The Keeper (2010)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

In the era of the 90's when action movies were beginning to flourish and Steven Seagal came onto the screen with some success as Hard To Kill, Above the Law, Out For Justice and Under Siege, upon us I thought was anew action hero. As the years have passed and Seagal looking portly and weathered the film he does now are absolute garbage and less than a B movie style. In this viewers complete opinion the film has no true character arc, plot is/and has been beaten to death, the action scenes as in shootings, fight scenes were deplorable. The editing is poorly strung together, acting itself is pushed hard and badly done. The plot is completely weak in it's drive to tell the story. JUST because it is Seagal I give this a 4/10. Truly do not waste your time.

...and you never were much of an actor in the first place.This movie features a much older, chubbier Steven Segal hashing out the same basic threadbare plot lines he has become known for, with no facial animation and (NEW) no real action (but there is some really quick camera-shot gimmicks?) Come to think of it, he doesn't really move quickly at ANY point in this movie. (In the outtakes I would expect to see many shots of Segal zipping around, climbing in and out of in those little lot buggies?) The amazing thing is how they somehow were able to burn through a $10,000,000 budget. What did they spend it on? Even Segal drives around in a '80s era truck, and most of the other vehicles were little better. One modification my boyfriend would like that was on that truck: that windshield that can stop multiple bullets?Anyway, disappointing all round.

The Keeper starts in Los Angeles as undercover cop Roland Sallinger (Steven Seagal) & his partner raid a drug dealers hideout, after a shoot-out in which all the dealers are shot dead Sallinger's partner would rather take the two million dollars in cash than turn it in & shoots Sallinger who refuses to take part in the theft. Sallinger survives the shooting but is badly injured & is forced to retire, as luck would have it Sallinger's old partner Connor Wells (Stephy DuVall) who has become a wealthy businessman in Texas wants Sallinger as a bodyguard to protect his daughter Nikita (Liezl Carstens) who recently narrowly escaped being kidnapped. Sallinger agrees & is on the first plane out there, once there Sallinger takes over all the security as a mob boss Jason Cross (Luce Rains) orders Nikita to be kidnapped so h can hold her to ransom & get his hands on some land that is worth millions but he hasn't counted on Sallinger...Executive produced & directed by Keoni Waxman as far as straight to video action thrillers starring Steven Seagal this one isn't too bad actually, I mean it's no masterpiece or anything anywhere near it but it passes the time & isn't as awful as many of the films Seagal has starred in during the past ten years or so. The script is fairly routine & uninspired stuff with the standard tough cop character up against some bad guy's with some personal motivation thrown in for good measure as his friends daughter gets herself kidnapped but it tells it's story effectively enough with a decent pace & even has a few good action scenes as well. There are moments that lower things a peg or two like doctor's thinking Seagal is in a coma at the start even though he's awake or his double crossing partner not making sure Seagal was dead in the first place but overall The Keeper is fairly coherent unlike some of Seagal's more recent output. There's not much else to say, if you have seen any of Seagal's straight to video films then you will probably have sufficiently low expectations to go into The Keeper & be pleasantly surprised if not exactly blown away with admiration.The action is better than most of the stuff Seagal has done recently, sure he still looks a little overweight & wears a long coat to try & hide his girth but the fights are brutal with Seagal breaking arms & dishing out some serious beatings like he used to during his glory days during the 90's. There's not that much action elsewhere though, there's a half decent car chase & an explosion at the end but it's mostly fights & shoot-outs. There's a little nudity, a lot of violence & a bit of blood too. The Keeper also features Steven Seagal in an over-sized cowboy hat, that scene alone makes this worth a watch.Even though the IMDb says The Keeper had a budget of about $10,000,000 I find that hard to believe, it's quite well made & competent if nothing else but hardly spectacular. Filmed in New Mexico despite being set in Texas. The acting is alright, no-one is going to win any awards but do passable jobs while Seagal just mumbles his way through his role as usual.The Keeper is a reasonable action thriller that I didn't think was brilliant but at the same time didn't think was terrible, it certainly passed the time & is a lot better than most of Seagal's recent output which has generally been awful. Better than expected for sure, don't expect a masterpiece & it passes the time harmlessly enough.

Seagal looks like he is returning to form after nearly seven or so risible films made in the mid-noughties.Seagal plays Sallinger or Ballinger depending on where you join the film, an ex cop who gets betrayed by his partner at the beginning, nearly killed, and has to nurse himself back to help, all the while complaining about taking pills and not having long enough jackets.He gets a call from a mate in Texas, who offers him a job and a hat to look after his daughter after there was a kidnappimg attempt on her. The rest is pure filler, there is something to do with uranium, and the girls boyfriend being a bit of a idiot, but it's all down to the action.Part Hard to kill (the first act), part The Hard Corps, and mostly Man On Fire, this has to be Seagals best film in over five years. The story is good, Seagal looks like he is putting some effort into his role finally, and their is no evidence of a stunt double or voice double this time.It still looks cheaply made, but at least it wasn't filmed in Romania. There are a few plot holes, especially at the beginning, why is his Niece actually in the film? there is no point, and we never really get to know how well Sallinger knew his partner.The action scenes are okay, a lot more exciting than Seagal previous efforts, and the bad guys really know how to fall after being shot.So it's not the greatest film in the world, but for Seagal, it's a triumph, it's a shame to know he never put in this much effort with Sony, then he would be more respected.