Movie Review - Code Of Honor

Code Of Honor

2016

The Cast

To be clear, I am a Steven Seagal, fan - I even liked the albums he did with Thunderbolt and even caught him live (one of the best gigs I've been to) - controversial, HUH!!!

So you would think I like all his films... well I don't - there have been quite a few stinkers in his career.  Code of Honor though doesn't give off too much of a stench.  Though I do believe that Steven Seagal's name shouldn't be top billing as it's Craig Sheffer (who I've liked since Nightbreed) who is the star of the show and has more screen time.

The story revolves around a serial killer, Colonel Robert Sikes (portrayed by Seagal) who is intent on killing gang members, being judge and executioner all-in-one, and the FBI Agent sent to help out the police in apprehending him, William Porter (played by Sheffer).

Seagal gives his usual moody, dark, and brooding acting stereotype (you always know what you get in a Steven Seagal Movie) as the armed forces trained serial killer.  No stretch there and I do think that he has his character wrote around his cliched style.

Craig Sheffer, however, does a decent job of portraying a helpful agent pursuing his once army buddy come friend.  Though something doesn't seem quite right about Agent Porter.

The story, written and directed by Michael Winnick, keeps a good pace, gives the viewer enough action to keep them entertained and a couple of twists that you don't see coming until they are revealed.  As for the action, there's not a lot of martial arts in the movie and when there is you're not sure if Seagal is doing his own moves.  There's a couple of knife-play scene's, though none come close to the sparks-flying speed spectacle of Under Seige.  Most of the action is based around gunplay which allows for lots of head-shots, blood splatter, and oodles of blood mist.  If you like a good body count film you'll like this.

If you like action films, you should like this as the story is pretty strong with a couple of twists, decent action and good direction.  I recommend to all.

I give this serial killer a 6.5 out of 10.

Movie Review - The Frozen Ground

The Frozen Ground

2013

The Cast

  

This is the story, based on true events, of Alaska State Trooper Jack Halcombe's search and conviction of serial killer Robert Hanson, who killed women in the late 70's and 80's.

There's a lot of crammed into the 105 minutes runtime. Though, on the whole, it's satisfactorily presented and keeps the viewer entertained and entwined.  The direction by Scott Walker, who also wrote the story, is tight and well crafted.  He does a great job of recreating the eras, both in sound and vision.

Nicholas Cage portrays the trooper Jack Halcombe, and though we know he can really act, Adaptation, Matchstick Men, World Trade Center, and Joe, here we have the usual Nicholas Cage being Nicholas Cage (though I have to say I am a fan of his work as his films are enjoyable).

John Cusack gives a subdued performance as the killer Robert Hanson.  Though, this makes the character more believable; on the outside, Hanson is a quiet man with a family who goes to work to provide - an ordinary man,  Though on the inside and in private moments he allows the psychopath to take the reigns.  Cusack does a good job of showing the frustration, anger, and desperation caused when the police net draws in closer.

The best performance is that of Vanessa Hudgens, who plays Cindy Poulson, the only survivor of Robert Hanson.  She expertly shows us Poulson's vulnerability, confusion, anger, distrust, and fear of her life.  There is a lot going on in this character's life as she's a runaway become prostitute.  Hudgens deftly handles the complexities and develops a believable character, giving the viewers someone to relate to.

Brad William Henke does an outstanding portrait of a criminal thug, come, henchman, Carl Galenski.  His formidable size is foreboding.  You would not want to go up against this man.

The rest of the cast also do a great job of keeping the feel of this movie, though I do think that Radha Mitchell, who plays Jack Halcombe's wife Allie, is much underused.  She's a talented actress, but here she only has a few scenes.

The story is a strong one and needed to be told.  The story does not glorify anything at all and in this case, it works well.  Everything is nitty gritty truth and reality.  No character shines above any of the others; this is not a Nicholas Cage film; it's not a John Cusack film.

I really enjoyed this movie and would watch it again.  If you like true tales of crime and justice this is for you.

I give this a truly entertaining 8.75 out of 10.

The Trailer

Book Review - Busy Body

Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body (2010)

Written By M.C. Beaton

Constable Press

6.5 / 10

Opening Sentence and First Paragraph -

Having found that her love for her ex-husband, James Lacey, had more or less disappeared, Agatha Raisin, middle-aged owner of a detective agency in the English Cotswolds, decided to hit another obsession on the head.

I'm a believer in the open sentence being one of the main ingredients of a story.  It's this section that should grab the reader and enthuse them to read on.  In this book, the above opening is pretty decent, it sets the scene, tells you some of Agatha's background and makes you wonder what her other obsession is.  Since I'm a newbie, not only to M C Beaton but also the Agatha Raisin series, this opening sentence set me up nicely for the unfolding story.

The story flows along at a steadily fast pace and the writing is never dull or boring.  For such a short book (only 244 pages), there's plenty going off, which for me slightly handicaps the story, because you have to loose other components to the tale; in this case characterisation.

There are a lot of incidental characters in the book and I know it would've been clogging to the narrative to give them all better characterisations, and some of them the reader would know if they had read the series from the start.  It would've been better had a few more of the important characters was filled out more.  Such as they were, there was no empathy created between myself and them so I didn't care about their outcome in the story.  Which is a shame as it would have made the story stronger.

This isn't really a whodunnit novel either as there are no clues for the reader to try and ascertain who the killer is; it's a step by step progress of Agatha Raisin and her detective team in their search.  That said, I did figure out who the killer was.  I accredit this to M C Beaton's writing style.  When you get to the scene where you meet the killer you just know they did it.

That said, these negatives are only small things, as there are a couple of twists that aren't deducible or guessable. There's also a murder which may be solved in later series books.

In conclusion, this is a well-written book, though it could have been a little more in depth to bring the reader more into the story.  At times, it seems a little over-stuffed, but it just stays on the right side of "too-much".  I did enjoy this book and read it through in just three sittings, though I'm not sure if I would read any of the other books in the series.