JakeStevens Blog

I have Steven Seagal and THIS movie to thank for helping me find a extra-curricular activity outside of school. I remember jumping up and down on the couch in utter excitement after watching Seagal dispatch the thugs in convenience store holdup scene, and soon after I was going to Tai Kwon Do classes 4 to 5 days a week! This was also one of the first DVDs I ever purchased (at Meijer, sometime after the bars closed, in 2002), along with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie. Yeah yeah, the film itself is a little silly, but Bill Sadler makes a pretty good baddie, and you actually want to see Seagal whup his ass. Well...at least I did. And you've got to admit, there's some awesomely bad but infinitely quotable lines from the film (like my title line above). Definitely a guilty pleasure!

The lack of extras is a little disheartening, but this has every video they've made from 1994 to 2001. The quality in some places is not the best, but I believe it's a film stock choice more than a DVD transfer issue. Not a bad collection to own, if you're a Green Day fan.

It's nice to see Natalie Portman in something other than Sci-Fi dreck or Action-Adventure mediocrity. She hasn't been in something this good since her performances in "The Professional" and "Beautiful Girls". Zach Braff is equally as appealing, and I found the tone and story to be thoughtful, funny, quirky and aptly melancholy. All of this,  and the soundtrack fits like a glove. If you're a fan of Wes Anderson's work, chances are you'll appreciate this film.