Product Description

Soldier of fortune John Seeger (Steven Seagal) is the best in the business…the business of kicking ass! When you're a mercenary, there's always going to be casualties, but no job is too treacherous for Seeger, who's blackmailed into orchestrating an impossible prison break, leading a team of heavily-armed soldiers on a deadly mission to South Africa to rescue the son of a billionaire arms dealer. But, when Seeger finds out he's been double-crossed, it's payback time, and now, there's going to be hell to pay!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35696 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Released on: 2006-04-18
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Customer Reviews

Seagal was back in action last time, and has stayed there
The theatrical release is no longer the benchmark for success for an actor since fewer people see films in theatres and many rather "big" names are now making DTV films: IE. Hillary Swank, Chuck Norris, Demi Moore etc. They are just beginning to find out what Seagal has known for quite a while. The issue was that some, not all, of Seagal's DTV films were lacking in quality, and perhaps only worthy of a DTV release. However, "Black Dawn" was a production that changed that poor quality trend, and "Mercenary" proves to be an even better follow up than "Dawn." Seagal's critics might as well be shoveling smoke if they continue on with the tired redundant insults now, because he is obviously having the last laugh, with a vengeance. Like "Dawn", this film has good production, but unlike "Dawn", and fortunately, this film has a lot of hand to hand combat with no doubles, no dubbing, sleek production, an intricate plot, cool locations, etc. Note: This is hands down the most violent of Seagal's films, with an exhausting body count, but the core of it has a redemptive story which I am sure Seagal would not have any other way. He could do better, but he could also do a lot worse. If he keeps going in this direction, then this Icon has a lot of fight left in him.

Good D.T.V Movie...
I am not sure why everyone is ripping this movie apart. In its own class (other Mid to Lower Budget Direct to Video) this movie ranks as one of the best. Seagal's best effort since "Into the Sun" (after such disasters as "The Foreigner" and "Out For A Kill") Seagal fans should be happy. Good action sequences, Bad Dialogue, and lots of violence...What else are people expecting? Snow Falling on Cedars? The fight sequences are actually Seagal instead of some obvious stunt double, and the one-liners are better. Decent action flick.

"Justice" Was Not Served
"Mercenary for Justice" has a lot of things going for it: it skips the more obvious production snafus of Steven Seagal's DTV exploits, has a pretty good supporting cast to show up the star, and has an overall tone of wanting to succeed - more so than the tired, voiced-over attempts that bookend it (Attack Force, Black Dawn). On the other hand, the film suffers from a lack of focus that eventually disintegrates a promising story into little more than a wannabe-smart-but-actually-dumb vehicle for Seagal, and makes the movie's unsatisfying action content painfully clear.

The story's a bit of a doozy, but here goes: John Seeger (Seagal) is an ex-military mercenary who's strong-armed into a controversial mission by threats to the lives of his deceased best friend's family. Ordered to join a team of guns-for-hire to break a rich arms-dealer's son out of prison, Seeger is double-crossed when his bosses reveal their ulterior motive - prompting Seeger to fight back in his own way.

The film's first 20 minutes are its highlight: the massive, Black Hawk Down-inspired shootout is probably the most professional-looking scene that's ever been featured in Seagal's DTV career, and is definitely something I had never seen him involved in before. It's extremely well done for this kind of movie, and effectively starts it off with promise. Sadly, the action takes a turn for the mundane, and we're left with a remaining 70 minutes of repetitive shootouts, throat-slitting, and a sloppy hand-to-hand fight scene in a bathroom. While the gunplay remains decent, the fact that the majority of the casualties counted by Seagal are police officers, prison guards, security personnel, and various other non-bad guys puts a bit of a disappointing dent in the "Justice" part of the title. Seagal is supposed to be a good guy!

As for the acting, it's a bit of a hit & miss: without mentioning mumbly Seagal, there's Luke Goss ("Hellboy 2"), Roger Guenveur Smith (A Huey P. Newton Story), Michael Williams (The Wire: The Complete Series), Adrian Galley (The Deal), and Langley Kirkwood (Final Solution) getting a piece of the action, and they all generally do well with their roles. Still, you can't help but wonder whether a talent like Goss was miscast as a pathetic CIA producer when he's capable of kicking butt in his other movies...

What really brings the film down, however, is the plot's overcomplication: while it kind of makes sense when you think about it after the film has ended, trying to understand the motives, relationships between the characters, and exactly who's doing what is a real chore whilst watching. For example, when Seagal begins to get a few up on his adversaries, you don't know at once that he's doing it because there's no explanation to the villains' misfortunes until five minutes later. This happens more than once, and kills the satisfaction of watching the evildoers get theirs - a plot tool that's one of the few things that Seagal is really good at.

In all, I'm not surprised that Seagal and director Don FauntLeRoy pulled off Urban Justice as their next attempt, for "Mercenary for Justice" showed a lot of promise. Alas, that's all it really is - promises that aren't fulfilled. I wish very much that a different writer had been hired - I have no doubt that the plot could've been delivered better by somebody who had done more than work on short films before he undertook a full-length feature. For what it's worth, this one's staying on my shelf...but it doesn't stand a good chance of overtaking any other film up there anytime soon.