The
Mercenary: Absolution is a sequel to
Steven Seagal’s A Good Man. (By the
clunky title, you’d think it would be a sequel to Mercenary for Justice, but
you’d be wrong.) Other than his
character having the same name, I don’t think they ever reference anything that
happened in that movie. Because of that,
there’s no reason to see A Good Man for you to enjoy this.
Seagal
plays an assassin who is lured out of retirement to take out an Islamic
terrorist. While waiting for his
superiors to extract him and his team, Seagal saves a battered woman from a
group of armed men in a nightclub. Haunted
by his past, Seagal decides that saving the woman’s life will make up for a
lifetime of violent misdeeds.
It’s
cracked me up just how much Seagal has been sitting down in his movies
lately. That’s not tantamount to phoning
it in, mind you. I just get a kick out
of how many scenes require him to sit down and do nothing more than listen to
other people talk. In fact, if you play
a drinking game while watching The Mercenary:
Absolution and take a shot every time Seagal is seen sitting down,
you’ll probably be in a coma before the film is halfway over.
Of
course, by that time, Seagal is up and walking around. In fact, he spends most of the second half
standing up, if you can believe it. If
you’re still hurting for a drinking to play, you can take a shot every time he
calls Vinnie Jones a “bitch”.
Another
motif that has weaved itself into Seagal’s work of late is the use of the
phrase, “Watch your six”. It comes into
play late in the game when Seagal talks to the villain on the phone. It doesn’t have much bearing on
anything. It’s just one of those little
touches that Seagal fans appreciate.
The
Mercenary: Absolution was directed by
Seagal’s frequent collaborator Keoni Waxman.
He films the action in a crisp manner, and there's plenty of it. I can't say it ever comes close to matching
the films from Seagal’s heyday, but as far as his recent stuff goes, you can do
far worse.
AKA: Absolution.
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