A Good Man (2014)

As we're working our way through the rest of Seagal's DTV oeuvre, this was one that for a period of time was only available to rent, and then popped up on Amazon Prime. Now it seems like it's Tubi, but who knows how long that'll last for, so I figured I'd review it and get it over with. This is also a complete the triangle movie, as our friends at Comeuppance and The Video Vacuum have also done this one, so I'm finally joining them.

A Good Man has Seagal as kind of the guy he was in Force of Execution. After a special forces thing goes south and innocent women and children are killed, Seagal goes off the grid, fortunately to a country in Eastern Europe where the production costs are low and the oligarchs love him. While there he meets a woman who looks like she might be a single mother--but lest ye think m'lady is more of the promiscuous sort, lo and behold the child is her sister! Whew. When said sister is kidnapped by a Chinese gangster that wants to sell her or something, our off-the-grid be-chia-pet-chinned hero swings into action with the help of sometime Scorpion King Victor Webster. Will they prevail?

Since Seagal is contractually obligated to prevail, we know what the answer is. The thing is, despite being made in 2014, this kind of feels more like an early 2000s Seagal DTV effort, if you know what I mean? Maybe not as good as The Foreigner or as fun as Out for a Kill, but it does what you need it to do when you're looking for a Saturday night staying in movie. For someone of Seagal's level, I think that's really all we're looking for, and if we get more, all the better. Seagal felt more engaged here, but he also had Victor Webster doing more of the heavy lifting. There was kind of the gross thing with him getting the beautiful girl half his age, but if the rest of the movie's okay like this one is, I can forgive that stuff. There is some weirdness with the girl being kidnapped and the whole pedophile angle that makes this a little on the darker side; plus that 100-minute runtime would've worked better trimmed down to 88 minutes; but overall I'm okay with this one.

This is film 35 for Mr. Seagal, and by my count I think we have 5 more: Code of Honor, Gutshot Straight, Cartels, End of a Gun, and Clementine. (I guess we could also fit in The Onion Movie.) That means when we do finally finish, he'll be in the 40 Club--plus he has a couple on IMDb in pre-production. He's a DTVC Hall of Famer, and one based primarily on his 2000s DTV output, but also because his reviews tend to move the needle here more than anyone other than Dolph. That's the thing though, when I'm covering his 2010s films that are usually him sleepwalking through sit-down roles, yes, the reviews are moving the needle, but to some extent I feel like I'm cosigning that bullshit, the way I said I'm not going to cosign the Willis Fake Shemp sleepwalk movie bullshit. On the other hand, with only 5 films left, I'm committed to finishing this off, sleepwalk or no sleepwalk.

This is yet another Seagal/Keoni Waxman collaboration. We have two more of their collaborations left to review, so that's at least two more Waxman movies we'll cover, but it may be worth looking at his non-Seagal films as well. He now has 10 films covered on the site, but only 3 are non-Seagals: Sweepers (which he isn't credited under his own name), The Hard Way, and Hunt to Kill. I see a few in there that may fit the site, so those few plus the remaining Seagals would put him around 15, which is high for a director, and may get him Hall of Fame consideration. I think what's interesting about these Seagal films is, they make up pretty much his entire work between 2009 and 2017, and it feels like he's created some kind of approach that works for Seagal. It doesn't always work for us, because in many of them it's a mix of sit-down scenes and Fake Shemps, but the fact that Waxman has made it work on some level with Seagal should be commended. 

Victor Alexander plays the male lead who does the heavy lifting for Seagal, joining guys like Byron Mann, Johnny Messner, and Bren Foster who have had that distinction. We know Alexander from the Scorpion King sequels, which tend to leave a bit to be desired; but here in this role, I really liked him as the guy propping things up when Seagal would rather sit down. Looking at his IMDb bio, he's been doing more TV roles and Christmas movies lately, and I kind of get that, because being the guy propping up the Seagal film is a thankless job--other than Messner, you're not on the cover, you don't get to get the girl, and you may even need to get rescued by Seagal. Better to be the hunky lead in a Christmas romance, I agree.

Finally, we've mentioned before that Seagal sometimes affects a Cajun accent, but here it was another level, at least in the beginning. Mitch at the Video Vacuum described it as an "elderly blues singer in a rest home," and I don't know that I can say it any better than that. There's also an awkward love scene at the end of the film that Seagal has with the beautiful woman who's half his age. The thing is though, while this might torpedo another movie, it adds to the charm of these Seagal flicks, the same way the Chia Pet goatee, the Fake Shemps, the sit down roles, and the not doing his ADR does. I was trying to think of anyone else who has this effect, and the only name that comes to mind is Gary Busey.

And with that, let's wrap this up. You can check this out on Tubi here in the States. I think free stream is the way to go, I don't know if it's worth a $4 rental. Beyond Seagal completists, this does have a fun factor that makes it worth checking out.

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3480556

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