Film Perfection

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

After escorting two new female prisoners to a secret detention facility "Cross" (Steven Seagal) and his men are essentially put in a holding pattern pending transportation to further escort the remaining prisoners to another location. However, one of the female prisoners named "Samantha Mendez" (Steph Song) is actually a CIA courier who happens to have secret information regarding a bank account worth millions of dollars and there are those who are willing to do whatever is necessary to obtain the device she is carrying. Along with that, the other female prisoner by the name of "Charlotte Walker" (Aliyah O'Brien) is also not who she appears to be and this creates yet another problem for Cross. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a standard action film which benefited from its isolated location but was hindered by the lack of lighting which the director (Keoni Waxman) apparently felt was necessary for the overall effect. Additionally, although Steph Song was definitely attractive, none of the actors really put in a stellar performance and this didn't particularly help the movie either. Be that as it may, although it certainly had room for improvement, it wasn't necessarily a bad film overall and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Well, given the fact that this movie stars Steven Seagal and Steve Austin, then you know exactly what you are in for. And true enough, the movie is exactly that, a mindless but entertaining enough action movie."Maximum Conviction" follows the same recipe that Seagal has used for the past 20 odd years. Steven Seagal is an ex-something-something facing formidable forces that must be overcome. And as usual, he emerges fully unscathed and in mint pristine condition. Yep, same old same old from the teddy bear of action movies.Don't expect to be blown away in any way, especially not by any theatrical thespian performances.A very predictable movie that will have some appeal if you, like me, grew up watching Seagal action movies. If you have seen a single Seagal movie, then you have essentially seen this movie already.There is some good enough fighting and action sequences in "Maximum Conviction", and there is the obligatory broken arm injury, of course. And of course Seagal is superior to everyone he stands face to face with, be it by hand, knife or firearm.Nothing outstanding in "Maximum Convinction". This is a generic, mediocre and typical Seagal movie by all means. It is worth a watch a single time if you need some very mindless action, say if you are nurturing a hangover, for example.

I had even expectations for this film. On one hand, this was not only one of the rare filmic team-ups between Steven Seagal and a fellow action hero of similar caliber, but it was also the longest time the former had taken to make a movie in almost ten years - something I hoped was the result of more effort being made in the production. On the other hand, it was directed by Keoni Waxman, the filmmaker who's now officially worked with Steven Seagal more times than any other but whose vehicles are among my least favorite of Seagal's filmography. Then again, I liked Waxman's outing with Steve Austin well enough, so I considered that perhaps MAXIMUM CONVICTION here could achieve some kind of acceptable balance. I was right: the movie is acceptable, but far from great. It doesn't make all it could have of the collaboration between Seagal and Austin, but is still an okay-enough DTV action outing.The story: two private security contractors (Seagal and Austin) are caught up in a deadly situation when the two prisoners they had delivered to a secret prison are targeted by a lethal team of mercenaries led by an ex-CIA mastermind (Michael Pare).It needs to be said: however good they may look on paper, Steven Seagal and Steve Austin do not make very exciting partners. Of course, one factor is the limited screen time they share, but even when they're both in the same scene, they seem relatively apathetic to each other and don't display any discernible chemistry. On their own, they do alright, with Austin as definitely the more charismatic of the two but Seagal getting more fight scenes. They have equal amounts of screen time. The co-stars do fine but are sort of wasted: B-movie staple performer Michael Pare clomps his way through a boring role, and even though Steph Song - one of the aforementioned prisoners - has a good deal of award nominations to her name, she's given no strong acting scenes and her role could've been played by most anybody. The script by TRUE JUSTICE-regular Richard Beattie is pretty passive, highlighted only by a couple particularly mean-spirited deaths and the occasional funny line by Austin.The action is predominantly composed of shootouts, but there's nothing special to these. Seagal's stunt doubles are hidden relatively well, but at the expense of the editing, which is once again pretty choppy during his fight scenes - not as much as it has been in the past, but it's still pretty annoying. With that said, Seagal still gets the occasional cool move in, and the final brawl - though painfully one-sided - is fun to watch in a guilty way. Steve Austin only has one real fight, but prior to this he gets entertainingly innovative in the prison kitchen, turning a gas tank into a missile and attacking a mercenary with a pot of boiling water. The best fight in the movie doesn't belong to either of them, though: despite being stifled by the same editing present in Seagal's fights, Bren Foster brings an energy to his single brawl that the other encounters were sorely lacking. Overall, I deem the action content on the low side of passable.That also counts as my synopsis for the movie in general. Amateurish post-production inserts can be found here and there but are otherwise restrained, and Steven Seagal is doing his own voiceovers again, but these plus points are deflated a bit by the lackluster story and ho-hum pacing of the film. While it's a good deal better than the previous BORN TO RAISE HELL and therefore a general step up for Seagal (I'm not as well-versed in Austin's output, so I can't speak for him), it's not nearly all I was hoping for during the year-and-a-half spent waiting for it. Consider it a rental.

You wanna know the sad thing? I was actually a tad excited for this movie. I'm a Seagal fan when he's motivated, and Stone Cold Steve Austin is my favorite wrestler of all time. Seagal has never been a great actor, nor has Austin, but when they are on their games, their presences are very much welcomed, as is the charisma they possess. I should have known better to expect anything less then awful from Seagal, because that's exactly what this movie is. There isn't much action in this movie, and when fights do commence, they are either very short lived, or quite unexciting. The best fight doesn't even involve Seagal or Austin. It actually involves a woman and a huge black prisoner (!) When you're upstaged by a woman, and a big black guy, you know things are bad. The prison actually made for an interesting setting, but the chap budget, and the dull nature really hampers any chances of this movie being remotely entertaining. Steven Seagal does Steven Seagal. He's overweight as usual, looks like he'd rather be elsewhere, does some uninspired Akidio, and delivers some truly terrible dialogue. Here are a couple examples for you. "I got a better idea. Why don't you "F" your momma with your pet poodles" (Seagal breaking somebody's arm) "Does that hurt, you f**@king pussy?" He does the same lethargic BS that he's done for many years now. He's better than this; it's just that he doesn't give a damn. Nobody can criticize him of showing no emotion in this movie, though. He laughs once in the beginning…. Stone Cold fares a bit better. His character disappears a bit too often for my liking, and Seagal isn't interesting enough these days to pick up the slack. Steve actually has a couple of nifty one-liners, and actually tries, unlike Seagal. I've said this so many times. Austin is extremely charismatic. If they give him a decent script to work with, like The Condemned, he proves he can carry a movie. Those hoping for plenty of screen time of Seagal & Austin together will be exasperated when they see that they don't have as much screen time as you'd expect. Michael Pare is actually OK as the villain. Final Thoughts: Its overly talky, really boring, and it doesn't deliver any thrills. I should really give up on Seagal movies, but I'm actually a fan of his. He's becoming the action equivalent of Adam Sandler with his comedy movies. That's not a compliment… Don't get excited over the thought of Seagal & Austin teaming together, or you'll be greatly disappointed2.5/10