Pretty Good

Best movie of this year hands down!

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An action thriller set in Poland. The premise is quite good - a pen pal who has lost touch with a young girl from an orphanage who has become a missing person. Seagal plays a former covert agent turned survivalist, tracking the human trafficking ring into which the young girl has entered. It has some similarities to Taken but it's a low budget production. Unfortunately, some of the supporting acting is poor, and the story is directed in a style that resembles a fable rather than a feature film in parts and so it is inconsistent. As a result tension is reduced somewhat and detective work becomes the main interest for the viewer. It is also badly dubbed in places and editing is poor. There is a memorable sword fight-off scene at the end between protagonist and antagonist which has an ironic subtext about purity in its setting in a white palace. It's prey vs predator in the end. This sequence is well directed and choreographed. For all its faults, and there are many in the storytelling, there is a heart to the film and an important subject.

I've seen this in Asia, and the title was "Ichigeki" (One Blow). It's an unusual story about a nature conservationist, and a Polish orphan girl.I differ on my opinion about this movie from others, and I think it's one of the best movie Steven Segal starred in. First I like the smooth pace this movie moves along. And I like the way each scene is shot. So I have to give lot of credit to the director Po-Chih Leong.The antagonists don't look like complete idiots like most Steven Segal movies. And the scenes, the characters, and the story all blends naturally. I also liked Ida Nowakowska's performance. She's the first girl I've seen that looks like has intelligence in this type of movie.The movie I think showed completely different side of Steven Segal, that doesn't make him look phony like characters he plays in his other movies (well, maybe a little bit, but not as much as other movies he's in).All of the above makes this the most realistic movie I've seen performed by Steven Segal, and for that, this movie is highly recommended for viewing.

Don't expect anything from this film, with average story and mediocre characters. Steven Seagal (once a cool guy with cool films under his belt) gives us yet another portrait of himself, this time as a retired agent, former Vietnam veteran, blah blah, who is corresponding (pen-pal) with a orphan little girl from Poland and helps her financially. But, when he finds out that orphanage is used as human trafficking, he rushes to Poland and start the incredibly boring scenes of shooting, fighting and everything else in kinda boring and makes-you-sleepy-way. Seagal utters the line "she means everything to me". Is she your daughter? Damn! His character is so caring that he needs to destroy everything in his path for a little girl who he barely knows. Other actors as Robbie Gee and Matt Schulze did a solid job, but Schulze didn't do much with his character, he was only evil and that's it, he is also a expert swordsman and you know what that means when your opponent is Seagal who is an kendo expert... Nothing special to say about this film... except that is pretty boring. Yeah, and Seagal is dubbed by another actor, and that's fuc**ng disgusting! Don't waste your time, watch something more gun and intelligent like... Taken (2008), it's pretty similar, but more, much more better.

There are apocryphal stories that in his later operatic performances, tenor Luciano Pavarotti would not only be given stage direction that allowed him to lean on the set but that other members of the ensemble would help him onto the stage in the first place. This is yet another film in the extended later canon of Steven Segal which requires him to look mean or concerned (it's the same look actually) and the director does the rest. And I really mean the rest. This is acting of the Apocalypse Now school of Coppola shooting little more than Brando's head - Segal even has a typing double (yes, that's a stunt typist!) for using a PC. Dross.The rest of the film uses a cast, plot and script bought at a Hollywood dime store. Segal has done better work since the halcyon days of Under Siege, but only in that spoof advert for Orange. 1/10