What I didn't like about BAD ASS is the jokey script, which robs the film of menace and effectiveness.Scenes of Trejo swapping one-liners with a smart-mouthed kid sit oddly with moments like when he feeds a villain's hand into a garbage disposal unit. If BAD ASS had been a straight, dark thriller throughout then I think it would have been more effective. Still, there are some well picked actors in support (namely ALIEN 3's Charles S. Dutton and A.W.O.L.'s Harrison Page), and at least it's never slow.

This movie started out with all the potential in the world. Based on "actual" events, that they deemed they had to change the race of the individuals involved. Anyway I got over that, as I'm use to Hollywood "facts" and this movie seemed to be heading in the right direction. That all changed when the British sounding guy broke into Vega's house, tried to use typical cheesy Hollywood comedy in the middle of a drama, had the upper hand in the fight, but somehow Frank got the upper hand. I'm not saying that isn't possible, what I'm saying is impossible is somehow Frank picked this fatty up and threw him through the window... yeah right. Up until that point this movie was a solid 8, that knocked it down to a 7, still salvageable Hollywood, I know you won't mess this movie up like you have so many in the past (eye roll). Oh wait the bus chase, you already did that with Speed and it sucked (5 now, 2 point deduction for reusing an idea especially since it sucked while at the same time using your crappy cheesy comedy again). Then the ending was completely jacked, I don't know how to end a movie after so many shitty cheesy scenes, but obviously neither do you. This movie is a 4, watch it only if it's free and you don't have anything better to do, like tilling a garden or something.