DRIVEN TO KILL (2009)

I felt the need for some more turkey last night so I sat down to watch Big Steve's DRIVEN TO KILL. Always love it when he "acts". This time he's a Russian ex-mobster from New Jersey who now resides in California writing crime novels based on his former life using the pseudonym Jim Vincent. When he gets a call from his ex-wife that his estranged daughter is getting married he heads back to Canada, er, The Garden State even though he has promised his former rivals that he would not return. Further complicating matters is the fact that his daughter (a prosecutor) is marrying the son of one of his old Russian mob enemies.

A wedding day massacre sends the Siberian husky into a homicidal rage as he and his son-in-law-to-be battle their way through the New Jersey mob underworld to discover who is behind the killings and why.

If you've seen any of Seagal's revenge actioners you already have a pretty good idea how this one plays out... there's the cops on the trail of the staggering body count, lots of fights in bars and hallways, obvious double-crosses, and plenty of gunfights where guns jam or ammo runs out and somebody decides to attack Big Steve with some scissors.

As these flicks go it's actually not bad. The fights are better staged than a lot of the stuff from the SHADOW MAN, ATTACK FORCE, FLIGHT OF FURY period though not as much fun as the ass-kicking URBAN JUSTICE. Seagal looks huge and puffy so the fights are all shot at very close range but they do a decent job of doubling him and he can still whip his hands around and deliver a crunching kick when he needs to.

The impenetrable Russian accent he's saddled with is perhaps the flick's worst idea, as it renders his already mumbly dialogue style almost indecipherable at times.

While I hesitate to suggest that this heralds a return to form for ol' Steve, DRIVEN TO KILL is a perfectly enjoyable middle-of-the-road ass-kicker.

DRIVEN TO KILL is available for purchase from Amazon. It's also available via Netflix Instant View. You can read hundreds more reviews like this at Exploitation Retrospect: The Journal of Junk Culture and Fringe Media.

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