Leoni Haney
Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
zardoz-13
"Acts of Violence" is another B-movie melodrama that confines Bruce Willis to the sidelines for most of its 87-minutes. Actors Cole Hauser, Mike Epps, Shawn Ashmore, Ashton Holmes, and several other supporting players perform the heavy lifting in this gritty saga about human trafficking and the consequences of reprisal. After a brief gunfight between Cleveland Police and criminals, Detective James Avery (Bruce Willis of "Die Hard") confronts a suspect who refuses to surrender. They tangle atop a tall building, and the irate suspect slips over the edge. Avery watches his goon as he pleads for aid and then plunges to his death. Not a bad way to start a movie. Afterward, Avery disappears until midpoint, and later shows up briefly for a violent final scene with the ruthless kingpin crook. Unfortunately, things drag on sluggishly afterward for the first half-hour or so once the story shifts away from Avery to the trouble-prone MacGregor brothers. Once "Salvation" helmer Brett Donowho and "SEAL Patrol" scenarist Nicolas Aaron Mezzanatto have their heroes up to their collective necks in their predicament some 45 minutes later, and this R-rated epic compensates for those first thirty minutes and lives up to its title. Initially, neither the action nor the MacGregors seem appealing until chaos strikes home for them. Army veteran Deklan MacGregor (Cole Hauser of "Olympus Has Fallen") suffers from PTSD, and he has a contentious relationship with his insensitive VA counselor. Life is hopelessly bleak for poor Deklan. Both of his wives cheated on him during his tours of duty, and he hasn't been sleeping well since his discharge. Roman (Ashton Holmes of "A History of Violence") and his bride-to-be Mia (Melissa Bolona of "The Hurricane Heist") are enjoying themselves at different stage parties before they get married at the altar. At a strip club, Roman wallows underneath a bevy of scantily-clad babes who give him a full body massage. Unbelievably, Mia gave Roman special dispensation to go to the strip club, while his brother Brandon (Shawn Ashmore of "X-Men") shelled out the cash for the strippers to entertain him. Meantime, Mia is having a bachelorette party, and two happy-go-luck thugs, Vince (Sean Brosnan of "Don Peyote") and Frank (Rotimi Akinosho of "Black Nativity"), crash their party. Mia screams at them to leave them alone, slaps them around, and scrambles outside the bar to call Brandon. The two thugs cruise up in their van and abduct her. They inject her with elephant tranquilizer to knock her out. Later, the primary antagonist, Max Livingston (Mike Epps of "Friday After Next"), reprimands Vince and Frank, slips a pistol into Mia's hand, and aims her at Frank. Frank takes a bullet and dies. Max's henchmen put Mia back into captivity. Later, she escapes, but her flight is short-lived because they have implanted a tracking device to monitor her movement. During an autopsy of a female victim that the Cleveland Police have found, Detective Avery finds the tracking device in the corpse's hand. Deklan convinces Brandon and Roman to don combat gear and retrieve Mia from the thugs who kidnapped her. At glance at the wall map in Avery's office with scores of photos of kidnapped women pinned up prompts Deklan to advocate vigilante violence. Deklan's combat experience pays off as they clash with the villains, but they don't find Mia. Instead, they liberate three other girls, but Detective Avery has them brought in for questioning. Meantime, Max has dispatched goons to track down the MacGregors. This is where "Acts of Violence" takes a realistic turn. Not only do the human traffickers pursue the brothers MacGregor, but they also target Brandon's wife. Brandon and his brothers arrive at their home to find everything in disarray and his wife Jessa (Tiffany Brouwer of "The Help") tied to a chair with fatal bullet wounds in her face. During his investigation, Detective Avery has found a victim in the deaths of the women injected with elephant tranquillizer. No sooner has he gotten a line of Max as his chief suspect than he learns to his chagrin from a colleague, Detective Hemland (Patrick St. Esprit of "Green Zone"), that the dastard has cut a deal with the Feds for immunity if he informs on other high-level criminals. Meantime, consumed with grief and rage, Deklan and his brother launch their own massive assault on the area where Mia is being held. They show up at this location and rescue not only Mia but also several other abducted women that were about to be trucked off out of town.Later, we learn Detective Avery provided the vigilantes with their information. Nevertheless, it still looks like Max will get off scot-free because of his deal as an informant. Fed up with the corrupt bureaucracy in our system of justice, Detective Avery quits the force, hurls his badge in disgust on Hemland's desk, and then goes after Max himself to execute some poetic justice. Altogether, "Acts of Violence" qualifies as one of Willis' better B-movies. He gets to exact some "Dirty Harry" justice at the end in a scene that should make you clap your hands. Nevertheless, the toll for vigilante justice is high for the MacGregors' because Brandon dies when Max's henchmen riddle their house in retaliation with gunfire for their attack on their headquarters.
rmmorgan-33353
I liked the idea of the story. And the trailer looks amazing,
However on watching the movie i found it really bad . The script was ok , but editing , acting and execution of the script ruined the movie.
Pretty sure Bruce Willis parts where done in a single day, without any of the other actors in scene. I dont recall seeing him and other actors in the same shot. Dont watch this movie.... its not worth your time
trillium-84050
I was leary picking this movie to watch because of the reviews, I'm glad I didn't listen to them. I love action movies and this one did not fail. Full of action and I LOVE that the family was able to rescue their sister! In this world evil seems to win ALOT so it's nice to see (albeit a movie and not real life) some good take place. I'm not sure why other reviewers said the acting was bad, in fact I'm not sure they rated it so low. If they are into action then this film definitely provided that, if their not then why on earth watch an action movie?
