Hard Night Falling DVD Review

THE MOVIE — 0/5

Plot Synopsis: After years fighting crime at Interpol, agent Michael Anderson (DOLPH LUNDGREN) takes the night off to attend a party and reconnect with his estranged wife (SINNE MUTSAERS) and teen daughter (NATALIE BURN) at an Italian villa. But their peaceful night is shattered as mastermind Goro (HAL YAMANOUCHI) and his mercenaries invade the property, hoping to find a lost cache of gold. With his family in danger, Anderson calls on his team of crach operatives to help turn the tide and wipe Goro off the map.

Quick Hit Review: I had though with his appearances in Creed II and Aquaman, Dolph Lundgren was perhaps on the rebound in his career, but between The Tracker and this one, Hard Night Falling, it seems he’s back in direct-to-video purgatory. Hard Night Falling appears to be an Italian production and at every turn, I can’t think of one thing that actually worked. Lundgren, as he was in The Tracker, appeared stiff and seems to be on his way to Steven Seagal land putting in little effort in actually fighting (and disappears for a good portion of the third act), though he’s not helped with some poor fight choreography where plenty of times punches completely whiffed. The other actors were rather unimpressive, lacking any on-screen charisma and speaking with bad English accents.

The plot itself is a jumbled mess with character actions making no sense, such as Goro taking Anderson’s wife as a hostage because, it would seem, there needed to be a reason for him to confront Anderson at the end. This seems like a rejected plotline on some Italian TV series as it barely warrants a feature length film and there’s nothing terribly complicated, though the villains only hinder themselves (for instance, the vault they need to get into requires three keys, this little plot point doesn’t amount to very much as in the end they eventually use explosives to gain entry).

On the technical front, for a movie filmed in Italy, I can’t understand why it would look so ugly. Sure, part of it is the standard definition viewing, but even taking that into account, and giving leeway to a small production budget, there’s nothing that stands out in terms of the setting and the director, Giorgio Bruno presents little, if any, actual style.

While certainly Dolph Lundgren isn’t a phenomenal actor, it is unfortunate to see him star in dreck like this. Outside of one moment, when Yamanouchi’s Goro actually hisses and sings out-of-tune, there’s not really much of a so bad, it’s good going for it either.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5

VIDEO – 2.75/5, AUDIO – 2.5/5

OVERALL – 0/5