Black Dawn (2005) (V)

Director:

Alexander Gruszynski

Writer:

Martin Wheeler (writer)

Release Date:

27 December 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

It's always darkest before dawn.

Plot:

Jonathan Cold returns, this time he goes Undercover to stop a group of Terrorists before they bomb Los Angeles. |

Plot Keywords:

Nuclear Bomb | Terrorism | CIA

Cast

Steven Seagal	...	Jonathan Cold
Tamara Davies	...	Agent Amanda Stuart
John Pyper-Ferguson	...	James Donovan
Julian Stone	...	Michael Donovan
Nicholas Davidoff	...	Nicholi
Roman Varshavsky	...	Fedor
Noa Hegesh	...	Julia
Warren Derosa	...	Sergey
Angela Gots	...	Stazi
Don Franklin	...	Max Pierson
Timothy Carhart	...	Greer
David St. James	...	Macabe
Eddie Velez	...	Brody
Matt Salinger	...	Myshkin
Ryan Bollman	...	Billy Raduziner

Also Known As:

Foreigner 2 (International: English title) (informal alternative title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality.

Runtime:

96 min | USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | Netherlands:16 (DVD) | UK:15 | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | New Zealand:R16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

515 S. Figueroa Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Cameras are visible attached to the side of the truck, concealed in black plastic.

Movie Connections:

Edited from The Foreigner (2003)

Seagal will never go away

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits

Having waited ages and ages for Today You Die to get a release date (even though I had no set plans on seeing it!) imagine my surprise yesterday when I'm strolling round HMV and spot this other new Seagal work suddenly plonked on the shelves without warning. Indeed, distribution of Seagal films is starting to get a little shaky now, with promotional posters for both his new films not even up on IMDb yet. Following the beyond abysmal Submerged (which I didn't even see to the end) I'd wanted to try and avoid Steven Seagal movies from now on (despite being his biggest fan at one time) but a good recommendation from a reliable source (he knows who he is!) and the general surprise of suddenly seeing it there got me to give it a pop.

In this, the big one returns as Johnathan Cold, who mysteriously springs a terrorist from captivity. Free, this terrorist plans with his friends to detonate a huge bomb in a major US city. Tracking them is a group of agents lead by an old student of Cold's (Tamara Davies) who slowly unravel the plot and realize there's more to what's going on than what they see.

With his career now firmly rooted in the land of Direct to Video, with little hope of springing out of there, one has to wonder what Seagal was hoping to achieve reprising the role of Johnathan Cold that he previously played in The Foreigner. Luckily crazy Michael Oblowitz is not at the helm here and where The Foreigner's plot was totally incoherent and senseless, this one does have a plot that genuinely requires you to pay attention and is fairly well written. There's also one or two (literally) good action scenes. Plus you have Davies, sexy in the supporting role.

It's just, I don't know. I switched off Submerged because of just how bored I got with it, and there were times when I found this one to be quite boring too, with exciting action few and far between, a gratuitous sex scene in a rented hotel room and Seagal not even appearing on screen for large parts of the film.

So, what do I give it? Three stars? That would make it as much fun as Half Past Dead, and I don't want to rush to see it again like I did with that one. Two, then? That would make it the same as The Foreigner. Well, what you gonna do? For a guy who said he 'should sign off as a Seagal fan' in his last review of a film of his, this managed to be a quiet and unsurprising but relatively engaging new film. I hope TYD proves to be another good collaboration with a rap star, because I've enjoyed all the other ones of those he did. **