Deadlock

I've committed to watch every low budget film that Bruno makes. Muldoon was terrible in this film, and I like the man as an actor. The project lacked the usual co-stars like Lydia Hall, Chad Michael Murray, etc that Bruno usually works with.

Felt like this was shot in about 15-20 days.

Bruce Willis is lending his name to many B movies these days. Does he need the money ? Why, Bruce, why ?

This movie is badly acted, the script is weak, the actors have very little talent and the shaky camera is not helping. I gave it a 4 star for effort but that is generous.

"Deadlock" tells the story of Ron Whitlock (Bruce Willis), a wanted criminal, leading a team of mercenaries on a mission of vengeance. The ruthless group brutally seizes an energy plant and holds everyone inside hostage. Retired army ranger Mack Karr (Patrick Muldoon) has to save the day. The action scenes are ample but not thrilling. The storyline is very predictable and the acting performance of Bruce is again under par. I still don´t get it. It really looks like Bruce is forced to act. He just seems burnt out. On the other hand, I liked the performance of Patrick Muldoon (Mack). At least one good actor in an $11,000,000 budget movie. Don´t waste your time! Skip this movie.

Before I checked, I assumed this was directed by some amateur unexperienced young filmmaker - or a high school drama class, and was shocked to find out that Jared Cohn has 47 directorial credits and 20 writing credits under his belt. It was so horribly directed in every aspect - from poorly executed scenes, transitions, and camera angles, with prop and set mistakes, massive incohesive and illogical plot and structure issues, failure to direct his cast, etc. This felt like a 1980's amatuer camcorder production. And the flaws are so obvious, a little effort would've gone a long way. Even the use of actual Katrina disaster clips were poorly edited in.

The screenplay (jointly written by Cam Cannon and Cohn) bounced all over the place with scenes in and out of nowhere, and the first half was convoluted in the poor attempt to create some plot twists, which even when they become evident, there's many bits and pieces missing. Most of the dialogue will make you shake your head and/or cringe. However, the use of a hydroelectric dam as the main setting for this crime thriller was well conceived and utilized, and I'm sure helped maintain the film's low budget. But the entire "payback" premise of the dam was far fetched and a cringeworthy attempt to piggy-back the Katrina disaster.

Casting and performances were ok for the most part, but very evident many actors much-needed at least some direction from Cohn. Willis' performance was actually one of his better, in his usual monthly b-film showcase appearances. Patrick Muldoon, Chris Cleveland and Ava Paloma were the only actors close to being convincing in their characters, although Douglas Matthews was on point as the comic-relief. The score wasn't bad, and even though the pacing was decent, the 97 min runtime could've used some trimming.

Nevertheless, I finished the film, and wasn't disappointed I watched it, especially since I had nothing better to do. It's a generous 5/10 from me.

Another pointless movie, with bad script, bad acting and shaky camera... Im starting to miss the B movies of the 90's. At least they mostly managed to hold the camera steady.