20140223: Action Review--Ambushed

Ambushed

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 96 minutes, action, crime.
2. IMDB: 3.6/10.0 from 586 audience ratings; aspect 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet,' 20% liked it from 52 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.0/5.0 from 7,674 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Giorgio Serafini.
6. Starring: Dolph Lundgren as Maxwell, Randy Couture as Jack Reiley, Vinnie Jones as Vincent Camastra, Carly Pope as Beverly, Giani Capaldi as Eddie, Daniel Bonjour as Frank, Cinthya Carmona as Ashley, Carly Pope as Agent Beverly Royce.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Frank starts out with a strip joint in Los Angeles.  Frank and Eddie branch out in the drug business.  As they attempt to expand in the business, they steal drugs from Vincent Camastra, which was a bad idea.


2. DEA agent Maxwell gets into the scene and takes over from the locals, including the surly Detective Jack Reiley.  Jack has a cocaine habit, and he rousts minor dealers for money and cocaine.


3. There's a separate, completely bungled thread about Eddie and his straight, non-criminal girlfriend Ashley.  She believes his often ridiculous excuses about long absences, strange acquaintances, and odd injuries.  Maxwell's on-the-job relationship with Beverly was not skillfully written either.  That only served to show Maxwell had an extra motivator for the violent ending: Beverly goes undercover, and her life is at risk.


4. Vincent convinces Frank and Eddie that he is upset, and demands some money in two days.  Eddie tells Frank that he wants to back up to just doing his strip club after they do a job for Vincent.  Jack researches Frank, then attempts to hold him up for money in his strip club.  It's Frank's club, and he and his bouncers beat the nonsense out of him, take his gun, and shoot him through the hand.


5. There is plenty of setup for lots of violence to bring resolution.


6. Will Maxwell and his team get Vincent?  Will Frank and Eddie square things up with Vincent?  Will Jack get his revenge on Frank?  Will Jack's boss at LAPD cut short his career, or will Internal Affairs get him first?


3. Conclusions
1. For moderate action and large quantities of cleavage, this is your film.  For sparkling dialog and brilliant expositon of motivation, look elsewhere.
2. One line summary: Crime, action-adventure film that needed a better script and plot.
3. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Nicely shot; only a little bit of shaky camera work.


2. Sound: 9/10 Good.


3. Acting: 2/10 Pretty bad, all around, no real exceptions.  A better script would have helped a lot here.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Has a beginning, middle, and end.  The plot threads progressed to more or less logical conclusions.  However, a lot of the dialog is almost campy, and motivations were weak.