UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

scifihorrorbat Scott Adkins and his abilities are really the only good things in the movie. Any excuse to watch him move is a good reason to watch it ;-) Really below par to any movie I've seen him in so far, though. For true fans of Scott Adkins and his fighting and other action abilities. Love Scott Adkins, but prefer him in a better movie than this one, but Scott Adkins is in it, so I rented it and I watched it.

Destroyer Wod Isaac Florentine + Scott Adkins is a must watch for me. Undisputed 3 is still to this day in my top 3 (easily) best martial arts movie and the Ninja Movies (also starring Adkins) are pretty cool. The guy knows how to film great action and honestly here i must say the hand to hand combat is pretty sharp once again.The little problem with this one is that there seem to be less hand to hand and focus more on gunfights. Those gunfights are not bad at all but there pretty cliché of the 80/90s type, lots and lots of ammunition wasted and this is where it kinda lost a bit of appeal to me. After having watch the excellent JOHN WICK with Keanue Reeves, i don't know if i can go back and watch tons of gunshots hitting walls and everything but the enemies. The protagonist is supposed to be some kind of elite soldier, but he does miss a lot and some shots that you would expect a marksman to hit. I can buy the thugs missing lots of bullets, but him? When it comes to acting and story, well the story is okay, it serve its purpose. Its nothing off the hook, very simple but effective, and as for the acting, its nothing stellar but it didn't bother me much. Its important to note i watched a french dubbed version and the dubbing was pretty ordinary, so i don't want to put too much emphasis on that on my review.So in the end, was i entertained? Yes. Would i had like more hand to hand combat? Yes, cause the ones in it, no matter if they where justified or not, where very cool. But overall the movie was nice enough, i wasn't bored, i liked the characters overall. I noticed some flaws yes but its a B action movie, so well? What else to expect.I still have lots of "new" Scott Adkins movie to watch yet, being in Quebec and watching mostly my movies in french does not make it easy so i will give this one a plus for the effort of being released here on blu ray in french. But i do hope much better for the next Boyka movie for sure.

zardoz-13 "High Voltage" director Isaac Florentine's straightforward, formulaic, B-movie melodrama "Close Ranger" qualifies as a nimble, fast-paced thriller that displays Scott Adkins' enviable martial arts skills. Our resilient hero contends against all odds, with a murderous Mexican drug cartel. Adkins served as executive producer of this predictable but exciting low-budget, nonsense brimming with stock stereotypes. Florentine and Adkins stage several adrenaline-laced shootouts, close-quarters combat encounters, and vehicle chases. Of course, you've seen all this done before, but it is carried out this time with a modicum of style. Incidentally, the indestructible Adkins hero imitates Rambo in his skillful ability to outwit his adversaries, and he shows no compunctions against killing his enemies even when they don't have guns in their fists. At the same time, Adkins' hero is anti-heroic because he is a fugitive. Nick Chinlund makes a corrupt, nasty sheriff, and Tony Perez earns out wrath as a slimy villain. Tal Lazar's dynamic cinematography is always in the right place to capture the gritty action. "Close Range" boils down to a search for a flash drive that means everything to the chief villain."Close Range" unfolds with this preface: "In ancient Japan, a soldier was called a Samurai, meaning 'the one who serves.' When the Samurai became masterless, he was called a Ronin. Some Ronin became wanders helping those in need. Others became outlaws. A few were both." The mayhem erupts in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Colton MacReady (Scott Adkins of "Expendables 2") ambles into an official building that bears the seal Poder Judicial De La Federacion. Armed with nothing more than a small knife that masquerades as a belt buckle, he kills at least ten Mexicans, stabbing them to death, and then rescues a girl, Hailey (Madison Lawlor of "Brush with Danger"), who had been taken hostage but not harmed by her captors. Cartel leader Fernando Gracia (Tony Perez of "Gang Related") has the underling who fled the fracas to warn him about it killed not only because he abandoned his compadres but also because he lost a flash drive on the key chain. After she escapes captivity, Hailey wants to know why they took her hostage. Colton suggests that Hailey ask her step-dad as they cruise back into Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Later, we learn from a cartel lieutenant that Hailey was their "go-between in Nogales." When Walt Reynolds (Jake La Botz of "Rambo") supplied them with narcotics at his farm, one of the cartel henchmen thought the package felt light so they abducted the girl. They took the girl. Meantime, Gracia contacts the man on his payroll in Arizona, Sheriff Jasper Calloway (Nick Chinlund of "Eraser"), who feels reluctant about working for Garcia. Calloway identifies Colton as Walt's wife's brother. "He was a soldier," Calloway tells Garcia, "but nobody has seen him around for a few years. He's been on the run." Garcia vows to deliver justice for the deaths of his hombres and his gang, known as The Bulletproof Cartel, races across the border in their ominous black SUVs at Nogales. No sooner has Colton brought Hailey back home to his sister, Angela (Caitlin Keats of "Kiss of the Damned"), than Angela's scumbag husband arrives and rants about Colton's daredevil heroics and explains that he had the situation under control. Consequently, scenarists Chad Law and Shane Dax Taylor lay out all the narrative essentials in the first 2o minutes of this concise 85-minute epic about its hero, villains, henchmen, and their objectives. Forty-eight minutes into the action, we learn that Garcia wants the flash drive that Victor wore looped around his neck because it contains everything, names, bank accounts, stash house locations, etc. Indeed, the foolish Garcia made the mistake of putting all his private information about his drug operations on that flash drive. Calloway and his deputies arrive at Reynolds' farm, but his deputies are unable to arrest Colton. Later, when they try again, the Cartel has arrived. Garcia has shot Walt in the head at point blank range, and his henchmen have iced both ignorant deputies who didn't know that Calloway was on Garcia's payroll. Naturally, Garcia's men are no match for Colton who can out gun them, out kick them, etc. Eventually, Colton rescues Angela and Hailey and the three of them hole up in their ranch house while the Mexican lay siege to the place. No matter how many gunmen that Garcia sends into the ranch house, they cannot cut down Colton. The finale between Colton and Calloway has a touch of Sergio Leone with all its close-ups and dramatic suspense.Although it amounts to a low-budget shoot'em up saga, "Close Range" remains sufficiently invigorating to maintain attention throughout its 85 minutes. The biggest complaint is its hopeless adherence conventions. Character blast away with a hopeless number of bullets and hit their targets. The hero pours lead into a doorway when he should be firing at either side of the door where his assailants await him. The choreography of the personal combat fights is above-average. Florentine doesn't wear out his welcome, and "Close Range" is good to the last shot despite its shortcomings. Fans of the genre should be disappointed.

Phil Hubbs Cementing his place as the new JCVD? well Adkins is certainly churning out the movies, alas none of them are nowhere near as good as JCVD's earlier offerings. This movie seems to follow the same kind of themes as JCVD's 'Nowhere to Run' if you ask me, to a degree...OK visually maybe. The plot is breathtakingly basic and revolves around MacReady, a soldier gone A.W.O.L. who must protect his sister and niece from a drug cartel. The reason being his sister is married to some low life fool who gets caught up with the drug cartel and the corrupt local sheriff over merchandise and a flashcard containing important information. MacReady was serving overseas but assaulted his commanding officer apparently, he then ran off, as you do. Yet somehow he pops up back in the USA ready to take on the bad guys (how did he manage this?).K so lets get down to the nitty gritty here, we're all gonna watch this for one reason alone and that's Adkins kicking ass. Does he do this in satisfactory form? meh...kinda, I guess, why you asking me? no wait scratch that. So what we get is Adkins taking on Mexican drug dealers with haircuts of varying degrees of stupidity, and amazingly all of them know martial arts. The formula is simple enough, Adkins creeps around a bit, surprises a couple guys, gets into a rowdy mixed martial arts fest, eventually winning. Wash rinse and repeat this scenario all the way through the movie as he takes down the small team of bad guys. Even though the location changes from the great outdoors of California to within the confines of a small ranch, its all still the same. What's even more disappointing is the fact that the fights all look the same too, literately the same choreography for every bloody fight, same moves, same camera angles etc...Its not all fisticuffs though, there is quite a bit of gun action thrown in there too. Alas that's even more ridiculous than the repetitive fights because you can clearly tell everyone is using blanks. Why you ask? well because at numerous times the characters cross paths and shoot at each other at near point blank range, yet everyone seemingly misses each other and there are no bullet holes or destruction. Quite often I was thinking to myself, why aren't you hit? how are you missing? this is like watching a glitch ridden game of 'Call of Duty'. There is some car chase action too but that's pretty naff frankly, again you can clearly tell the vehicles are travelling quite slowly.The movie really tries its best to be ultra cool and grown-up, but it fails miserably in my opinion. The bad guys role call sequence near the start was a hilariously bad idea for starters. Firstly who cares, we don't know these guys and you won't care about any of them further on down the line, they're all meat for Adkins to beat. Secondly why would we need this information, why do we need to know their stereotypically stupid names? like I said they're all mere fodder. Thirdly, it just looks so f*cking stupid, each one looks towards the camera with a stern, I'm well 'ard glance. Stop it! you're all so tough and scary I'm starting to sweat through my pants.But the most amusing and daft moment of all, the real clincher was at the very end. Adkins shaven headed anti-hero stands directly opposite the corrupt sheriff (Nick Chinlund), a shotgun and set of handcuffs lie before the sheriff. MacReady had given the sheriff an ultimatum, cuff yourself or go for the gun, your choice. What follows is the most dreadful laughable cloning or homage, of the classic finale scene in 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' between Eastwood, Wallach and Cleef. Its not even remotely intense, it doesn't have any of the scope and the two helpless females watching on from the sidelines makes it feel so hokey. Oh and I should mention that the beginning credits sequence actually has little snippets of the actual movie in it! Yeah so you're actually seeing key moments of action in the title sequence before seeing the film, great decision! A title sequence that harks back to Sergio Leone classics I might add. Adkins and director Florentine have definitely got a thing for Leone classics.Yep so its another pile of crap from Adkins I'm afraid. Yes I'm sure if you enjoy his work then you'll enjoy this. Yes I realise he's making a certain type of movie that some people demand, and in that sense it delivers exactly what some people want. Yet despite all that, and the fact I am partial to a good fight/action romp, this simply looks and plays exactly like what it is...a cheap, lazy, dull, boring, pointless movie. Yes you can argue that Adkins is only doing what previous stars like JCVD did back in the day, but the difference in quality and the fact that it was more original back then, always trumps that call.3.5/10