Vendetta

I enjoyed it, but I might be a tad biased because I'm a wrestling fan and enjoy seeing The Big Show in movies, especially playing a bad guy - he's quite great at being menacing and looking like he could kill you if he wanted to. A worthy watch if you want to switch your brain off, enjoy some action and a revenge storyline.

Clumsy execution and repetitive story, Vendetta won't bring your time back. While having distinct cast with Dean Cain and Paul Wight (Big Show) Vendetta feels terribly mundane. It follows a straightforward plot of a renegade cop who does everything he can to exact his revenge. The main problem isn't the plot itself, but how the execution falters in almost every action sequences. It just looks amateurish as punches and kicks barely land, while the choreography consists of random flailing or pushing. The poor presentation is incompatible with the gritty mood it tries to build and the film ends up running around in circle like the on-screen inmate. Mason (Dean Cain) is a detective in feud with crime mogul Victor (Paul Wight). After shoddy first act where development feels forced, Mason deliberately incarcerates himself to the same prison Victor does time. The film repeats this hardened cop gimmick too much, almost the entire movie portrays him fighting and outsmarting Victor and the corrupt warden. This get repetitive very fast as events happen with little to no build up. At some points the screenplay almost literally repeats itself by rehearsing the same scene, I even wondered whether this wasn't already done fifteen minutes ago. There's no intelligent move on Mason’s part, honestly his plan relies far heavily on coincidence and the others' stupidity. Dean Cain is stuck on his Batman impression with overdose of angst while Paul Wight is just not convincing on the antagonist role aside from his large physique. The weakest link must be the lackluster cinematography, Vendetta's action is timid and feeble. Motions look awkward and editing is jittery, it resembles WWE match with fake blood. Character would swing and miss, yet his enemy would fall, in the wrong way. Gun effect is poor as well, as though they plaster flash effect with lots of strawberry jam filled prosthetic for blood substitution. None of the action looks genuine. With good presentation Vendetta could've been a decent action, but seeing it's hampered by obvious flaws, it'd be better to serve your time somewhere else.