When you put a movie in and the film stars Dolph Lundgren (Expendables, Universal Soldier) and Billy Zane (Titanic, The Phantom), your expectations are likely low. With that in mind, Blood of Redemption was worth watching.
The plot is simple. Lundgren plays the bodyguard of a mob boss whose sons (played by Zane and Gianni Capaldi) mean the world to him – enough so that he wants out of the business and for the two of them to live normal lives. After his murder and the subsequent arrest of his older son, Lundgren has to figure out who killed the boss and framed his son for identity theft.
As with almost any action film, the fighting scenes were well done. The only negative would have to be the random scenes that were sped up or slowed down: it seemed almost like some of the actors were getting a bit old for the fight scenes, so the editor tried using speed changes to make it a bit more exciting. Blood of Redemption‘s soundtrack was so bad that it was almost distracting. Some of the chase scenes weren’t exactly exciting either. But that all sounds so negative: it was still a fun, guilty pleasure viewing.
Lundgren’s character narrates the film, which definitely gives a lot away. While it seemed the director wanted the audience to be surprised at some of the later revelations of the film (who orchestrated the whole thing, major characters dying just when you think they’re safe) it was a a bit predictable. And some of the ideas (and even some word-for-word lines) were obviously stolen from The Godfather.
One of the better points of the film was the sexy Jelly Howie (Reach, Compound Fracture), who played Zane’s wife and co-conspirer. She gave the movie a little of the hot edge that every action film needs.
Another bright spot was actor Vinnie Jones (Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) as the man who takes over for the family as it falls. He’s always fun to watch, and while he didn’t have many action sequences, his acting was decent enough to make him believable in the role.
Overall, I think the main reason I thought this film was fun was that you don’t watch a film like this expecting Oscar-winning performances or comical one-liners. It’s about sitting down and watching a guilty-pleasure action film. And with that in mind, Blood of Redemption delivers.
I would rate it a 3 out of 5.
Blood of Redemption is out now and available on Amazon.
http://youtu.be/lyVkDn0sPxo