Fights, shootouts, chases with a constant change of scenery - it is almost always spectacular. There's plenty of that here. Of course, a sea of corpses. And to a greater extent not about the slave trade (this is rather superficial, although the topic of human trafficking runs through the film), but about settling scores, there are several such lines at once. Balance of dialogue and action. Typical heroes, both villains and saviors. The finale is a ray of hope, a neoclassical happy ending.
From the very beginning, I was attracted to the presence of cool actors in one movie. Here and old man Lundgren and cool movie fighters Tony Ja and M. J. White, Hellboy Perlman and the eternal villain K-H. Tagawa. Although the latter has only one and a half scenes in general, for a minute and a half. I don't know why he had to be called in for this role. And it's too bad to leak it. Shang Tsung did not deserve such treatment.
The film has a small budget, which has affected quality. But that's a weak excuse. They make good movies with less money. It seems to me that if A. Florentine worked in the director’s chair, the film would have turned out better, especially in terms of action. Recall at least a relatively recent action movie from the same category B "Close Distance", in which everything was bad, but the action was staged amazingly. Along with the operator's job. Well, in the main role there involved a younger S. Adkins, In the same film from the young only Tony Ja. The rest are dinosaurs. Although I love the Lundgren movies, in this film, his timekeeping is almost all made to run back and forth and wave his limbs right and left. And you can see it's getting a little hard for him. Unfortunately, aging is inevitable. But still, he's still something, maybe. An example of this are two hand-to-hand fights with the hero T. Jha. Here they are put quite tolerable and this is perhaps the best in the whole film within the action component. The confrontation of experience, strength and dimensions against youth, speed and agility, it looked curious.
Mm. White plays a secondary character and therefore has less screen time than the two above. It’s also why he doesn’t show the full range of his fighting skills, which I personally lacked because he’s a good fighter. R. Perlman plays a typical villain. He does not strain much and, thanks to his appearance and charisma, drags this image, if I may say so.
The characters in the picture are all superficial, they were not going to be worked out. This could have been good for the film. But it seems the creators initially understood or even purposefully made a Category B action movie. There is nothing to say about acting, because we have all seen a movie with these actors and we know who is capable of what. This creation is no different in this respect from their other works. The plot is also nothing special, everything is simple, straightforward, predictable, but it is understandable, in such films the plot is not the main thing, and people love them not for this.
I will not say unequivocally that I liked the picture, but it is quite suitable for its category and it is quite possible to see it. Even have fun. But it may appeal rather to lovers of old, good fighters, besides, it allows you to postalgize.
6 out of 10
I accidentally came across this film before it was released. After watching the trailer, I was immediately interested in the cast and productions of fights. Since the film is released in a very small box office, the film appeared on the Internet about a month after its release. I immediately wanted to see it and it interested me from the first minute. Perhaps the first half of the film was really boring and unclear, but closer to the middle, the film began to grow in dynamics and kept the line until the end of the film.
1. It's a story. The plot of this film is extremely difficult to say. It seems interesting here, but in the film it is not very interesting. As I said, the first part of the film is very difficult, it needs to be overpowered and everything develops less. “Tough cop Nick Cassidy is fighting criminal gangs that are engaged in the slave trade. And one day Cassidy gets on the trail of a large group of Victor Dragovich. After successfully breaking the deal, Cassidy catches the criminal, but accidentally kills his son. Grief-stricken Dragovic makes Cassidy’s life a mess. After an unpleasant drama, Cassidy decides to find the criminal again and take revenge. And yet it turned out not a bad criminal action movie.
2. They're characters. I just want to say about Dolph Lundgren, who played the main role. To be honest, I didn’t recognize Dolph in this movie. He's kind of lost and tired. But still, he played a normal role here, it was nice to look at him. Next, I want to highlight Tony Jah, who just perfectly made the company of the character Dolph. He played well as always, and it was nice to see him in excellent combat training. We can also mention Ron Perlman and Michael J. White. Here they played negative roles and fit well into the picture. I especially want to highlight White's fight with Jay. You just have to see it. The rest of the actors played normally and fit into the picture.
3. These are fight scenes. Of course, there are only a few fighting scenes, but it is worth noting their quality. This is one of the main advantages of the film, which will please fans of militants.
There are also downsides to the film, like a very bad soundtrack, boring dialogue and a meager first half. But still, as an action movie shows itself perfectly and will appeal to ardent fans of Tony, Dolph and White. Others can watch the movie at least once. Still, the star cast, excellent fights and shootouts do their job.
7 out of 10
One day, while watching Dolph's filmography, I came across the then-unreleased film The Slave Trade. The title did not give me anything, films about human trafficking did not cause much sympathy in me, except that the first Carrier and the first Hostage.
But there was a trailer on the page that I was really excited about. I started waiting for the movie to come out, hoping it would live up to my expectations.
But it so happened that I forgot about it for more than a year, remembering only the other day.
The film really lived up to my expectations, primarily with the cast: Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Michael J. White, Ron Perlman, Peter Weller... Very well staged fights in the film, which is not surprising with the presence of Lundgren-Jaa-White.
The plot may not shine with special twists, but the background of Lundgren’s recent works (Some Justice, Blood of Atonement) this film was just super, and Jaa was great to see in an American action movie (Furious 7 does not count). Michael J. White didn’t give up either: after watching the last Android cop movie, I decided we had lost such a great fighter. But it was different.
In general, fans of Dolph-Jaa-White must watch, and just fans of militants should enjoy.
Dolph is a policeman who punishes slavers and seeks revenge.
This painting, in my opinion, is one of Dolph Lundgren’s best in Class B. Among his latest works in this category, the picture clearly stands out. It is distinguished primarily by the combat component, it is an order of magnitude stronger than previous works, in this cinematic niche. And the fact is that in the picture there are high-class combat actors. This is Tony Ja and Michael J. White, and of course, we'll take Dolph here. Everything about the warhead and in particular fighting game, for the picture of the second echelon, made at a very high quality level. Super fighters have done their job. Spectacular fights, by and large, only two. But they're worth seeing. Excellent view.
But as for the implementation of the plot and scenario study, in this regard, the picture is clearly lame. The plot was erased to holes, there are a lot of such paintings. In this case, everything corresponds to category B. But again, it all depends on the personal perception of this picture when viewing. I watched this picture experienced a drop of nostalgia for the militants of the past, in which the plot faded into the background, the first came out cool and old school fights of excellent fighters. In general, if you want to plunge into the atmosphere of nostalgia for old militants, then this picture is quite possible to see.
The picture looks dynamic, a lot of action, there will be no time to miss. In the shooting scenes, there is a computer overlay that does not spoil the overall impression. The budget makes itself felt. Cheap but angry. Some shooting scenes are pretty tough. This refers to scenes where Lundgren's hero unceremoniously shoots people responsible for the death of his family. It's a three-pronged face.
Dolph, declared the first in the list of actors of the film, still concedes here the first violin Tony Ja. First of all, fights. Jay showed great fighting and acrobatics. The age of the Swede makes itself felt, this is quite normal. Dolph Lundgren takes another, charisma and brutality. The legendary Swede once again in his long career exploits the image of a vengeful man here.
I recommend the picture to fans of militants of the past and all those who are not indifferent to martial arts. It is also recommended for viewing by all fans of the actors involved in the film. This applies primarily to Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jha and Michael J. White.
6.5 out of 10
At first glance, “Slave Trade” was supposed to be almost a reference militant. Judge for yourself: Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jha and Michael J. White himself, and even though Dolph never particularly stood out for combat skills in movies, Tony and Michael had to show the upper class. In fact, we are waiting for another fighter class "B", which actually gave anything worthwhile could not. According to the plot, everything here is concise and clear, but the implementation failed. “Slave Trade” is a boring and slow movie, especially not expressive shootouts. Yes, the budget in this place clearly failed. The combat component looks better than Ja and Wyatt did. Dolph in the fighting scene was caricatured.
Interesting fights here are only two Tonys against Lundgren, Tony against White and they are concentrated in the final part, before which you actually need to sit out. Everything that comes before her is wild darkness. I do not want to say that everything is very bad, but it is not set in the best traditions of the genre, the action is very dry, the shootouts are budget, and the plot, which could be developed more dynamically, in fact just stagnated. There were a couple of interesting chips, but they are quickly forgotten, and after viewing it is difficult to remember them.
Definitely "Slave Trade" is not the worst work of the Swede and against the background of its past tapes, it really stands out. Here, in fact, there is everything for the viewer to enjoy: shootings, chases and well-staged fights. However, it is possible to single out only combat scenes that are staged with a love for art, the rest, including the plot, are depressing. Perhaps, ardent fans of the actors will not notice this, but by today's standards such a mass viewer simply will not accept.
5 out of 10
Recalling the latest works of Tony Jay and Michael J. White, one involuntarily begins to regret that such mega-talented fighters of our time are forced to vegetate in second-rate action films with a vague plot and an action-component curve. And, if Jah is still relatively young and quite capable of “blinding” another “Ong Bak”, then White is unlikely to surpass his “Indisputable”. Age is slowly beginning to make itself felt, although the Slave Trade furiously refutes this opinion, showing that the black owner of seven black belts is in excellent shape and it is too early for him to join the company of the Expendables - it is quite possible to save the world alone.
Fans of highly intelligent cinema with a global meaning can pass by, because this performance is designed for an audience that recalls with nostalgia the glorious era of video salons, when a worn cassette with a nefarious translation was enough for happiness. For those who are used to not paying attention to cliches like a revenge-obsessed cop, the Russian-Serbian mafia and illegal business. For those who are not embarrassed by cheap skirmishes and simple chases, and for those who can rightfully appreciate the good fighting component of the film. She's really good here. Even though Lundgren was constantly pulling a blanket over himself, and the star Thai was not given much to turn around, Tony Ja was still able to demonstrate his magnificent acrobatic skills and amazing combat equipment. Dolph in this regard is far from such a pro and crazy kulbits he can not, but he failed to get away with shooting from a machine gun. I had to remember my youth and sweat to look decent against the background of the Thai superstar.
White was not given much time, but his “modest” output was much more convincing than the full-fledged “Ascent of the Falcon”. And his fight with Jha became a real cream for all lovers of fighting. Transferred to the realities of the modern world, it is like the fight of Badr Hari and Sammy Shilt or the fight of Remi Boniaski and Glob Feitosa. White and Jah are undoubtedly stars of the first magnitude, and the fight between them met all expectations, becoming one of the best movie sparrings of recent years. Given the cool public interest in such “entertainment”, it is unlikely that in the near future we will see a clash of such venerable opponents. Except that Isaac Florentine decides to make another "Indisputable" ...
Verdict.
A good class B fighter. One of the best films of its kind recently. Recommended for viewing all lovers of martial arts, as well as fans of Jha, Lundgren and White.
7 out of 10
After a very spectacular appearance in the blockbuster Fast and Furious 7, which is also the Hollywood debut of the Thai actor Tony Jah, followed by a film that, although it is much less loud, but very good and his name is "Slave Trade".
In recent years, and probably in the last year, in my memory there was not a single worthy fighter. And the word “worthy” sounds too loud, not a single “seeable” action movie, after which I would not like to spit in the direction of all those people who were involved in it. “Slave trade” in my opinion is quite suitable and watchable militant of which there has not been for a long time. Of course, this is not a masterpiece, in the film there are cliches, the theme of revenge, the theme of betrayal, which we have seen a hundred times in other films. I am sure that the veteran fans of militants, in the course of the plot, have repeatedly predicted what will happen and how. But here the question is not in the cliches of the plot, but in the general perception of the picture, which is as honey slathered, perceived in one breath and causes nostalgic feelings for old fighters.
Anyway, and the main trump card in this film is Tony Jah. Rising action star, at least I hope so, and here we go smoothly to thrash, which is great here. Hand-to-hand fights at the level, especially shone of course Jah and let him not especially be allowed to unfold as in Ong Baka, still turned out fine. Michael J. White and Dolph Lundgren deserve no less praise, the latter, despite his age, in excellent physical shape and still skillfully continues his “terrible life” for which he deserves the deepest respect. The only thing is that due to the lack of budget, some shootouts look cheap, but against the background of high-quality hand-to-hand thrash, even I do not want to scold.
In the end, I want to say the following: it is clear that the film is not much to expect, it is not a revelation, not a masterpiece or something like that. It's just a good movie, a one-to-two movie, unless you're an ardent fan of Jah, Lundgren, or even White. It’s definitely worth watching.
In 2003, “Ong Bak” made an unknown stuntman and martial artist Tony Jaa a real star of martial arts films, and “Dragon Honor” strengthened his status. The sequels of these works were received by fans ambiguously, but still everyone was waiting for new works of Jaa. And now in 2015, two films with his participation are released - the multimillion-dollar Furious 7 and the modest Slave Trade. And if in the first case it was clear that the "Hollywood debut" will turn into a ten-minute silent role of a bad guy, as is often the case with Asian actors, then the second film had high hopes. Unfortunately, for me personally, expectations were not met.
The plot tells about two law enforcement officers - Nick Kessedi and Tony Vitaykole, who is engaged in combating the traffic of sex slaves, led by Serb Viktor Dragovic along with his sons. Accidentally killing his youngest son Victor, Nick signs the death sentence on his family. Naturally, this is not forgiven and the brave American races for Victor in an unknown country, where he will meet with Tony, who will have to catch him. The script of the film is just a set of all sorts of clichés from the militants of the category B, who are very carelessly connected and added a couple of idiotic moments — what did three writers, including Lungren, as if long developed this project, and not clear. The characters are perfectly template, predictable, and very one-sided – all good are exceptionally correct, kind and honest. Negative all as to the selection of bastards without honor, ready to betray each other and put a knife in the back of a native person, among them are the stereotypical Serbian bandits who are here more terrible than the Russian and Italian mafia combined, and they are so “evil and dangerous” that in some places it comes to ridiculous – starting from the completely idiotic death of one of the sons of the gang leader, who directly asks for the “Darwin Prize”, and ending with a speech for children, saying “look more carefully at the uncles who shoot at us, literally, or you will be bothered by the film, too, but you will also grow up from the whole Asian gang, who are trying to make up with them, too, but they are too. The actions of GG have no consequences - think, publicly shot foreign diplomats, and then blew up the restaurant, first of course there will be a lump and you will be searched for, but then everyone will not care about it, you are free; without problems you can arrange chases and shootouts anywhere, here Tony for all the police will be puffed out, he will cope well without colleagues; well, and so on. In some places, they even try to add drama, for example, the film begins with a scene where they show how they get into sex slavery and then throughout the entire film periodically demonstrate the horrors of this illegal business, but if at first it really looks creepy, then after the tenth time, when you are literally poked in the face with such scenes and try to say “Sex traffic is bad!”, the whole effect fades and begins to bother.
Although OK, this is the same film with Jaa, the plot should be in the background, here the main action and with him things are better, still not for nothing the creators convened such a cast, when you look at which you can think that there is almost a reference cast for such militants, however, it is, but the creators of the film to use it “to the fullest” failed; Weller and Tagawa appear literally in episodic roles and their characters have almost no influence on the plot or have and disappear as suddenly as they appear; Although Perlman plays the main antagonist of the film, he also does not bother with big screen time, appearing only at the beginning and end of the film, and the whole middle comes down to finding him. The main star of the film (despite the fact that more attention is paid to the character of Dolph) is Tony Jaa, who once again demonstrates his skill and very beautifully and artistically beats enemies to death. And here it will be necessary to say that all the action scenes where Tony fights miracle as good, breathtaking and admiring, but everything else is very mediocre; Lungren mainly use gunshot, and the shootouts here are filmed insanely boring, in which the heroes and villains sluggishly “exchange” shots at each other, the dynamics in this moment are just at zero, and what is even sadder, the final battle is just such a shootout, only more stretched and with a seizure camera (but with a bunch of unnecessary explosions!), where Lungren bluntly waters everyone from the “kalash”, and Jaa sits down and tries to hurt someone from the shotgun, and ending with rot and rapid fighting. But what exactly is worth watching the film, is to see the confrontation between Tony Jay and Michael J. White, here it is a miracle as well done and staged, it is unlikely to see a similar fight with venerable masters in the near future. In my opinion, it would be better to make this fight the culmination of the film, because after it all the remaining action simply fades.
Despite the fact that the actors were selected very venerable and respected, they could not demonstrate anything much and almost all went with one facial expression throughout the film (especially Perlman) and the only ones who tried to portray emotions were again Lungren and Ja, the rest were mostly on the drum, or they overplayed. The camera work with editing is very uneven: the camera for some reason likes to take close-ups during fights and very clumsy angles during action scenes, which, coupled with a very clumsy editing places, sometimes turn hand-to-hand scenes into indistinct tinkering, but especially visible all this negligence in a scene with a chase, where all this turns into some wild porridge with teleporting heroes and simply ridiculous effects “slowmo”, but at this place, the picture is very impressive and people are engaged in shooting.
Naturally, a masterpiece of the level of "Ong Baka" did not work out, but thrash like "Honor of the Dragon 2" did not work out - despite all the shortcomings, "Slave Trade" is quite a good action movie category B, missing stars from the sky, but well entertaining the viewer for an hour and a half. But still somehow hurtful, because the potential of the film was very great and to realize all this could be better. Fans of Lungren must watch (perhaps this is his best bash in the last few years), Jha fans should also not miss it, and fans of simple action films are also recommended to watch, as long as there are no overestimated expectations.
6 out of 10