Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

FlashCallahan Cop Mason Storm is gunned down at home. The intruders kill his wife, and think they've killed both Mason and his son too. Mason is secretly taken to a hospital where he spends several years in a coma. His son meanwhile is growing up thinking his father is dead. When Mason wakes up, everyone is in danger - himself, his son, his best friend, his nurse - but most of all those who arranged for his death......Over a decade before Kill Bill, Seagal was left for dead and has to train himself back to his fighting best.One of the movies has sparkling dialogue, wonderful pop culture references, and stunning choreography.And one has a man in tight jeans, and has the legendary line 'I'm going to take you to the bank.........the blood bank'.And for the majority of people who were teens in 1990, this is the film you've seen a lot more, and will always go back to.It's atypical action, but this was made when he was in his prime, and his movies always opened at the top of the box office. How times have changed.The plot isn't really up to anything, it's your basic revenge film, with the added bonus of Seagal's Aikido skills, and spending at least twenty minutes of the film with a comedy bears looking a lot like eighties go to henchman Al Leong, who surprisingly isn't in this.It's typically eighties, the bad guys live in a wonderfully over the top mansion with a pool, and Kelly Le Brock is house sitting a place that looks like it's made of cardboard and air.If your a fan of Seagal, you know that this is one of his best, and it was part of his golden period.For others, it's a great place to start with Seagal, and remember to forget anything he did after 2001.

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com For Steven Seagal, it was a lucky break for him to catch popularity as an action star. Any later in the 1980s and his name may not have made as big a splash as it initially did. Thanks to the success of Above the Law (1988), Seagal was seen as an upcoming asset for Warner Brothers and was being looked at as competition against other high profile 1980s actioneers like Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris. Encouraging this prediction was this film. Unfortunately even for its financial success, Seagal's second film entry isn't anything ground breaking. As an overall product, it works but it's nothing special or unique. It's just a useful time waster. There are elements that work for the film but they're only equal to the flaws that flood the production.Steven Seagal plays Mason Storm, a cop who had a lead on a mysterious crime boss looking to get into power by running for congress. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Storm's cover gets blown and is attacked while at home with his family. Thought to be dead, Storm awakes from a coma in a hospital 7 years later and discovers the crime boss is still at large. It's at that point Storm decides to finish what he began. Although much of its premise has been seen many a time before, it's an acceptable one. Written by Steven McKay (Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995)), his work here isn't bad but it isn't very good either. One of the biggest questions that don't make any sense is how was Storm's identity kept secret for so long? The reason is actually given later on but how did these villains not check up on that? That's really sloppy guys. Also, it turns out the film was heavily edited down, which explains the actual seen to how Storm was kept hidden from his enemies. However with that stated, credit can not be given for something that doesn't exist in the final product because no one else will know until they bother to lookup the information (if they're that curious).The other problem with McKay's writing is the suspense used for its villain. There really is no pay off to the realization of which the antagonist is. Not only is it revealed way ahead of time but also is only more clear as day due to a key phrase the character says. Mind you he says it after every claim he makes. Yet, another character clearly states that over the 7 years Storm was out, nobody could find any patterns. Sounds straightforward to me. The acting for the most part is fine. Steven Seagal has a number of good one-liners and his relationship with Lt. Kevin O'Malley (Frederick Coffin) feels authentic. Coffin and Seagal's role have the most real feeling relationship as two cops who have their backs. Then there's Kelly LeBrock (who happened to be Seagal's wife during the time). Slightly looking like a cheaper version of Angelina Jolie, LeBrock plays Andy Stewart, a nurse at the hospital that Storm wakes up in and ends up following until the ends of the earth. For what she portrays, it's fairly typical. However, this is nothing compared to her English/Australian accent she tries to pass with. It is very weak.The action was applaudable though. In fact, the amount of shoot outs and fist fights that occur feel a bit more frequent than the action sequences in Above the Law (1988). Plus, there are some more unique kill scenes too. For example, don't get angry with Steven Seagal while you're playing pool. Not a smart idea. The pacing on the other hand is a different story. Directed by Bruce Malmuth (Nighthawks (1981)) and edited by John F. Link, these two crewmembers seem to have clashing agendas. For the action scenes, Link provides tight editing that keeps things moving quickly. Yet as a whole, Bruce Malmuth's directorial skills end up slowing everything down no matter the quantity of action scenes. Much of the direction is the crime boss' henchmen trying to kill Storm. This is fine, but for a cat and mouse chase there should be fewer slow paced parts than fast. Link was working on getting that down but it seemed like Malmuth had other plans. This just makes the sit feel rather sluggish in general.The cinematography and music however attempted to reclaim some of the bad parts of the film. The film score, although hardly memorable at least had themes for its characters. Produced by David Michael Frank, a composer who's known for his fondness in synth compositions, doesn't stray far from that. Using a lot of keyboard and percussion, Frank demonstrates he can at least produce music with a signature style according to him. Matthew F. Leonetti (brother of John R. Leonetti) shot the cinematography. And although a large percentage of the film is shot at night or indoors, there are daylight and landscape shots that look great. A very good-looking scene is where Seagal is training in rural landscape. Seagal even climbs up a mountain and the view is magnificent. The action choreography is also well done and isn't shaky enough to disorient its viewers. Nice.It's not a good film but it isn't a total loss either. It has decent cinematography, music, acting (almost all) and energetic action. A lot its problems come from its sluggish pacing and rather nonsensically obvious writing that none of the characters seem to understand.

Maziun This was Seagal's second movie after his breakthrough debut „Nico : Above the law". Unfortunately , compared to the previous one this has got a rather thin story and lacks action. The beginning is quite good . We have some tension and some action there. It's one of those few movies when Seagal gets hurt , so the audience actually has a chance to care for him.The middle of the movie fails . I can suspend my disbelief that he was able to stay hidden for such long time , just for the sake of fun. But the fun never comes . The movie lacks heart . It this was a "Rocky" movie at least the training montage would be full of energy and inspirational. The love story is rather unbelievable , despite the fact that Kelly LeBrock ("Weird science") was Seagal's wife at that time . They were some kind of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for one moment in time for the rest of the world. Also , it's irritating for audience that we have to sit and wait for Seagal to solve a rather obvious mystery. The movie tries to be emotional with the family and brotherhood theme that appears later in the movie , but as I said before it just doesn't work. It's kinda strange , because Bruce Malmuth has proved before that he can create exciting movie – "Nighthawks". Maybe it's not really his fault , but the screenplay ? Either way there is some action at the end of the movie , but it's hardly worth the wait."Hard to kill" is a rather weak and forgettable revenge movie . The good thing about it is the fact that Quentin Tarantino probably was inspired by this movie to make his "Kill Bill" movies. I give it 3/10.

ironhorse_iv It's hard to figure out how Steven Seagal ever became an action star. In my opinion, he never had the best body figure to move. I know he was trained in Aikido, but his fighting style is so slow and pain taking awkwardly choreograph. Don't get me wrong, I know he can probably fight, and kick my butt if he wanted to, but in his prime was run of the mill in martial arts ability at best. He is no Jackie Chan, Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee, or Jet Li at his best. Hard to Kill is just awful movie. This movie is bloody horrible. You can take that to the bank! The blood bank! The plot goes like this, a bunch of criminals put Steven Segal's character Mason Storm into a coma when they mistake him for death after attacking him at a house invasion. The reason for this was because Mason Storm was a Los Angeles police detective who was investigating the mob meeting with corrupt government figures like Senator Vernon Trent (William Sadler) and few dirty cops with a video camera and audio tapes. First off, with a name like Mason Storm, its sounds like a porn star rather than a cop. When you add the silly ponytail, and the voyeurism like feel, he really does look like a weirdo pornstar. Lt. O'Malley (Frederick D. Coffin) sees that Storm isn't death, so they decide to hide Storm under another name so the mob wouldn't find him. O'Malley also found the tape that Storm has hidden in his house. Mason Storm hid the video camera in the fridge. Apparently, putting exposed negatives film in a freezer is a good way to preserve them. Sure, good luck, trying to develop that! If O'Malley found the tape, why didn't he use it against the senator and the dirty cops? Instead of using it against the senator, O'Malley kept it lock up with him, until that one day Mason Storm wakes up. Anyways, Mason Storms does wake up, after seven years, and the mob sent somebody to kill him. If the criminals knew he was in a coma, how come they didn't kill him off while he was asleep? This movie doesn't make any sense. What comes next is the stupidest idea ever. A coma patient out running a healthy man with a gun, is beyond me. Seriously dumb. Since escaping the hospital, he was forced to hide in his nurse's Andy (Kelly LeBrock) friend's house until he can heal enough to take his revenge on Trent and the mob. The training montage is just silly. I've always found hilarious how he tries to pay homage to Asian culture in each and every of his movies. He probably wish he was Asian himself. If only it wasn't misused and over the top. In the montage, its way over the top. In no way is Steven Segal even in top shape even if he didn't came out of a Coma. Mason Storm even screws Kelly LeRock pretty soon at finding his wife is dead. Who knew, that after seven years in Coma, your body isn't going to end up like jelly, but you end up being strong enough to get back into action, and have sexual intercourse in only 7 days. Well, the movie has the same plot that every Steven Segal has. So it's not that new in the action movie field. Still, why is there a pointless action scene at the robbery at the liquor store that has nothing to do with the rest of the plot? How come, there is a mat there, while he is breaking the foot of the Latino gang leader? Another thing, how do punch one of the criminals in the front of his gangs and nobody notice it in the beginning of the film? Or the police that didn't notice a gun behind the back of a criminal dress up as a doctor when facing his back? The movie is so full of cheesy one liners. It's insane. I love how he delivers the blood bank line to an empty room. Who does that? The late Bruce Malmouth wasn't a particularly strong director and it really shows with those stupid shots. The acting is mediocre. Seagal's then-wife Kelly LeBrock doesn't add anything new. Just awkward saxophone music in the love scenes. Still, there was okay score by David Michael Frank. Overall: Like most Steven Seagal movies, it's a little overdone, a little unbelievable, you know what you're getting yourself into. A B-List action film. So don't hold your breath out thinking it will be awesome.