Product Description

You can run, but he will catch you. You can hide, but he will find you. Former Special Forces war hero Cal Dexter is a secret gun for hire. Driven by the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter, he makes it his mission to hunt down the thugs and war criminals governments refuse to bring to justice. But his current quest could interfere with a CIA sting, and that puts a target on Dexter's back. He is both hunter and hunted. Sam Elliott stars as Dexter in this suspense thriller based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal) and executive-produced by Wolfgang Petersen (Troy, Poseidon). Timothy Hutton portrays the CIA handler ordered to make Dexter disappear. And Panama, Washington DC, Bosnia-Herzgovina and South Africa provide the settings for a gripping tale of justice with a vengeance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12500 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-10-03
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 92 minutes

Customer Reviews

Hired Gun
Soft-spoken, hard-eyed, and traveler of a million rough-and-tumble miles, Sam Elliott plays Calvin Dexter, an ex-army special forces warrior who served as a tunnel rat in Vietnam. Armed with a .45 and a flashlight, these guys faced enemies and traps as they wound through miles of underground tunnels. In AVENGER, Dexter is grieving over his daughter's murder and putting his gun out for hire to people who have had loved ones murdered by predators the law won't touch. Contracted by Stephen Edmonds, an affluent businessman, Dexter travels to Bosnia to find out what happened to Edmonds's grown son. Then he has to travel to South Africa and confront a covert op team put into place by the United States to bag his prey.

Sam Elliott is one of those guys you just don't forget. His presence on the screen -- whether as cowboy (THE SACKETTS, CONAGHER), cop (FATAL BEAUTY, SHAKEDOWN), military officer (THE HULK), or hunk (LIFEGUARD) -- leaves a lasting impression. Frederick Forsyth, bestselling author of several thrillers (AVENGER, THE DOGS OF WAR) wrote the book the movie was based on.

I'm a Sam Elliott fan. The man can simply do no wrong in my eyes. I loved him in THE SACKETTS and in MASK (he co-starred with Cher), and I enjoyed him in AVENGER. The made-for-TV movie is a solid piece of work, not like the over-the-top action of "24," but a nice movie to watch and relax while enjoying a story that grips you enough and a character that warms to you. Although the movie doesn't have the frentic pacing of many of today's films, and doesn't rely on a lot of violence or computer generated effects (I love those too, but they are a different venue), it delivers a great story. The scene cuts and movement through the various viewpoint characters is solid as well, pushing the story along quickly.

People who might find Jack Bauer too violent or too unbelievable will probably enjoy AVENGER. And for Elliott's many fans, this is another dependable delivery.

Good for this kind of movie.
I enjoyed this action-adventure movie. Sam Elliott is a kind of cowboy version of Steven Seagal and that works for me. Karma gets passed about and returned at a relatively slow pace in the movie, but the production values are high and the locations are great--or at least, which is important--believable. I sometime check to see where a movie is filmed, but in this case the various places are believeable enough and are not places that I've been so what-the-hey. What was supposed to be Capetown, South Africa, looked like I thought it ought to and I don't want more from this sort of movie.
I'm not sure why this movie doesn't deserve five stars in my mind--there is kind of an agregate of not-quite-up-snuff-details such as the scripting which has peaks and valleys in unexpected places. The Timothy Hutton role was wasted, though he plays an interesting character. Stereotypes abound and cliched dialogue is never far away. But, that's the kind of movie it is. Despite having such good credentials on the production end (goodness, Wolfgang Peterson produced it based on a novel by Frederick Forsyth) I guess not everyone was at the top of their game. Still, its a keeper for me and I'll enjoy it again some day.

Sam Elliott - The Avenger
I absolutely love Sam Elliott; his acting, his voice and his eyes. I usually watch movies while doing other things but not this one; I never looked away and I enjoyed it immensely.