Blackjack

Jack Devlin is a bodyguard for high paying clients and his latest assignment has him protecting a supermodel from a killer. Deviln's weakness is fear of the color white (yes you read that correctly) and this killer he is after knows that proving his capture to be difficult.

This film is John Woo from beginning to end and any fan of the action director will instantly recognize that. Slow motion, dual handguns, fairly relentless action, and a strong focus on characterization. The problem is the film is boring. And I mean BORING. Main reason being that while it contains many traditional Woo elements, they are presented on such a small scale and so underdeveloped that it is almost sad to acknowledge that this is John Woo action picture when it actually feels like a third-rate wannabe copycat of a John Woo action picture.

With almost every scene you'll just be going "that's it?" Unforetunately yes, that is it. 4/10

Rated R despite limited violence

Blackjack casts Dolph Lundgren the best developed Swedish body since Ingemar Johanssen as a US Marshal doing a good turn protecting the family of a friend who owns a casino from some nasty Russian guys trying to muscle in. Quite a few bad guys go down Rambo style with Lundgren protecting Padraigin Murphy, but in the process during an explosion Lundgren develops a whiteout disorder.

He's finished as a marshal but bodyguard agency head Fred Williamson hires him to protect supermodel Kam Heskin who has a nasty drug habit to boot from a really vicious stalker who has lots of friends with guns to help him stalk. He learns about Lundgren's phobia and the dirty rat now dresses in formal white dress with a white cutaway. You'd think he was Fred Astaire.

A television pilot that didn't sell I guess the network folks thought that the phobia wouldn't generate that many interesting episodes. They were probably right. The always beautiful and attractive Kate Vernon is Lundgren's psychiatrist. She's always worth watching.

Lots of Rambo style action and why not as Lundgren got his first notice in a Rocky film.

I am a fan of John Woo's 80s and early 90s classics such as The Killer, Hard Boiled and the film that started the "heroic bloodshed" films - a better tomorrow.

This made-for-tv film is more in-liking to his older films, and unlike Broken Arrow - this has all the hallmarks of a John Woo film.

But why does it have to be so overly long. Its so long it becomes ridiclousily boring. The action sequences although good and in true Woo fashion OTT, are few and far between and have no pace or sharpness that I've come to expect from Woo's films.

Add to the problem that you've got Dolph Lungdren who can't act out of a paper bag. Although he really tries hard, Woo doesn't seem to get the best out of Dolph. Which is a pity really because he tries hard, but seems to stick in the b-grade version of Arnie he's played for the past ten years.

The plot has Dolph being bodyguard to a model when a psycho decides to stalk her. The bad guy is well played, and overshadows Dolph's boring lines.

The film is however very bad in other places such as Dolph's fear of the color white. This is a silly attempt to show Dolph is human. This is laughably taken to the extreme when he must fight in a...dairy farm (we see Dolph spasm hammily) - its not meant to be funny, but you can't help but laugh.

The rest of this overly-long TV film shows the cat-and-mouse games that Woo loves to play in his films. The film is too boring for it to register though, and you'd be better off watching older John Woo movies rather than this drabby affair.

My Rating: 4/10

Had Blackjack not proudly bared John Woo's name I would not have given it the time of day, it feels like the movie you'd turn to only after you've exhausted every other option in the man's filmography, a career low point for Woo and not one I'd go out of my way to recommend. However, it does boast some relatively passable action sequences, a halfway decent performance from Dolph and a surprisingly modest score, but not even Woo can save the fact that the story is hideously uninteresting and clichéd, the characters are paper thin, offensively bland and woefully acted but the real killer is that this TV pilot is nearly 2 hours long! It's in desperate need of trimming down or better pacing as once you get to the 1-hour mark, you'll have seen everything this movie has to offer. The thing is, every John Woo movie has its fans so I'm sure there's probably someone out there who has recommended Blackjack for the Criterion release at some point. He's just a great entertainer and has a very distinctive voice even when he's working with truly horrendous material.

Dolph Lundgren stars as Jack Devlin a bodyguard who is blinded by a flash grenade which gives him a color phobia (It gets even more ridiculous) seems Devlin is afraid of the color white and is trying to stay low while he conquers his fear. However when a supermodel is hassled by her psychotic ex-husband it is only Devlin that can protect her from certain death in this made for television movie which is slightly more watchable than Woo's other TV movie bomb but basically suffers from too much length and lack of grip on the subplots which overwhelm Blackjack's overall story. Blackjack is along the line of "Do you think we can fit one more subplot to the other 7000 ones, Let's see how it works!" There is of course the color phobia, Lundgren being a new parent, the homoeroticism between Lundgren and Rubinek, the supermodel and her psycho ex,The bad guy being a failed actor, the supermodel addicted to prescription drugs, his best friend's injury, the friend's company which is taken over, the parents of the little girl who die under mysterious circumstances, Lundgren's shrink and Lundgren's tragic past. That is like five more subplots than the movie needs and really Woo cannot make it work, especially when there is too much going on. Still Blackjack has it's moments. The action sequences while watered down for Television consumption has it's degree of punch and Lundgren gives a not too shabby performance. Certainly better than you would expect but really this is only for curious John Woo fans who want to see him make a Hong Kong styled TV movie. It is a combo that doesn't work but at least it isn't because of lack of trying.

* * out of 4-(Fair)