One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

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.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

So Seagal is Jonathan Cold, a high-level ex-CIA agent who is now a "freelance operative," which sounds like nothing more than a title invented for cheesy action movies for a hero who takes matters into his own hands. "Operative" literally means secret agent, and freelance basically means someone who works for themselves, or someone who occasionally works for other people and organizations but is overall self-employed. Oh, and they all thought that Cold was dead. And in case you forget, notice the incessant repetition of the line "I thought you were dead!"Anyway, you get the idea. Cold is a marksman and an expert in martial arts and nuclear weapons. What a resume! Marksman doesn't really come into play much, but an expert in martial arts and nuclear weapons is just too perfect! One for the action and one for the story, right? This is Action Movie-making 101.The story involves a group of bad guys which, like far too many of Seagal's recent movies, are stupid, boring action baddie clichés, who want to basically destroy the world and start "a new global economy." Yeah, whatever. Black Dawn reveals to the world that there is a nuclear test facility in Pasadena, California. I didn't know that, but then again, I also always thought you had to wear some kind of foil suit to handle raw plutonium, but I guess that's not really true. In this movie, one of the bad guys handles it wearing no safety equipment other than a pair of gloves, and he's even smoking a cigarette. This guy is hardcore!Seagal, unfortunately, just looks like he's not trying anymore. The goal is to get a nuclear weapon away from the bad guys and then away from the populace before it detonates and kills millions of people. We're asked to believe that it would take less than four minutes to get into a helicopter, start it up, take off, and fly out over the ocean and drop the bomb into the ocean and have it sink deep enough to explode without doing any damage. This is a hell of a stretch and is fraught with amazingly bad blue-screen work, but strangely it's the girl's shocked reaction ("What?? ") when Cold tells her to throw the bomb out the window into the action that seems the most ridiculous. Maybe she wanted to keep it?We expect very little from a Seagal movie, especially recent ones. He started his career in gritty, hardcore action movies, peaking with Under Siege, but lately his movies go for more story than they can sustain, resulting in cheesy, talky action schlock with too much bad acting and not enough fighting, which is what Seagal's fans really want to see

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.

Steven Seagal movies are famous for killing and kicking ass. In this film, Seagal is so fat, that they do not bother even to find a stunt-man for him. Whenever there is action in the film, he just disappears from the picture and re-appears when the shooting and fight is over. He doesn't beat up ANYBODY in the whole film, can you believe that? Well, you would, if you look at him, he looks so sadly obese, he can hardly move, let alone walk. He is wearing a terrible wig and a terrible three-piece suit during the whole film, which spans during a 5 day period, but the worst part is the script and dialogs. A pre-schooler could have done it better, honestly.My piece of advice: WATCH THE FILM. It is SOOOOOooo terrible that you can use it as reference point for the rest of your life when judging other films.

The film focuses to Jonathan Cold an ex-Cia agent,now he helps to break out from prison at a dangerous mobster(John Pyper Ferguson).He gather together with his brother(Julian Stone),another vicious murderer.They contact with a group of the habitual Eastern Europen terrorist with the aim of obtaining a nuclear weapon into a case for the blowing up of Los Angeles.Meanwhile Cia agents(an attractive Tamara Davis and Don Franklin)are surveying them but another traitors agents(Eddie Velez)uncover them.The movie turns out to be the following from ¨The foreigner¨ where Seagal returns with same personage and seems too similar to his previous films.In fact his last movies are of little budget as ¨Submerged,Belly of beast,Into the sun or Ticker¨, time has passed from average and high budget films as ¨ Under siege I and II,Executive decision,Glimmer man,or Fire down below¨. The picture packs lots of action,shoot out,violence and is quite entertained.The film contains the usual explosions,cars and trucks with impressive velocities pursuits and gets a nice look at those action sequences.Agreeable chemistry between Seagal and an enjoyable Tamara Davis is one of the worthwhile items in this sometimes stodgy rehash from anterior Seagal films.The motion picture is regularly directed by Alexander Gruszynsky(an usual and prestigious cameraman). Pointlessly energetic and occasionally entertained but only for the Steven Seagal devotee.