Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe

People can moan and shout all they want. Bruce Campbell has charisma. He doesn't have to do anything and he still is likable on the screen. Aside from the simple storyline. Bruce Campbell shows what makes Same Axe such a great character. With all his flaws he is a person you can rely on. No wonder that Michael Weston trusts him. While there aren't many references to the show Burn Notice itself. It does give the fans where they have been craving for from the start. To have a Sam Axe storyline not involving Mike Weston. I think they should do a whole bunch of these. Even if the show would end. Only with much better story lines.Now it is possible that even having charisma is not enough for people to like Bruce Campbell. Well,if that is the case than I think you will have trouble liking this movie. Since the whole movie is build on Bruce.I was skeptic at first. But overall the movie is very entertaining. Forget about the show and it's twists and just soak in a little bit of Bruce.

I'm a big Burn Notice fan, and I deem Bruce Campbell a god among men. This was tailor made for me, right?

The Fall of Sam Axe tells the origin story of our titular hero, his early antics and adventures in the deep jungles of Columbia.

It sets itself apart from the show well and doesn't really utilize the other cast much. It does however still feel like Burn Notice, what with the familiar beloved character, story development style and narration.

I was concerned whether it would work but as Campbell has proven time and time again he works just fine as a leading man. Combine that with a surprisingly great supporting cast including Pedro "Game of Thrones" Pascal and the roster is a solid one.

Maintaining that perfect balance of seriousness and comedic elements this spinoff movie is really enjoyable, heartfelt and a very worthy addition to the Burn Notice franchise.

Burn Notice with even more Bruce Campbell? Yes please!

The Good:

Great cast

That Burn Notice charm

Beautiful scenery

The Bad:

Nothing springs to mind

Fans who only know Bruce from Burn Notice might feel that this movie isn't as tightly plotted as usual and focuses too much on comedy. Bruce-only fans meanwhile will probably be surprised find Bruce playing it more straight than usual.

But if, like me, you love both Bruce AND Burn Notice, you'll lap this up! It comes across a little like a TV movie version of Romancing the Stone, with a sharper political edge. Writer/creator Matt Nix clearly has a somewhat jaundiced view of US foreign policy in Central America.

Bruce, as always, lifts the whole thing with his charisma - he's like a more self-aware, mocking version of James Garner and Matt Nix cleverly plants lots of in-jokes for both Burn Notice fans and Evil Dead-ites alike. Jeffrey Donovan's cameo felt a little forced, but other than that it's all good.

If you're immune to both Bruce and Burn Notice you'll spend your time finding fault with the accuracy of the thing. Otherwise you'll just sit back and be entertained by a fun action/comedy for 90 minutes.

Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe is a journey into the past of the series' most enigmatic character as only Bruce Campbell can play him.

Set in 2005, the movie follows Sam's last mission as a Navy Seal before he wound up retired in Miami. A moment of indiscretion gets Sam sent into the South American jungles to deal with a terrorist group causing havoc. But, things aren't what they seem.

So far, the biggest complaints about this movie are that some of the uniforms are inaccurate, which means they must be doing everything else right. As made for TV movies go, this was very good. Even thought it felt more like one of Bruce's B-movie romps than an actual extension of Burn Notice, that only helps bring home the fun of the movie. Bruce gets many a great line, and a few nods to both his past and his fans.

The other characters ranged from well-acted to a kind of meh performance, and the overall direction by Jeffrey Donovan was well done. Fans of both Bruce and Burn Notice will enjoy this picture and come away feeling satisfied. Was this necessary? Maybe not. Was it worth it? Hell yes.

The long anticipated prequel to the Burn Notice series answered many of our nagging questions about the series and Sam Axe in particular; but, posed even more. Matt Nix (the writer) and Bruce Campbell (the actor) played the Sam Axe character true to the form we would expect of a former Navy SEAL, if anything even more so. Affable, caring, not taking himself too seriously -- but with a high sense of loyalty and duty as well as street savvy. For the most part, a "squared away" SEAL - except that most of those guys that I'm acquainted with are quite a bit more serious, and anything but easy going.

Unfortunately, not all the show's characters fared the same. Don't get me wrong, none were poor actors; just that, some were weaker than others. And, most were appropriate for the genre and situation; but, just as in the series, some were written unbelievably stupid, or uni-dimensional or repetitive. Matt does seem to have a bit of a penchant for writing controlling shrews as lead female characters.

The director, Jeffery Donovan (Michael in the series), and writer are apparently much more acquainted with crooks, thugs and terrorists than they are with anything military. Guns, bombs and thugs are portrayed with amazing accuracy but anything military (especially Navy) seems to end at the mere term: "Navy SEAL." Supposedly Mr. Nix relies heavily on spy consultants but no one associated with the show appears to have even served in the military. No attempt seems to have been made to even approximate the correct insignias, uniforms, badges or military law (J.A.G) processes.

None-the-less, the series isn't about the military, TV budgets aren't the same as movies, Jeffery is a beginning director, and Matt... well he's Matt, one of a kind. The character-driven story was so compelling that, if you didn't look too deeply, or become annoyed with the characterizations, it was two hours well spent. Followers of the series will not be disappointed and will be well served with the new explanations, the new questions to answer, the expansion on a well-liked character, AND a great filler to a terribly long season hiatus.