Absolution is apparently a sequel to A Good Man (as of this review I haven't seen yet), which was also a sequel to Force of Execution, though none of them seem all that connected other than by the fact that Seagal plays people named "John". Anyway, John is a special ops guy who gets a job to take out a terrorist in hiding in Eastern Europe. He does this with his friend Chi (Byron Mann), who does all the heavy lifting. When they celebrate after, a young lady enters the lounge they're celebrating in, and asks for Seagal's help. She's escaping crime boss Vinnie Jones (known as "The Boss"), who had planned to torture her to death. This is John's chance at Absolution, played out in the same tired "white man saves white slave from white slavery, and she becomes his daughter/lover" trope. Will he pull it off?
You can see why maybe I wanted to do The Patriot for a post like this, because Absolution is kind of the same old same old with Seagal. No reverse shots, plenty of stunt doubles, someone else doing all the heavy lifting--in this case Byron Mann--, it all feels like it's becoming too much. It's almost like it's become a cynical take on the audience as well: we put Seagal on the tin, get him in enough scenes, make this paint-by-numbers script with a few action sequences and Eastern European women in skimpy outfits, and we'll make it available to stream. And the reality is, Seagal gets clicks on my site for the same reason his face on the tin gets streams and Redbox rentals, so it's hard for me not to review them, as I imagine it's hard for producers and studios not to make them. Maybe this is my cue that I need to take a break from Seagal and spotlight some other names--though I have like 4 or 5 more of his movies in the can ready to review, I just need to write them.
I think the big thing is, between Seagal's amazing big screen theatrical output in the late 80s/early 90s, and then the fact that a lot of his 2000s DTV stuff was a lot of fun, it's hard to not come back to these. That's why he's in the 30 Club now, and why at one point, before I went on hiatus, I had all of his DTV flicks reviewed on here. Now we have about 7 or 8 left, so he may not make the 40 Club with Dolph and Gary Daniels, but he's always going to stand out as this legend in the action world, both DTV and big screen, and I don't know if there will ever be enough films like this to make us forget that and make us stop coming back. At the very least, I'm going to be doing those 4 or 5 I have in the can, and depending on when the others are available to stream without paying extra for me, I'll probably make those happen too.
As I mentioned above, Byron Mann is in this as Seagal's partner, but he's the one doing all the heavy lifting. In a way, this is like Sniper Special Ops with Tim Abell, where, like Abell, his name isn't even on the cover--Vinnie Jones gets second billing--but he's really the standout. I would say though, unlike the Abell flick, Seagal is in this one enough to be the lead over Mann, while Abell was the true lead of his film. The thing is, I can't get enough Byron Mann. He was great in Wu Assassins, and was great on Arrow. Yet in all these things, he's never the lead. He's always propping up the lead and making all the scenes better because he's in them, but never the star. I'd love to see something where he is the lead, maybe something like this where he gets to wear tailored suits with no ties, burns a lot of heaters, and then kicks a bunch of guys asses. 90 minutes of that would be amazing.
There's a great podcast I listen to, "I Must Break this Podcast," done by Sean Malloy, who was a guest on our show one time (the link to his podcast page is in the "Other Great Sites" section, or you can do like me and subscribe on iTunes). In a recent episode, he had this film's producer on, Benjamin Sacks, and Sacks talked about doing these movies with Seagal. Essentially it's Seagal coming to them saying "I need another movie," and then they put it together. The thing is though, he was doing so many that he was saturating the market and diminishing his value. If you look at it, right after this in 2015, he has 6 films released in 2016--and even before and after, he's doing at least 2 or 3 a year. And when the movies are all pretty much the same, it does hit that wall of diminishing returns. To his credit, Sacks also said that when Seagal goes for it in a scene, it looks spectacular. Maybe that's what we're all hoping for when we go back to the well ourselves on these, and too many times the bucket comes up dry. (And check out that podcast episode for more great stories from Sacks, Sean does a great job on that interview!)
Keoni Waxman is back as well. We joke that he's the Seagal Whisperer, but I think for a producer like Benjamin Sacks, there's probably an understanding that when Seagal comes asking for another project, Waxman's the guy to get it done with all of Seagal's demands, and done under budget and on time. The other thing he does is lean on the Seagal partner role, in this case Mann. Look at that shot there, total movie star stuff, Rebel Without a Cause. In other films it might be Bren Foster. That's why The Hard Way was a nice change of pace, because he had Michael Jai White as the lead, and could accentuate his part as the star the way he had to do here with a supporting part. Just going idea man here, but what about a buddy cop movie with Mann and White, directed by Waxman? If you're into it, let me know and I'll bang out an 85-page script by next week.
Before this gets to be too ridiculous with me pitching script ideas, I'll reel myself in and wrap it up. As of writing I believe this is on Tubi. I think it is worth it for Byron Mann's performance; but for people who are tired of the standard DTV Seagal flick we've been used to for the past five years or so, this is that same movie. With that in mind, I'd say proceed at your own risk.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3503840
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