Acts of Violence (2018) Poster

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6/10
Enjoyable B grade action/thriller
djtranny15 January 2018
Wow after reading some of the bad reviews, I almost didn't watch it. I love the way people go out of the way to watch a movie that they know is a B grade action movie and then come on imdb and write a review that discredits everything you SHOULD expect in a B grade action movie. So let me write a list of things that you should expect in a B grade action movie and check those off first: Amateur script- check, Amateur story - check, Amateur acting - check, but above expected, Amateur camera work - check, but again better than usual, Plot Holes - Check. I like B grade action movies and when compared to the rest (and I've seen a LOT), I'd give this a solid 6.5 as it kept me interested and entertained for the majority of the 86 minute run-time and that's all that really needs to be said.
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5/10
If this was a mini series, it would have been great.
brechtjustin16 January 2018
The first five minuites of this movie was great. The bond of the brothers protecting each other as children was great, and the VA scene was absolutely perfect. I have had the same experience with the VA. Unfortunately, after that, the story became fragmented. Honestly, it was a good story but the editing board must have had a hay day. It just jumped from scene to scene without many things being accounted for. The actors were not allowed to show their full range of emotions. If it was an 8 part mini series, it would have been great. The characters needed time to be explored more. If it had been longer, the action scenes could have been more developed. I like all the actors, and they probably did more in scenes that were left on the cutting room floor.
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6/10
'What was the point?'
steveo12218 January 2018
An '80s drive-in style shoot-em-up revenge formula that once would have been a vehicle for Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent in their later days. Was not expecting to get through it, but better production quality than I expected and decent 'better than the script deserved' acting made it an almost painless diversion, although the script/logic is too drive-in shallow to allow the attempted emotional triggers to fire and, thus, recreates one of life's difficult/interesting questions: 'What was the point?'
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1/10
You don't want to know what you're not missing!
asdklhj13 January 2018
I felt so strongly about this piece of garbage that I specifically created an account to review it and hopefully save someone else from wasting their time. No matter how bored you are, you will feel worse after having watched this trash movie. The actors do an ok job, it's what you'd expect for a B-movie and the action scenes are cheap but watchable. However, the story totally ruined it for me. So much so that I could not even bring myself to watch it to the end even though I'm a sucker for pretty much anything that involves shootouts, military men or Bruce Willis... Please, move on with your life. Reading this review is already too much time you wasted on this movie.
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7/10
For anybody who decided to only read all the bad reviews....
MadRotaryOne_DDCgod25 March 2018
I never review movies here. All I want to say about this movie is that I was suspicious of this movie from the start. I was almost certain I was going to be turning this off after 5 or 10 minutes. But an hour in and I'm still watching it. I actually paused it to look something up about the movie, and happen to catch some of the reviews.

So I read in a few of them that this movie is basically a revenge fantasy for gun nuts(That's an actual quote(paraphrased) from one of the reviews). Well this isn't a spoiler, and I'm only saying it becuase it's only spoken for a second and then forgotten, but the 2 older brothers are rangers. That's all I have to say. The rest of the movie is exactly what would happen if 2 rangers had their sister kidnapped, and they knew where she was.
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Atrocious is an understatement
ocallaghanruben13 January 2018
Usually I'll watch any action movie happily. Especially one starting Bruce Willis as a main character. This film however is drop dead awful. Unwatchable. From the gimmicky and unprofessional editing to the delay in the bullets hitting their mark.

Unrealistic chases and fight scenes where they cut costs by using cameras at various angles to mask the actual fighting. I could only watch 7 or 8 minutes of this torture before I had to stop. Probably the cringiest I have ever felt when watching a movie. So terribly terribly bad.

I usually watch any more regardless of what IMDB rating it got if it has an actor or two that I like. This film however would receive an absolute zero from me. Instead of checking this movie out in the cinem rewatch a classic. Trust me. You'll thank me later.

P.S This is my first time writing a review. I created an account with the sole purpose of writing this scathing and honest review.
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5/10
It Is What It Is
meagainstthemovies17 January 2018
So, this obviously isn't the best movie out there, but it's defiantly not that bad. Some of these reviews are ripping this film apart, but for it only being filmed in 15 days on a low budget, it is what it is. The action is pretty entertaining, the acting is believable, the editing is sub-part, unfortunately the script is the weakest part. It's a little simple, cheesy and overdone. I would watch if you are bored, want something simple, and are a sophia bush/bruce willis fan.
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7/10
This film was mishandled from an advertising standpoint.
johnny-burgundy21 January 2018
Acts of Violence (2018) This is an action film about a woman kidnapped by human traffickers. Her fiance and his ex-military brothers set out to track her down and save her before it is too late. It stars Bruce Willis, Mike Epps, Cole Hauser, Shawn Ashmore, Sophia Bush and Melissa Bolona. It has received generally unfavorable reviews and hasn't done well at the box office. This film was mishandled from an advertising standpoint. Sure, Bruce Willis is a selling point, but unless he's the main star, he shouldn't be advertised as such. The film itself is pretty good. It's a common theme recently popularized by the Taken series. Someone has been kidnapped or killed and our hero/anti-heroes come to the rescue and/or seek revenge. Throw in a cop who's trying to do things through legal means, and you have a film. It can be executed well, i.e. the aforementioned Taken. It can also be managed poorly, there are too many of these to list. This film falls in the middle.
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5/10
It's a-ohkay.
submitme20 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
This movie isn't particularly good, but it's okay for a single watch. But the movie is fairly fast paced, it's basically only an hour and 20 minutes. Sure, the plot has holes and the logic is really quite silly at certain points during the movie. Had those not been there, I would have rated it 6, no problem. But there were action, and it was fast paced, so atleast not to get boring. The plot itself was very predictable, but I never expected much else. The quality of the cinematography and the action however... not all that great, but for me it worked alright, atleast enough for me to watch the whole movie. For me, the movie were actually decent enough, for the most part. It was mainly towards the ending that I had the hardest time with it. The acting felt solid enough, but the druglord, played by Epps were clearly the worst to me. The 3 brothers Hause, Ashmore and Holmes did a decent job, so did Willis, when he were on screen, which he barely were. Also "hecnhman" no. 1, played by Brosnan also did a good job.

Biggest gripes I had with the movie:

1: A few big ones for me, were that supposedly two of the brothers are well trained marines. Yet they don't foresee that their identity might be compromised as they go full rambo on a druglord. Just casually leaving the wife at home as if it were any regular day. She should have been sent to some remote cabin, paid in cash.

2: Also why would you assault the druglords major operation headquarter, without much in sense of tactical entry and tactics. They just walse right in, and with a policeshield for only cover. They hit the druglord, rescue the hostages and leave. Never even checking to make sure he is down for the count and no double-tap. You could see the revenge hit, he would soon make on them, coming from a mile off.

3: And why would you (a), use you own truck, without atleast hiding its numberplate and (b), why would you return to your everyday address between skirmishes and also plan meetings there.

4: And during the last fight at the house, as the one brother gets shot. The 3rd brother (untrained), but still. He just rushes out infront of a weapon he clearly know is there, because he just saw his brother get shot. He however, decides to turn his back to the gun, so he can cry over his brothers dead body. And for some reason the "badguy" with the weapon, should have killed the 3rd brother long ago, but figures he wants to do it excecution-style, which is tempting, I guess. Now that he is kneeling down, facing away... but still.
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7/10
Is it Cleveland? Or is it Afghanistan?
lavatch7 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
In the bonus track on the DVD of "Acts of Violence," the film artists described their three goals as (1) exploring the theme of "family"; (2) the importance of raising awareness of PTSD in our returning vets; and (3) the horrific phenomenon of human trafficking with an especially high incidence in the United States in Ohio.

Off the shores of Lake Erie on the streets of Cleveland, the family drama of the MacGregor brothers turns into a war zone. The most interesting brother is Deklan, the vet struggling with PTSD, who enlists his two brothers, Roman and Brandon, in a paramilitary operation to rescue Roman's fiancée, Mia. She has been kidnapped in a public place by a nefarious crime syndicate specializing in drugs and human trafficking. In the bonus track of the DVD, the film's director described a brazen, real life kidnapping that occurred in broad daylight in a shopping mall.

Of course, the cops and the federal agencies are hopeless in the rescue mission. It is all up to the MacGregor brothers to get Mia back safely. With Bruce Willis playing the role of the hard-boiled detective whose hands are tied by the police bureaucracy, Deklan's team is given twenty-four hours to suit up for action with their vests, load their assault weapons, and assemble their bombs.

One of the interesting details from bonus segment is the director describing how the film was inspired by a real veteran, a Ranger who saw combat in Afghanistan. The screenplay was originally drafted by the Ranger, and it resulted in a film described not as an action drama, but a "drama that has action."

The film was successful in its major goals, and it was directed with economy and precision. An interesting montage of still frames from the film ran concurrently with the closing credits. There were good locations and outstanding performances in this drama that has plenty of action.
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1/10
How NOT to make film
xray3005 September 2018
Watch it, only if you work in movie industry and you have to learn how not to turn toyr idea into CRAP
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8/10
Movie Grade B
jkbmjp17 March 2018
I thought the movie was pretty good. It was not the best movie but it was a decent movie with a storyline. It had some familiar faces and names. The storyline was good. The movie was not slow or confusing either.
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7/10
Nothing new but still ok
Top_Dawg_Critic13 January 2018
This is one of those movies you watch when there's nothing else to see. It's been (over)done many times before. The acting was better than expected, even for Bruce Willis who's been questionable in his past roles. The directing was the major issue here. This film lacked direction to the actors - it felt as if they were on their own in some scenes and in others the dialogue and action could have been better portrayed. Part of that was also the camera operator direction, again the directors job. The writing also had some plot issues and the editing could have been tighter. Never mind the lousy score throughout the film. 6.5/10 rounded up to a 7 for B-list actors doing a better than expected job.
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2/10
Just couldn't finish it
LipjamUK13 January 2018
Annoying cheesy two dimensional characters. Very, and I mean very predictable story line. Politically correct agenda. What's not to love? This one I couldn't even finish. What the hell is Bruce Willis' agent taking these days? Willis has gone from Big screen draw to straight to TV (if he's lucky). There is absolutely nothing to see here folks so best just to move along please.
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3/10
Total Dross
ddr-1865413 January 2018
This is just a Bad film,although Bruce Willis was in it for about 5 minutes,he seems to be accepting any roles he is offered,i watched hoping it would get better but its was just Flat
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7/10
I Honestly Liked It!
damianphelps18 January 2021
Bruce has been pumping out some crud lately so I figured this was another addition to the awesome genre of films 'My face is on the cover but I ain't in the movie!'. He isn't the main driving force behind the picture but he is in it enough to count.

The movie does get more ridiculous as it goes but for some reason I was ok with that. Maybe I was in some kind of stupor because things were so much better than I had hoped?

I genuinely enjoyed the movie, Hauser was great in this (I had just finished re-watching Pitch Black so I was hating on him lol).

Give it a go :).
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5/10
Second Amendment Shoot-Em-Up
packmanproductions10 August 2020
Three brothers take on human traffickers after the youngest has his wife snatched after a night out with her girlfriends. The acting was passable; the script could have been made up as they went with just some ad-lib tough guy talk. There were some plot holes as expected with a B-grade action flick but nothing that a few shootouts couldn't overcome. Lots of angry people in this one but living in Cleveland might do that to a person. I've seen enough of Bruce Willis' latest movies to know that he'll basically make a cameo appearance so he doesn't need to be on set for more than a day or two. He gets his check and they can use his face to attract an audience. This followed the same scenario but at least he does get to shoot a few bad guys in this one. He had one facial expression the whole time...annoyance. I didn't go into it expecting much so I wasn't disappointed. A quick time-waster that won't strain your brain.
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7/10
An Underrated Solid Action Film
isantistao3 May 2022
I just watched this movie and was surprised to find it to be such a good solid action film. There is literally nothing wrong with this movie that makes it worthy of its 5 star rating on here. I enjoyed every bit of it. It's not a masterpiece but its a good movie. Not much hand to hand combat but there is a lot of good action there, and a good story too. Plus watching human traffickers get retaliated against is quite enjoyable. I give it a 7.
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1/10
Waste of time.
pfiweddings23 July 2018
Not sure why I finished this formulaic, poorly acted movie, with low grade filming, and directing, but I did. Wish I hadn't.
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7/10
a good movie
alcoyne-0527913 January 2018
This is one of them movies where you know whats going to happen fro the start. and scenes the dialogue and action could have been better portrayed.but it a good watch
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1/10
Time wasting!
ghiess24 August 2018
Nothing special in this movie just using Bruce to get ppl watching it.
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8/10
I found it a good mix.
roostersmaling4 December 2021
Cole Hauser's poetic narration really gave this movie a quality I wasn't expecting. The editing put certain scenes in that made me fight back absolute tears! Yes, it's an action movie with a lot of violence and plot based therein, but the characterisation was a lot deeper than you would expect. Human trafficking is the ultimate low. I don't blame vigilantism when it comes to people you love deeply.
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6/10
"We go to war."
classicsoncall16 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The tag line for this film on Netflix states that three brothers join forces with a world weary cop to save an abducted sister of theirs. The world weary cop is portrayed by Bruce Willis, who this time around looks like he might be a world weary actor as well. I don't want to disparage Willis because I like the guy, but his name in the credits is more intended as a draw; he just doesn't have a whole lot to do here except look the other way as Cole Hauser (Deklan), Shawn Ashmore (Brandon) and Ashton Holmes (Roman) take up arms to rescue Roman's fiancee (Melissa Bolona) from a drug and human trafficking ring led by Max Livington (Mike Epps). It's a fairly by the numbers picture with an odd scene in which the drug kingpin forces Mia (Bolona) to shoot one of his underlings for botching his standing orders to only abduct girls on skid row. With the standard amount of shootouts and assorted gunplay, the good guy brothers prevail but with losses on their side as well. This is a take it or leave it picture, and if you're tuning in as a Bruce Willis fan you might be disappointed. As a time filler, it fits the bill.
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2/10
1.5 hours of my life I can never get back
timbrown-4375830 May 2020
I'm a little speechless here. What was the point of Bruce Willis other than a name? Very poor script, zero character development, Horrible acting, and some very campy scenes. My impression is of a low budget movie that hired a named star to try and sell tickets. It was rough.
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5/10
Not bad for what it is
Leofwine_draca2 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Despite being generally panned by viewers and reviewers alike, ACTS OF VIOLENCE isn't too bad as a B-movie thriller. It was obviously shot in a hurry and the advertising of Bruce Willis is a bit of a cheat, given that he only plays a supporting character who turns out to be completely extraneous to the main story. Instead this is a Steven Seagal-style production about a trio of characters who go gunning for some people smugglers when one of their sisters is kidnapped. Cole Hauser, Shaun Ashmore and Ashton Holmes play the protagonists here and the first two are solid enough in their roles at least. There's some brief but brisk action scenes and some nasty bad guys. To be honest, given the film's rushed production I expected it to be far worse than it actually is; in fact, it's quite watchable if not brilliant.
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