Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Born to Raise Hell Blu-ray Movie Review

A few more pounds, a few more bullets, a few more good minutes with Steven Seagal.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 16, 2011

Evil exists in every man.

Steven Seagal continues to duke it out with fellow washed-up stars Wesley Snipes and Cuba Gooding, Jr. for the title of "King of the DTV Action movie," and the Under Siege star keeps besting them with every new release. Born to Raise Hell is no Die Hard or the like, that's for sure, but it's an entertaining, twisty Action movie with some spunk and plenty of hard-hitting violence that also manages to cobble together a fair story, decent acting, and entertaining action, all key ingredients in the construction of the modern-day Action film, at least one that wants to be taken seriously enough to push through some sales to Action afficionados who dont expect the moon, but at least demand basic competency. Born to Raise Hell might look and sound like a music video, but it's also got the electricity one would expect when mixing such modern style with the brutal violence Action fans demand from even the lesser rapid-fire sort of movies where the greater number of shots fired and less mouths opened, the better.

Here's my warrant $!%(#!!!

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the U.S. government created a drug task force to combat the rising sale of narcotics that fund terrorism around the globe. The International Drug Task Force, or I.D.T.F., employes the top drug enforcement agents from around the world. Special Agent Samuel Axel (Seagal) has been assigned to the Eastern European theater where the illicit drug and illegal gun businesses are in full swing. Six months ago, his partner was killed on duty. Now, Axel is determined to find the killer and bring him to justice. A low-level thug proves to be a key in Axel's hunt for the killer; he leads him to a known drug kingpin named Dimitri (Dan Badarau), but it turns out both Axel and Dmitri share a common enemy, the ruthless Costel (Darren Shahlavi), a no-good, amped-up super-hoodlum who takes pleasure in vicious murders. With violence spilling into the streets and nowhere to hide, Axel must take the fight to his enemies but carefully choose his allies in a fight to the bloody death on the drug-infested, blood-splattered streets of Eastern Europe.

Born to Raise Hell is a tonally gritty Action film, but it's stylistically slick. That's not a combination that usually works all that well, but in this case, it does, at least until the barrage of herky-jerky camerawork -- constructed from constant speed-up and slow-down frame rates, bouncy handheld camera work, and edits so fast they would make Michael Bay's head spin -- just becomes too much of a headache-inducing overload. First-time director and former stuntman/stunt coordinator Lauro Chartrand has the right idea and a definite visual purpose in mind, but he simply goes overboard, making the camera and the editing the focus of far too many scenes instead of allowing his actors, the action, and the story to take center stage. Still, for a first feature film, and a midbudget direct-to-video one at that, it's not exactly a terrible effort. When audiences can ignore the overzealous styling, they'll find that Chartrand has done just about everything he can with the script in terms of getting as much action, plot, and drama out of it as seems humanly possible. There's a good twist in the third act and the characters are developed to the point that their interactions and choices matter to the story rather than only serving as a means towards another shootout. That all plays second fiddle to the action, of course, but give Born to Raise Hell credit for trying, and in some ways succeeding, to elevate itself above its peers while still staying within the confines of what audiences expect from the better-than-average Action release.

Ultimately, Born to Raise Hell comes down to one element: Steven Seagal. How many butts can he kick, how many cheesy lines can he mutter, and how bad (as in good, of course) can he look waving around his standby 1911-pattern pistol and, when all the cards are on the table, his beastly 12-gauge shotgun? Fortunately, Seagal still has it -- meaning, of course, not only some skills, but a double chin -- and he carries himself with a bit of flair, even when he lowers himself to delivering some dialogue that might make an eight-year-old feel cool while making grandma blush. It's all in good fun, though; a little bit of levity in the midst of deadly drug violence isn't a bad thing. Seagal sounds like he's short of breath while delivering half his lines, but he's still fast, cool, and a force to reckoned with on-screen. This is one of the best movies he's made in the past ten years, and while he may have put on a few pounds, he still commands the screen, even if the material is thinner than his single-stack .45.

Born to Raise Hell Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Born to Raise Hell's Blu-ray release is slick and satisfying. The digitally-shot picture delivers crisp, rich details in almost every scene. Even though the image is generally flat, fine details range from good to exceptional; skin textures are fantastic, revealing every line and pore on the aging Steven Seagal's face, but viewers will find the transfer populated with a seemingly endless string of well-detailed imagery, from the fine textures as seen on paper money to general city details on pavement and building façades. The image is also quite bright, with nice color balance and a fair bit of pop and spunk. This is a clean image that's only hampered by bouts of noise against darker objects and backgrounds, usually in lower-light conditions. Blacks are quite good and flesh tones are natural in hue. Banding is only a minor concern. All in all, this is a fine looking image from Paramount.

Born to Raise Hell Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Born to Raise Hell's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is a match for the crisp, clean visuals. This one is all about the gunfire; pistol shots yield a great deal of energy, shotgun blasts explode with a hefty thud, and the resultant shattering glass and impacts on hard surfaces are heard and felt all around the listening area. This track is energetic to the core, which is usually a plus but can be, and is, a minus in a few instances here. Repetitive thumps from the subwoofer are powerful enough to shake the listening area but become old fairly quick, while music is generally loud but smooth and accurate in delivery, making use of all five channels -- plus the sometimes-overused subwoofer -- to really drive home the picture's high-energy feel. Ambience is quite good, too; the track picks up subtle odds and ends in most every environment, doing well to place the listener in the middle of the action even in those few scenes where the guns are holstered. With crisp, accurate, and center-focused dialogue, Born to Raise Hell definitely lives up to its name when it comes to its audio content.

Born to Raise Hell Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Born to Raise Hell contains no special features.

Born to Raise Hell Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Born to Raise Hell is a satisfactory DTV Action movie, one of the better ones, in fact, of the past few years, still a notch or two below Universal Soldier: Regeneration but right up there with the cream of the crop. Of course, that's only faint praise, but while Born to Raise Hell is in no way groundbreaking, it's still a solid, high-energy (though sometimes too high, speaking of the film's technical construction) shooter that should satisfy Action fans with modest expectations. Paramount's Blu-ray release of Born to Raise Hell delivers a crisp and satisfying 1080p transfer, an energized soundtrack, and no extras. Easily worth a rental, but Action movie collectors would be smart to buy when the disc drops below a comfortable price point.