"I’ve scrolled deep into the bowels of the Netflix and Prime action sections just so you don’t have to."
DTV (direct to video) movies have been making somewhat of a resurgence over the last decade or so, mainly thanks to the hundreds of streaming services starving for content. The format came into prominence during the 80’s with the rise of VHS and home cinema, with genres like Horror, and especially Action thriving.
There were also a handful of DTV actors that through the popularity of the home video market soon became box office draw cards. Nowadays we’re more likely to see the reverse of this, with the fallen stars of the peak action era like your Willis’, Stallone’s etc., popping up in (often unwatchable) direct to home video releases.
It seems like not too much has changed in terms of the type of DTV movies being made over the last few decades, as they still tend to be either horror, thrillers or action based. The budgets may be lower than their theatrical cousins, but there’s often (and surprisingly) creative cinematography, great stunt work and well choreographed set pieces/fight scenes. I’ve even seen camera techniques and fight choreography lifted straight from these films by big budget studios.
After recently revisiting a DTV fave of mine, I felt compelled to write a list highlighting some of the best DTV action releases of the last decade or so. I’ve scrolled deep into the bowels of the Netflix and Prime action sections just so you don’t have to.
6. Enemies Closer (2013).
A shipment of drugs goes missing on the US/Canadian border. A forest ranger and former navy seal is forced to help the drug cartel (led by Van Damme) retrieve the package.
Enemies Closer is the third collaboration between Director Peter Hyams and the Muscles from Brussels . Be it with a way smaller budget compared to the two mid level blockbusters they previously collaborated on, Timecop (1994) and Sudden Death (1995). The plot is obviously pretty silly and a little derivative (a common trait of DTV films), but the set up and location allow for some fun standoffs and creative action scenes.
The narrative structure is also a bit all over the place and the introduction of Orlando Bloom's character feels clunky and unnecessary. This does allow for an odd couple dynamic though and a couple of extra fight scenes. It’s the Van Damme show to be sure, and this is one of his best late career performances. You can tell he’s having a blast playing the villainous Xander, hamming it up with the dialogue and crushing it (his stunt double as well haha) during the tightly choreographed fight scenes.
5. Undisputed 2 (2006).
Undisputed 2 is the sequel to Walter Hill’s 2002 film starring Wesley Snipes, Ving Rhames and Michael Rooker. The film wasn’t well received and didn’t do well at the box office, so a DTV sequel released four years later was quite the surprise. Flaws aside (worst score ever!) I still enjoyed Hill’s original. It has a solid cast and some well shot boxing scenes, but the sequel however, really takes the fight choreography to the next level.
Legendary DTV action director, Isaac Florentine, is at the helm here. He’s a veteran of these types of films and really knows how to make the most of a smaller budget, whether it be through his creativity with the camera or his brilliant fight choreography. Florentine is well respected in the industry and he tends to attract some of the best martial arts actors and stuntmen, even when the budget is minimal.
This is certainly the case with Undisputed 2 with arguably two of the biggest martial arts stars of the last two decades in Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins as the leads. Jai White plays an (extremely jacked) ex-champion boxer who gets falsely sent to prison so that he can fight other prisoners in an underground tournament. It’s rad seeing Jai White mainly use his boxing skills here, considering he’s such a proficient kickboxer.
In a perfect world Scott Adkins would be a household name. If you’ve never heard the name, you may recognize the face as he’s had smaller parts in some larger scale films (Expendables, John Wick 4). I think that he’s one of the greatest on screen martial artists of all time, and he’s completely off the chain in this film. His fight scenes and especially the two he has with Jai White are worth the price of admission alone.
4. Skin Trade (2014).
For a DTV movie Skin Trade sure does at times look and feel like a mid level studio release. There’s some really creative cinematography, some great fight choreography/action sequences and there’s quite a few stars attached. At 9 million dollars its budget is higher than a lot of its DTV siblings as well. The dip in quality comes with the story and screenplay, as is the case with a lot of these films.
The story of human trafficking is serious, but handled poorly. There’s weird tie-inns and silly character tropes all over the place, but hey, if you’re like me then you’re not watching Skin Trade for the screenplay right? You're here to watch Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa and Michael Jai White kick some serious ass, and spoiler alert that’s what goes down.
The ham-fisted revenge story allows for Jaa to fight both Lundgren and Jai white in two epic fight scenes that are definite highlights of the movie. As I mentioned earlier, the cinematography is actually pretty good and the DP Ben Nott does a great job shooting the action set pieces as well as the fight scenes. There’s a ten minute chase through the streets of Bangkok that’s really impressive, and better than what you would see in a lot of studio released films.
Look, the story is pretty thin and ridiculous and some of the acting is bad, but the action scenes are well done and plentiful. Oh, and it’s always cool to see some forgotten actors from yesteryear show up in these films, and we get the awesome Peter Weller (Robocop) chewing scenery in this one.
3. Security (2017).
2017’s Security is basically Die Hard in a mall, pitting a group of merc’s/criminals (they never really say haha) against a rag tag group of security guards. It’s pretty much Antonio Banderas' ex-soldier hero character vs Ben Kingsley’s villain, and thankfully for us they aren’t phoning it in.
Banderas doesn’t get the love that some of his other action contemporaries receive, which is a shame given his solid resume. He may be in his late 50’s here, but he’s in great shape and is believable as the badass protagonist. Kingsley will never not be intimidating in my eyes (especially after Sexy Beast). He doesn’t have to do much physically here except order his pack of goons around and say some stone cold villainous shit every now and then.
Given the modest budget, there’s some fairly creative action sequences in Security. And for the most part fight and gunplay choreography is handled well- think lesser John Wick. There’s also some unintentionally funny costume design and wig choices, which is also a bonus. Half of the “bad guys” which include former MMA star and DTV regular Cung Le straight up look like Gi Joe villains. It’s legitimately hilarious.
Yum, lamb chops. Just an example of some of the interesting hair and costume choices in Security.
If you can make it past the first act which features a pretty average shootout and some hokey dialogue, you’ll be rewarded with a well paced action thriller, with two solid actors going at it like McClane and Gruber.
2. Ninja 2: Shadow Of A Tear (2013).
Both Ninja 2: Shadow Of a tear and its predecessor encapsulate the true spirit of the Cannon era of Ninja films (think American Ninja, Revenge Of The Ninja etc). The only difference being, director Isaac Florentine and star Scott Adkins have an understanding of fight choreography and capturing martial arts on film that not many people in the industry outside of Hong Kong have. That’s no shade to the likes of Sam Fistenberg, Michael Dudikof or Sho Kosugi either, it's just the evolution of the DTV action movie.
There’s a paper thin plot that takes our hero on a quest for vengeance after his wife's murder- from the dojo’s of Japan to the jungles of SouthEast Asia. For some reason a drug cartel is involved and Adkins ends up in Ninja garb again, but you know what none of that really matters. What matters is that the martial fight scenes are bonkers and are basically non stop. It has some of the greatest martial arts fight choreography that I’ve ever seen on screen. It’s shot, edited and performed to perfection by some of the best in the game. You could honestly stack the martial arts action in Ninja 2 up against the best Hong Kong, Korean and Indonesian action films. It’s just that good.
The freakishly talented Scott Adkins getting amongst it in Ninja 2.
Aside from the British Ninja himself (Adkins), we've got the legendary Sho Kosugi’s son Kane and Shun Sugata (Kill Bill 1 & 2, The Last Samurai) all in the mix. Making for the type of insane showdowns that would make martial arts nerds like myself salivate. Florentine and Adkins obviously work well together and they’ve collaborated on around half a dozen films, but believe me when I tell you that Ninja 2 is the one!
1. Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning (2012).
Just for something different my next recommendation stars guess who? Why Scott Adkins of course. There’s a reason why in some circles he’s known as the new king of DTV martial arts films. This time around there’s no Florentine at the helm instead we have another formidable DTV director in John (son of Peter) Hyams. He’s joined by former B Grade action legends Dolph Lundgren and Jean Claude Van Damme. As I mentioned earlier, the latter collaborated with his father Peter on three other films, one of which is on this list (Enemies Closer).
“You’ve picked the 4th installment of a largely underwhelming action film from the early 90’s?” you say. I know, I know. Trust me I was definitely on the fence, but after the first twenty minutes I honestly couldn’t believe what I was watching. The style- in particular the cinematography and overall tone made it feel like an arthouse horror film, which was totally unexpected (but welcomed). That mixed with the wonderfully choreographed, shot and edited fight scenes makes for some highly original filmmaking.
John and his father really know how to get the most out of Van Damme, and he and Dolph are deliciously villainous in terrific late career performances. Borderline camp, but still very enjoyable. The old fellas actually hold their own in the fight scenes with Adkins as well, even though there’s definitely stunt men being used in parts.
The old guard vs the new. The brutal Dolph Lundgren vs Scott Adkins fight in Universal Soldier 4.
Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning is the kind of underdog film that gets me excited. Written off by most (myself included) before even viewing it, the film more than succeeds and improves on- even bests its predecessors. It’s hard to call a film so brutally violent fun, but if you can appreciate the great lighting, camera work, well thought out action/fight scenes and some “out there” performances, then there’s certainly fun to be had. Hyams has made a few solid action thrillers after this one as well, and for genre fans a director to look out for.
Comentários