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Ruslan
Ruslan
(Steven Seagal), a former Russian mobster, must return to his dark past
when his daughter is brutally attacked hours before marrying the son of
a powerful family rival. With rage only a father’s love can match,
Ruslan will stop at nothing to bring justice.
I must say I’ve seen nearly all the Seagal movies over the decades; this
is one of his better ones.
Ruslan is
one hard bastard, gulag prison tattoos, no moral compass or badge to
hold back his revenge and a homicidal desire to punish the wicked. The
usual ingredients are all here. Seagal beats down on some ‘wannabe
tough guys’ to warm up, kills some arm dealers ending with the line
‘Told you I wasn’t a cop bitch’ and ending with the slaughter of all the
henchmen of the movies main villain Mikhail played by Igor Jijikine.
The final showdown is one on one with rewarding gore filled demise for
Mikhail.
Mikhail is
not too pleased that his son is not following in his Russian mob
footsteps, but prefers to settle down with Ruslan’s daughter to live the
quiet life. Mikhail decides to kill Ruslan’s former wife and daughter
to toughen up his son, unfortunately this upsets Ruslan no end and the
mayhem ensues. There are a lot of guns, action and one liners, some
strip show locales for gratuitous nudity and Seagal speaking mumbled
Russian. All up an entertaining movie.
Picture
quality is good shot in 1:78:1 with a running time of 99 minutes. Dolby
Digital 5.1 gets a good workout with gunshots and explosions. Extras
are light on this review disc with only a trailer of the main feature.
Classify this between Attack Force (the worst of Seagal) and Under Siege
(the best of Seagal), it moves at a cracking pace with plenty of action
and a good very Russian villain. A good night’s entertainment for
lovers of B grade action flicks. Ruslan also goes by the title Driven
to Kill in some countries. |
