The Direct to Video Connoisseur

I'm a huge fan of action, horror, sci-fi, and comedy, especially of the Direct to Video variety. In this blog I review some of my favorites and not so favorites, and encourage people to comment and add to the discussion. For announcements and updates, don't forget to Follow us on Twitter and Like our Facebook page. If you're the director, producer, distributor, etc. of a low-budget feature length film and you'd like to send me a copy to review, you can contact me at dtvconnoisseur[at]yahoo.com. I'd love to check out what you got. And check out my book, Chad in Accounting, over on Amazon.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

One in the Chamber (2012)

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 Like any huge Dolph Lundgren fan, when I first got word that this flick was on the horizon, I got stoked.  Dolph and Cuba Gooding Jr.?  It just sounds fantastic, right?  But how many times have we been burned before?  How many times have we thought we had a sure thing, something even the worst DTV film maker couldn't screw up, only to have said DTV film maker screw it up.  All we can do is cross our fingers, and hope this lived up to its billing. One in the Chamber stars Gooding as Ray Carver, one of the greatest short story writers-- oh wait, sorry, wrong Ray Carver, this one is a mob assassin working in Prague.  He tries to off Russian mobster Louis Mandylor, but the bastard uses a woman as a human shield and escapes.  Now it's on, there's an all-out mob war, and competing Russian assassin Dolph Lundgren is called in to clean up the job Gooding left unfinished, while Gooding is killing his old employers for Mandylor.  If it sounds like a collision course to wackiness, it is, plus there's a subplot about a cute cafe owner who inevitably finds herself a damsel in distress.

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This is what I was looking for.  Gooding was solid, and Dolph was fantastic.  The plot was pretty run-of-the-mill Eastern European schlock-fest, but it never tried too hard to force its way out of that, which I appreciated.  We've seen too many try too hard for credibility, and go off the rails with a gross torture scene, or too much character exposition.  Beyond a few scenes with the mob bosses that didn't have either Gooding or Dolph that I could've done without, this kept a pretty decent pace and gave us DTV action fans what we wanted.  An all around great time. Like I said the Dolph in here is fantastic.  It's as if this guy knows what we like from him, and knows how to deliver, and he's only gotten better as he's gone along.  He plays this fantastic character called "The Wolf"-- a name which he of course doesn't like because he thinks it's cliche-- who wears bad Hawaiian shirts and listens to Frank Sinatra music.  His first scene is so amazing, and it just gets better as he goes along.  So many times when an actor gives us the wink-wink nudge-nudge, he ruins the part because he's too in on the joke.  Not true here.  Dolph tells us he's having as much fun playing this part as we are watching him, and it makes it all the more enjoyable.  A definite add to your next Dolph Fest.

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I must confess I have fallen a bit behind on Mr. Gooding Jr.'s DTV oeuvre, so I can't say for sure if this is his best DTV effort, but it feels like it.  He fits in the role well, there's nothing about it that feels forced or fatuous, and while that gives me less here to make fun of, it's a lot of fun to watch.  And while he and Dolph don't have many scenes on-screen together, the ones they do have are great.  While in the past we joked about Cuba Gooding Jr.'s stay in the DTV Hotel, I'm beginning to think this might be the best place for him to be the actor he wants to be.  Hey, Daddy Day Camp and Snow Dogs were released in the theater, and I can't imagine he's prouder of those than he is this here, or some of his other recent DTV work. Rounding out the cast, we had the aforementioned Mandylor, affecting a funny Russian accent.  I think if we're talking Mandylor brothers, I'm more of a Costas guy, but really, who's counting?  Cuba's assassin handler was played by veteran Brit actor Billy Murray, and he's plenty sleazy with a nice ponytail to boot.  The female lead was played by Claudia Bassols, who has had the pleasure of playing Rob Schneider's wife in his short-lived eponymous sitcom.  I wonder why that one didn't work, wasn't there room for another bad comedy about a gross guy and his hot wife?  I didn't think we had enough of those.

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I have recently entered into the world of the smartphone.  I know, welcome to the 21st century Matt.  This film takes great advantage of the smartphone, where our characters have apps on their phones that allow them to set off car bombs and look through surveillance cameras they set up in betting houses they planned to hit.  At the same time though, they went low-tech with Gooding's apartment, with some vintage accoutrements, like an old radio.  Being a set designer for a one of these Eastern European flicks must be a lot of fun, with the great combination of old and new around-- though I'm sure there's a lot of emphasis on getting things done quick and cheap, so maybe it sucks.

 What doesn't suck is One in the Chamber.  It's fantastic, and well worth your time.  As of this posting, it isn't available on Netflix Instant, but you can rent it, or, if you're a huge Dolph fan like me, I'd buy it.  This is definitely that one that lived up to its billing, and you'll want in your collection.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1881024/

13 comments:

  1. Great to have you back Matt, and a great review to come back with. I've still not gotten to this one, though I bought it as soon as it came out. With this one, Stash House, the new Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and the forthcoming The Package, it's a good time to be a Dolph fan.

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  2. Thanks man, and I agree, I have a lot of catching up to do, because there's a lot of great stuff out now, with the Dolph, plus all of the Van Damme and Seagal out there too.

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  3. I think you'll get a kick out of Seagal's latest, Maximum Conviction. It's entirely what you expect. Plus the new Van Damme film 6 Bullets, which I recently picked up but is also yet unwatched, is meant to be one of his best DTV films thus far.

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    1. Wow, that's big about 6 Bullets, I can't wait. The Seagal one is on Netflix here, which makes it more accessible to me, so I may go there first.

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  4. Matt, glad to have you back it's been too long man!

    Great review, I'll have to check this one out. I know what you mean about Dolph he seems very at ease with being a DTV star nowadays.

    Keep the reviews coming!

    On a separate note: while you were on sabbatical last year I reviewed Side Out - check it out when you get a chance.
    http://collectedcinema.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/reader-recommendation-side-out-1990.html

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  5. So glad to have you back! I wasn't a fan of this one, but your review was a fun read. I also say you should check out 6 Bullets. It's for my money Van Damme's best DTV effort. (Although I admit, I haven't seen the new UniSol movie yet.) Keep the reviews coming!

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  6. Great review! Happy you're back. Will have to check this out.

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  7. Thank you guys, it's great to be back too! 6 Bullets is definitely on the radar, I can't wait to see it!

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  8. I'm not sure where this will really rank on my growing queue, as I'm trying to bang out the holdovers from the best of 2012 pool. And that said, Day of Reckoning is the most important Dolph movie I've yet to see.

    I'll echo the sentiments of many others in saying that it's great to have you back in the groove. Seeing a new post from you on my dashboard was a very pleasant surprise.

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  9. Hey, man! Welcome back! We all miss you! ;)

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  10. Thanks guys. Hopefully I won't have another hiatus like that again.

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  11. there's really not enough raymond carver references in dtv movie reviews

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