The Mercenary: Absolution (2015)

The Mercenary: Absolution: Directed by Keoni Waxman. With Steven Seagal, Byron Mann, Howard Dell, Adina Stetcu. Contract killer John Alexander (Steven Seagal, “Under Siege”) has a chance to save an innocent girl from a powerful mob boss, but protecting her means betraying the government agency that hired him and putting his own life at risk.

“This starts with a man called John Alexander undergoing contemplative brooding introspection: u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Iu0026#39;ve been a bad man my whole life . If I can do only one good thing in life then that would give me absolutionu0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eConsidering John is played by Steven Seagal a more honest appraisal might be: u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Iu0026#39;ve been an abysmally bad actor my entire life . If I could only make one half decent movie then that would be absolution for the audienceu0026quot; u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately ABSOLUTION is not that film and seeing the physical appearance of Seagal tells us that itu0026#39;s never going to happen either . Itu0026#39;s something of a shock the way Seagal looks nowadays . Try and imagine Marlon Brando in APOCALYPSE NOW with too much artificial hair and that gives you a vague idea of what happens if youu0026#39;re an action movie star who doesnu0026#39;t visit the gym very often . You do wonder how SS is going to kick some ass in his present condition . This is easily explained – he shoots bad guys and leaves any jumping and kicking to his cohort , or failing that a stunt double with his back to camera . Itu0026#39;s not absolution that is required but lots of salad and exercise u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film starts with SS being given a mission to eliminate u0026quot;This Afghan national working for the Iranians and with ties to Pakistanu0026quot; Itu0026#39;s at this very early point alarm bells start ringing that the geo-politics here might be wrong since the Persians and Pakistanis have never really been allies . That said this Afghan national isnu0026#39;t really the main villain , itu0026#39;s a character played by Vinnie Jones and when youu0026#39;re watching a film where Jones gives the most impressive performance that might explain why ABSOLUTION has gone straight to DVD”