This film resonates through the heart of all badgers and there loved ones across the planet. Kirk Caouette has done it again his directing and writing skills shine big time here, his chemistry on the screen with his co-star Andrea Stefancikova is nothing short of phenomenal and to be able to do all this and perform his wild stunts while dressed a badger is sensational. The only let down of the movie for me was actress Tristan Risk her hair was rotten in it, I mean rank.
37 Reviews
Strange
Draysan-Jennings25 May 2021
The trailer looked cool so I decided to give it a shot. After doing some IMDB research I found out the lead also wrote, directed and produced this film. You can tell he worked hard on it with a small budget so I was kinda routing for his character. The movie starts out ok but as the film went on I became less interested. It just kinda drags along with these strange scenes of pretty much nothing going on. About half way through I became bored with the lead character and film all together. Turned it off and looked for something else to watch. Although, it wasn't a bad attempt at making your own movie it just wasn't for me. 4 stars.
The Bad Outweighs the Good
enopola31 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I went into this movie with an open mind and watched it till the end. Unfortunately, the movie just isn't that great. I didn't go to film school, I'm not complaining about the sound, camera angles, and lighting, they all seemed well enough; I've certainly seen much worse. It's the storyline that never drew me in.
There is a loose plot. Hitman meets girl he is suppose to ultimately kill, then takes a vested interest in her. The problem is at no point in the movie did I find myself with a vested interest in the characters, none of them seem that likeable or interesting. For instance, the movie offers a few lines of dialog to try in explain how Dean became a Hitman, but there isn't much clarity to it.
For someone's self produced movie though, the one solid feature is the fight choreography. The three stars I gave it are for the fight scenes alone. From his bio, Kirk Caouette has 25 years of stunt experience (to include some big movies) and it shows. They are well put together and fluid. However, a movie has to be more than it's action sequences.
The movie ultimately seems like a bad blend of Léon: The Professional meets John Wick. Ultimately it's just not very good.
There is a loose plot. Hitman meets girl he is suppose to ultimately kill, then takes a vested interest in her. The problem is at no point in the movie did I find myself with a vested interest in the characters, none of them seem that likeable or interesting. For instance, the movie offers a few lines of dialog to try in explain how Dean became a Hitman, but there isn't much clarity to it.
For someone's self produced movie though, the one solid feature is the fight choreography. The three stars I gave it are for the fight scenes alone. From his bio, Kirk Caouette has 25 years of stunt experience (to include some big movies) and it shows. They are well put together and fluid. However, a movie has to be more than it's action sequences.
The movie ultimately seems like a bad blend of Léon: The Professional meets John Wick. Ultimately it's just not very good.
First, Google "vanity project"
A_Different_Drummer22 May 2021
Vanity projects seldom work even with Hollywood A-listers. When you have a Z-list director/actor doing his own voice-over on an ultra-low-budget indie ... well, let's just say the odds of a successful project are slim and none. And Slim just left town. Every low-budget fail is right there on the screen .. poor lighting, a sound track based on random noises from an electronic keyboard, terrible editing, and an incoherent script. Even the much-touted fight scenes are just a blur, a smudge, of motion that the viewer can barely see.
I Would Assign A Negative Rating If Possible
mbrahms267 December 2021
The American Badger is truly amazing. He singlehandedly kills about 70 hoodlums of various races and nationalities in this film, helped by the fact that his victims politely wait to attack him one at a time and have the collective IQ of a lump of coal. The plot is incoherent, the dialogue is often mumbled, the fight scenes are ludicrous, and the best acting performance is turned in by a dog. This piece of drek must be Canada's revenge on the U. S. for the War of 1812. You have been warned.
Crapola B movie
moscalifar-6872723 May 2021
worse it movie
mzunah22 May 2021
Lame
phulla23 May 2021
Feebile dialogue. Limp acting. Uninspiring story. Lacklustre setting and scenery. The only thing this movie has going for it, is the title, which draws you in with an expectation of something but you have to watch the film to find out, but even that failed and found myself bored senseless.
Almost Got There But Missed The Mark
lwmswm5 August 2022
When one person does pretty much everything on a film he better be really good at all of it. The acting was okay. So were the action scenes. The story concept was a rehash but one that has worked for other movies in the past. I am not commenting on the production values but they are about what you would expect from an indie movie. Where this movie really missed the mark is the writing. Blank paper could have been fed to the dog in the movie and he could have crapped a better script.
Action Super Action B-movie
idadaspida321 September 2021
For all you haters I thought it was a love story.. Albeit a bloody super action love story, I'm sorry. I like B-movies and you can say this was a B movie but it was only 81 minutes minutes and I'm a action super action buff as well. It's entertainment that's what it's called.
American Badger or Canadian Beaver?
Top_Dawg_Critic27 May 2021
Stuntman and cancer survivor (his bio is very interesting) turned novice filmmaker Kirk Caouette stars, directs, wrote, produced, stunt coordinated, and composed the music for this low budget Indie B film, and it was actually not bad - all things considered.
Sure, the story is nothing new, and has been told many times before, but it was still enjoyable right to the end. I feel there needed to be more/better editing. Too many unnecessary shots, and the slow-mo was overused. The normally comfortable 82 mins felt longer with all those useless shots. Then there's the more cigarettes smoked than words spoken issue. I'm guessing all this was to make this a sort of art-house film. The score was actually very fitting for a B film. Although I wasn't impressed with the shaky-cam and poorly filmed first action scene, every other action scene was good, a few impressively John Wick-ish.
Caouette took many risks wearing so many hats, but at the end, I feel they paid off. Like I said, nothing new or extraordinary, but for a newb filmmaker on a tight budget, it's an enjoyable film. Props to Caouette for pulling it off.
Sure, the story is nothing new, and has been told many times before, but it was still enjoyable right to the end. I feel there needed to be more/better editing. Too many unnecessary shots, and the slow-mo was overused. The normally comfortable 82 mins felt longer with all those useless shots. Then there's the more cigarettes smoked than words spoken issue. I'm guessing all this was to make this a sort of art-house film. The score was actually very fitting for a B film. Although I wasn't impressed with the shaky-cam and poorly filmed first action scene, every other action scene was good, a few impressively John Wick-ish.
Caouette took many risks wearing so many hats, but at the end, I feel they paid off. Like I said, nothing new or extraordinary, but for a newb filmmaker on a tight budget, it's an enjoyable film. Props to Caouette for pulling it off.
Where do I begin
tall_dave26 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
My heart goes out to the main male character who did all the fight choreography himself and for the dog, who said nothing and was just basically cool in all the scenes it was in. Bravo for the fight scenes, the one outstanding thing about this movie. (even if they got tedious towards the end, and left me thinking, ok...ok, just kill the last guy and be done with it, but there was always another last guy)
Unfortunately, the rest of the story is filled with 60% smoking cigarettes, 10% fight scenes and the remainder filled with a very weak story and weak dialogue. No sex scenes or T & A, which would have greatly improved the desire to watch this.
Spoiler Below................................................. A better ending would have been if he kept the dog, she took the money and then at the last minute, he produced a remote switch and blew up the car, with her in it and logged on the the computer to notify the controller that the mission was complete.
Spoiler Below................................................. A better ending would have been if he kept the dog, she took the money and then at the last minute, he produced a remote switch and blew up the car, with her in it and logged on the the computer to notify the controller that the mission was complete.
Watchable, but rather generic...
paul_haakonsen30 January 2022
Granted, I had never heard about writer and director Kirk Caouette's 2021 action thriller "American Badger" prior to now in 2022, as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it. So I had no expectations to the movie, nor did I know what I was in for here, aside from it being a movie that I hadn't already seen.
And when you notice that the lead actor is also the director and writer, then I have to say that I am starting to doubt a project. And thus it was with "American Badger", but I opted to watch it, especially since the movie had been given a 7.8 rating here on IMDb - in this very writing moment.
But I have to say that "American Badger" was not as great as the rating would otherwise indicate. Sure, the action sequences were fairly nice and definitely carried the movie a great long way, but the storyline was just bland. And I have to say that "American Badger" felt like a somewhat watered down version of "John Wick". So yeah, there was that whole thing here.
The storyline didn't have much appeal to me, and it was somewhat of a drag to sit through "American Badger", I have to be bluntly honest. And while the action sequences were good, then they could only do so much for a movie with an inferior script and storyline, and not really having much of an interesting character gallery.
I wasn't familiar with the cast in "American Badger", and that is something I enjoy in movies, even in "American Badger", despite the fact that the movie was not particularly outstanding. Well, I did recognize Zak Santiago, though.
My rating of "American Badger" lands on a four out of ten stars. There are far better and more memorable action thrillers out there.
And when you notice that the lead actor is also the director and writer, then I have to say that I am starting to doubt a project. And thus it was with "American Badger", but I opted to watch it, especially since the movie had been given a 7.8 rating here on IMDb - in this very writing moment.
But I have to say that "American Badger" was not as great as the rating would otherwise indicate. Sure, the action sequences were fairly nice and definitely carried the movie a great long way, but the storyline was just bland. And I have to say that "American Badger" felt like a somewhat watered down version of "John Wick". So yeah, there was that whole thing here.
The storyline didn't have much appeal to me, and it was somewhat of a drag to sit through "American Badger", I have to be bluntly honest. And while the action sequences were good, then they could only do so much for a movie with an inferior script and storyline, and not really having much of an interesting character gallery.
I wasn't familiar with the cast in "American Badger", and that is something I enjoy in movies, even in "American Badger", despite the fact that the movie was not particularly outstanding. Well, I did recognize Zak Santiago, though.
My rating of "American Badger" lands on a four out of ten stars. There are far better and more memorable action thrillers out there.
Terrible
peterwalter-4248826 May 2021
good action but no plot
iamjamalwhite10 June 2021
This movie wandered about with some good action scenes and some nudity but nothing to really keep your attention. The hitman gets an order but ignores it and nobody cares. The mob is involved but not really. The girl is wobbly. The whole thing is kind of a mess. It tries to be Wick or Nobody or even Equalizer but falls short because of poor writing. Too bad because acting was good and action was first rate. It is something to watch while you check your email.
Nope
karenlyonskalmenson22 February 2022
It was kind of OK...
goldenbrisket21 October 2021
Ehhh
Elwood-229 January 2022
Smoking scenes are not contributive. They really seemed to think they were. Not much else going on other than absurd fight scenes. Let's just toss the gun for no reason.
It's was tedious to start and got super dull as it went on. I kept hoping for some sliver of hope. But, alas, there was no such payoff.
Direction was very amateur. I'd guess a film school wannabe or drop out. Just way overdone.
It's was tedious to start and got super dull as it went on. I kept hoping for some sliver of hope. But, alas, there was no such payoff.
Direction was very amateur. I'd guess a film school wannabe or drop out. Just way overdone.
John Wick Video Game-Style Film
lavatch21 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
"American Badger" began with an intriguing premise of a hit man befriending a woman he has been assigned to monitor and eventually kill. Unfortunately, the characters and relationships were not well developed, and the result was a cliché violent action film derivative of the John Wick series.
The American badger is Dean, an atheist and violent killer, who is engaged in jobs that he acquires on the internet. His newest target is "Velvet," a sex worker in the employ of a pimp-like thug named Vasily.
Dean offers Velvet "freedom," and she seizes the opportunity. But the film is highly repetitive with the video-game shooting sprees.
The film was overly dark and studio-bound with the hand-held camera in the interior scenes. The effect created outdoors was that of an Eastern European city at the height of the Cold War. But this was no John Le Carré spy saga. It was a depressing and overly violent descent into Dante's Inferno.
The American badger is Dean, an atheist and violent killer, who is engaged in jobs that he acquires on the internet. His newest target is "Velvet," a sex worker in the employ of a pimp-like thug named Vasily.
Dean offers Velvet "freedom," and she seizes the opportunity. But the film is highly repetitive with the video-game shooting sprees.
The film was overly dark and studio-bound with the hand-held camera in the interior scenes. The effect created outdoors was that of an Eastern European city at the height of the Cold War. But this was no John Le Carré spy saga. It was a depressing and overly violent descent into Dante's Inferno.
not that bad...!
hohoho-6159725 May 2021
Quite enjoyable
wiredarp23 May 2021
Plot wise its nothing you haven't seen before, hard man befriends troubled person. Acting is pretty decent, as are the fight scenes, which, while a bit unrealistic, are quite exciting.
Quite impressive since the main actor (who plays a good part) is apparently also the writer. Production quality is really very good.
I've seen far worse movies get higher ratings - I'd give it a 6.5 if that was possible.
Quite impressive since the main actor (who plays a good part) is apparently also the writer. Production quality is really very good.
I've seen far worse movies get higher ratings - I'd give it a 6.5 if that was possible.
Not a badger of honour
karoldoyle9 January 2022
Kirk Caouette trys to do it all here and doesnt quite land it all, good action sequences as you would expect from a seasoned stunt man who honed his craft as a young man in the tough streets of Ferndale. The low budget is apparent but as they say 'you can't buy a badger with a rabbit's paw but you can butcher a cat with a badger claw'.
I think aliens are real
nogodnomasters28 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Dean (Kirk Caouette) is a hitman who leaves a trace and makes a mess. He uses the name Badger because no one would hire "Dean the Hitman." He is assigned to get close to a girl named Marcella (Andrea Stefancikova) who ran away from a crime boss. She works doing sex chat under the name "Velvet." Of course, after he gets close, surprise! They want her dead.
I liked the killing scenes. Dean not having a personality and boring plot killed the film.
Guide: F-word. Sex. Rape. Brief partial nudity.
I liked the killing scenes. Dean not having a personality and boring plot killed the film.
Guide: F-word. Sex. Rape. Brief partial nudity.
Wick wannabe
user-355834 February 2022
The action scenes, especially the hand to hand fights are well choreographed and shot. Makes sense given the protagonist Victor is played by a lifetime stuntman turned actor. His performance is wooden and he lacks the charisma needed to win you over and get you to root for him. Might keep you awake as a midnight movie.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
