Best movie of this year hands down!

Overrated and overhyped

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Steven Seagal's direct-to-DVD efforts usually look like they are slapped together in about a week, with poorly redubbed dialogues, confusing editing and stunt doubles that vaguely look like him when seen from space. "The Keeper" however brings something entire new to the table: they can't even remember what Seagal's character is called. He starts the movie as Roland Sallinger, turns into Roland Ballinger for the second act, and then starts mixing it up towards the finale. Why even mention his name so many times throughout? It's almost like they were trying to see what they could get away with, how much abuse an audience can put up with. It has to be said though, this isn't the worst one by a long shot. There are too many exposition scenes and the parts where Seagal creates a bond with the girl he's bodyguarding are cringe-inducing, but they put together the gunfights rather well and the movie never really turns flat-out boring. Even Seagal's total lack of energy and interest isn't bothersome, I liked the very last shot of the movie where he just walks out of a house with a defeated look on his face and sighs: he's just saved the kidnapped girl, but he looks like the bad guys won and killed his entire unit as well. If that sort of thing can't entertain you, this certainly isn't the movie for you.

So me and my friends have routinely laughed our heads off at the badly awesome collection of Seagal "not quite" classics. The Keeper still has some of those same laugh out loud scenes. But this movie's biggest problem is that it is marginally better than his other straight-to-home movies, but is still a lot worse than movies I enjoyed for their actual appeal. I prefer my Seagal movies to be either better than okay (Under Siege) or laughably terrible, yet entertaining (Killswitch). This movie falls in between to simply bad. One note that has been confirmed by IMDb.com and other reviewers: it was exceptionally odd that his last name suddenly gets switched from Sallinger to Ballinger. I did get a great amount of laughter from that. Also, how he stealthily manages to steal a compact handgun from a woman's purse in the hospital, even though the nurse in the room declared him to be very unconscious to take out someone coming to kill him. Made me have to pause the movie to laugh.

A dirty cop, turns on his own partner, Roland (Steven Seagal), shooting him for not agreeing to take some drug money during a bust, not knowing that the bullet to the chest wouldn't in fact kill him, returns to the hospital to finish the job and isn't successful. With help from his girlfriend Regina, Roland will have to recover from his injuries. Forced into a police mandated retirement, an old friend, Conner Wells(Stephan Duvall) from his past(both were cop partners in Texas) calls on Roland to protect his daughter, Nikita(Liezl Carstens) from a rival, Jason Cross(Luce Rains)who is after his land's rich uranium. Cross attempted once before to kidnap Nikita, failing after she narrowly escapes so Conner calls upon Roland's services to help keep her safe. When, after much in the way of security fails, Nikita is finally captured by Cross, Roland will go after all of them, with a little help by chauffeur driver Manuello(Johnny Hector)and his two cousins. Detective Simon Pacheco(Kevin Wiggins)hopes Roland will allow him to do his job and finally put away Cross for good..it's all the dead bodies Roland leaves around that bothers Cross.While not exactly the most original or imaginative storyline for an action film, there seemed to be more budget for THE KEEPER in that we get plenty of blood shed, shootouts, and an entertaining car chase with plenty of gunfire involved. And, Seagal does have two instances where he engages in hand-to-hand fisticuffs with Cross' men, not to mention he shoots a hell of a lot of people..plenty of squibs put to good use in THE KEEPER. While I'm not sure if the opening twenty or so minutes was really needed(seems like a slight rehash of HARD TO KILL), with a wasted Trine Christensen as Roland's confident, Regina, there to provide comfort and support after his being injured by his SWAT partner, THE KEEPER does show Seagal in a different kind of role, as a security bodyguard, albeit with special training in combat techniques. Carstens is a knockout as the daughter Roland must protect. Arron Shiver is the slimy boxer, Mason, boyfriend to Nikita, and actually working for Cross behind trainer Conner's back. It's too bad Roland couldn't kick Mason's ass at the end for his betrayal of Conner.

Seagal looks like he is returning to form after nearly seven or so risible films made in the mid-noughties.Seagal plays Sallinger or Ballinger depending on where you join the film, an ex cop who gets betrayed by his partner at the beginning, nearly killed, and has to nurse himself back to help, all the while complaining about taking pills and not having long enough jackets.He gets a call from a mate in Texas, who offers him a job and a hat to look after his daughter after there was a kidnappimg attempt on her. The rest is pure filler, there is something to do with uranium, and the girls boyfriend being a bit of a idiot, but it's all down to the action.Part Hard to kill (the first act), part The Hard Corps, and mostly Man On Fire, this has to be Seagals best film in over five years. The story is good, Seagal looks like he is putting some effort into his role finally, and their is no evidence of a stunt double or voice double this time.It still looks cheaply made, but at least it wasn't filmed in Romania. There are a few plot holes, especially at the beginning, why is his Niece actually in the film? there is no point, and we never really get to know how well Sallinger knew his partner.The action scenes are okay, a lot more exciting than Seagal previous efforts, and the bad guys really know how to fall after being shot.So it's not the greatest film in the world, but for Seagal, it's a triumph, it's a shame to know he never put in this much effort with Sony, then he would be more respected.