With a bit more money to play with he has done a lot better it seems. This certainly marks a step up from the directors recent works, with far lower budgets. The action is solid, with plenty of carnage and some neat stunts. We want action and B-movie veteran Anthony Hickox handles that side reasonably well. Of course although the plot is stale, that matters not in a DTV Friday night easy going piece of entertainment. ![]() There is a good amount of action and we have shootout's and car chases and all manner of explosive and bloody deaths. It's a pretty conventional action film to say the least but has the advantage of having plenty of bang for the buck. The film has an inane plot about brainwashing which they have stolen form classic films like The Manchurian Candidate and Ipcress File, and done without any of the cleverness of those films. It is also perhaps Seagal's most enjoyable since Exit Wounds as well. Well firstly for a DTV action flick it isn't too bad on some levels. Chance would be a fine thing! So how does Submerged rate in the grand scheme of things. I do so in the vein hope that one day he'll make another kick ass action flick like Nico, and be about 3 stone lighter. ![]() So his movies stink, he stinks and can't be convincing as an action hero anymore, so why do people rent his movies? God knows. ![]() It gets so bad at times he is being dubbed by some one else and in Submerged this is particularly evident, with large chunks of the trite dialogue being performed by a rather bad Seagal impersonator. His efforts, post Wounds, have been dire to say the least, with one common feature: Seagal looking bloated, old and extremely bored. He is certainly still the market leader, despite his laziness and complacency. Steve's cinema appeal has seemingly waned now but in the video market he continues to draw in punter, with some of his movies making upward of 20 million dollars in the rental market. My god! Exit Wounds came after Seagal had, had a 3 year break from filming and he is making up for lost time. That is a lot of movies from 2001-2005, andhe has a possible 3 more films to come this year or early 2006. Since 2001 Exit Wound's we have been offered, HPD, Ticker, Foreigner, Out For A Kill, Out Of Reach, Belly Of The Beast, Into The Sun, as well as a small role in Korean Action flick, Clementine. Ever since he experienced a brief comeback in hit film Exit Wounds, Seagal has reverted to doing DTV movies, with only the disastrous Half Past Dead as his last Cinema film. Seagal over the last few years has made a whole plethora of films. Coming from the filmmaker behind such vivid movies as Paris, Texas Wings of Desire and Buena Vista Social Club, Submergence is a surprising dud.Steven Seagal, oh Steven Seagal, why must thou continue to make movies? IL' Stevie boy is at it again, as he lumbers around this occasionally diverting, yet heavily recycled piece of garbage. And James' scenes are meant to play like a spy thriller, but they actually lack any thrills. Danielle's scenes preparing for her dive and fretting over James are one-note the actual dive is shockingly brief and anti-climactic. The romance scenes at the beach hotel are talky and slow. Wenders tells the couple's story slightly out of chronological order, heavy with flashbacks, and the three sections don't work well together. ![]() Worse, Danielle allows her pining to overshadow her work she becomes defined by a male character. The characters are idealists, but they never connect on an emotional level. But, perhaps due to its heavy water-themed dialogue and imagery, it never sparks to life it's all wet. Submergence is certainly lovely to look at, especially with stars like Vikander and McAvoy, and it has a swirling, sweeping music score to help. Veteran director Wim Wenders is comfortable with taking risks and has never been pigeonholed, but his movies have rarely been as static or flat-out boring as this depressing, message-heavy romance.
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