As a longtime Seagal fan, I've come to the realization that his glory days are long over and that I'll have to settle for whatever he puts out since he's been essentially banished to the direct-to-video market. It's had its ups and downs, with more downs than ups, but he's been able to generally maintain a consistent level of quality (for DTV) that's been on somewhat of an upswing in the past few years. I didn't exactly fawn over his last two films, but they were decent enough that I was anticipating what he'd do next. ABSOLUTION is that "next" project, and despite being a slight step back from his previous effort, it was at least watchable and has some elements to recommend it to fans. The plot, as if it really mattered, is quite simple: Seagal is given an assignment to take out an Afghan playboy who might sell weapons to Iran. However, things don't quite go as planned and he ends up rescuing a young woman from human traffickers who decide that they want their "property" back and come after him. First, the good. There were some decently staged and filmed fight scenes that weren't overly edited, even though there were several moments that were most likely stunt doubles. Byron Mann, a semi-frequent Seagal collaborator, plays his partner and actually gets most of the good, longer fights although the climactic fight scene in a club was mostly worth the time spent getting to it and Seagal gets to vary his style a little more than he had previously. I also noticed a few callbacks to previous films, like ABOVE THE LAW and MARKED FOR DEATH. If you're familiar with Seagal's filmography, you'll know when you see them. I also thought that addressing human trafficking in a low-budget B action movie was pretty cool, although it isn't really treated with much depth. The bad stuff is mostly complaints one could draw from any number of Seagal films. The plot really doesn't make much sense and serves as the glue that holds together several action set-pieces. I also thought the dialogue was particularly bad this time around, and most of the actors delivering it didn't do a great job. The standouts were Steven Seagal and Vinnie Jones, who plays the big bad boss. Speaking of Vinnie Jones, he has quite a charismatic screen presence and despite his limitations, he does well given the right material. Having a little more of him (he's only in a few scenes) would have made the film considerably more enjoyable. Lastly, as expected there isn't much character development to speak of, but what little there was felt like padding. There was a scene where Byron Mann and Steven Seagal reminisce about the past and how they came to be friends, which was nice, but all they end up using from that scene is a single piece of dialogue towards the end. It had no bearing whatsoever on the plot. There was also several flashbacks to Seagal and what appeared to be his wife. Again, divorced of context this had absolutely no bearing on the story and just served to extend the running time. Overall, I'd place this quite low in the pantheon of Seagal films. It isn't so bad as to be unwatchable, like ATTACK FORCE, but it doesn't quite have the charm of something like INTO THE SUN. Still, even though occupying a middle ground as far as Seagal's DTV output, fans will probably watch this no matter what.
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