Black Dawn (2005)

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

BLACK DAWN is the sequel to THE FOREIGNER that nobody asked for. Steven Seagal returns as special agent Jonathan Cold, who must tackle a terrorist gang with plans on America. As anybody familiar with Seagal's work over the last fifteen years will know, this means that there's lot of low rent dialogue, doubling, cheesy action scenes, and general inanity.Half the cast have British or foreign accents and seem to be struggling with the dialogue they're given. Seagal appears constipated throughout and is obviously doubled in all of his fight scenes. The film as a whole lacks the kind of familiar faces that show up in a lot of his other work, so it's more tiresome to sit through. It does pick up at the mid point for a surprisingly well mounted truck chase before descending back into ineptitude afterwards.

"Black Dawn" is only for the more undemanding of B movie enthusiasts, offering nothing the viewer hasn't seen before in efforts of A and B level budgets alike. It's professionally made, but the plot is muddled and the characters, for the most part, lack any sort of interest.As a vehicle for aging action star Steven Seagal, it's passable. Not that he's ever been much of an actor, but here he does look pretty comfortable and reels off the necessary exposition adequately. For the unaware, this is actually a follow-up to a previous Seagal vehicle "The Foreigner", in which he plays a former CIA agent named Johnathan Cold. Here Cold seems to have gone rogue, assisting nefarious arms dealers with their plans to detonate a nuclear bomb, but fret not, things aren't the way they look. Meanwhile, a young agent named Amanda Stuart (Tamara Davies), who was a pupil of Colds', seeks to find the truth of what is going on.Directed by Alexander Gruszynski, also a cinematographer who's shot such things as "Tremors" and "The Craft", this does have some good things going for it. The pacing is decent and what action scenes there are, are reasonably engrossing. It's just a shame to see that the heavyset Seagal clearly can no longer do his own stunts at all. Fans of his early stuff will note that there isn't any sort of martial artistry on display here; the action is of a different variety. There's enough gunfire and explosions to keep the audiences' attention from wandering too much.In all honesty, this is just as much Davies's movie as Seagals', and she handles herself quite capably. The supporting cast is pretty good, with John Pyper-Ferguson, Julian Stone, and Nicholas Davidoff making for amusing baddies. Also appearing are Don Franklin, Eddie Velez, and Matt Salinger, but Timothy Carhart is wasted in an under developed role as Stuarts' superior.Devoted lovers of the spy and action genres may find this moderately entertaining. At least, at 96 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome.Five out of 10.

Interesting, very interesting. I checked out most of the IMDb comments on the film before buying. Many comments took the view, "I'm a die-hard Seagal fan but this is not very good." But I don't agree. ( Comic Strip reference. ) Recently I've been getting familiar with the 21st century conspiracy material and re-acquainting myself with the heroic deeds of the CIA since the War. I'm an admirer of the two Jason Bourne films, Enemy of the State. I re-watched Spy Game the other night and enjoyed it more for its depiction of the CIA as computer analysts, people no longer capable of acting in the field.I think Black Dawn fits right on in there. It's competent and there is plenty going on, in the style of the Byzantine Empire.Seagal is overweight? When we was he slender? I don't think his weight is relevant to his film persona. I don't associate Steven Seagal with martial arts fireworks. His approach to combat is the realistic one, "Get it over fast." As far as I'm concerned he's always just slapped people's faces and twisted their wrists. He's not like his perceived cohorts who're always trying to top their previous stunts. If you want to see a Westerner 'go for it' then you might follow Jason Statham. I think Steven Seagal's approach is more akin to Sonny Chiba's in the Streetfighter films.Anyway Seagal's are not just about Steven Seagal, although they have a personal moral dimension.This is a competent B movie that is not trying to be an under-funded action blockbuster.

Very poor effort from Seagal, who in recent times seems to be churning out films on a weekly basis. This is a conspiracy type movie involving a nuclear weapon falling into the wrong hands (yawn!). Seagals character is a mysterious ex agent with an unclear agenda (what again!). None of us watch Seagal films for his acting prowess, we want to see glib one liners and plenty of scrapping. There is precious little of either in this film and the action scenes that are in it are done by someone else. He doesn't even really feature as the starring role, leaving a bunch of stereotypical bad guys and hired goons to plod through what masquerades as a plot. As if what i've told you is not enough to keep you away from this drivel, it is also worth mentioning that the special effects are truly terrible as well. Finally, to sum up, this film features Luke Goss from that vomit inducing band Bros as the lead bad guy. Watch this and you'll gouge your eyes out.