After spending the majority of the last decade churning out Steven Seagal movies, director Keoni Waxman finally steps out of the veteran martial artist’s shadow to direct low budget action thriller The Hard Way (2019).
Featuring lead performances from legendary martial artist Michael Jai White, prolific DTV action star Luke Goss as well as UFC Champion Randy Couture, The Hard Way turns out to be one of the director’s better realised movies and a step in the right direction for him. However it does have some problems that stop it from being totally successful.
Whilst it doesn’t have the same issues that has plagued some of his Seagal features, such as poor stunt doubling or the lead actors voice being dubbed by someone else, it is still beset by other issues mostly found in DTV cinema, with a noticeably low budget, poor CGI and some extremely poor performances in regards to the supporting cast.
Taking place in Romania (no doubt to keep costs down), we are first introduced to Cody (Grant Campbell) and Mason (Luke Goss), two special agents currently hunting down mysterious criminal Toro. After a brief foot chase and shoot out, Cody lays dying in Mason’s arm.
This leads to Cody’s brother, the aptly named Payne (Michael Jai White), to come out of retirement and look into his brother’s murder. It turns out that Cody’s murder may be down to him being witness to certain video evidence, evidence that Toro would kill to keep hidden.
This leads to Payne flying to Romania, where he teams up with Mason and his old boss Briggs (Randy Couture) to uncover the mystery. Most viewers should be able to guess for themselves about fifteen minutes in what the mystery is.
Keoni Waxman has always struck me as being a professional but workmanlike director. His films are normally well produced, with him able to work around the restrictions he is faced with.
This is especially true of his work with Seagal, having to not only deal with the issues that come from directing a DTV movie, but those of having Seagal as your lead actor. Still, he and Seagal must have gotten along well enough to collaborate on nine features as well as a television series.
His work is unshowy, and other than some stylistic touches, such as the odd freeze frame or the screen changing to black and white, he keeps things simple and straightforward.
Waxman makes sure the fight scenes are clean and understandable, with their being no obtrusive use of shaky cam and the like. Although unfolding at a leisurely pace, there are enough fight scenes and shootouts included to keep action fans happy.
One criticism in regards to the action is that the fight scenes are better handled than the shootouts, with most of the gun fights being generally unexciting. This is down to the use of poor CGI to add in gun blasts and blood during post production. The Hard Way is just one in a line of DTV movies to go down this route, with it clearly being a cheaper option for low budget productions.
More of an action director than a dramatist, Waxman still manages to get decent performances from his three leads, although the same can’t be said for the supporting cast. Mostly everyone else involved are either poorly dubbed or put on unconvincing American accents, with only Madalina Anea coming across as somewhat competent.
In regards to the main cast, we are first introduced to Michael Jai White managing his bar. He is shown playing chess, clearly to show that Payne is a man of intelligence as well as action. It isn’t long before we have the obligatory scene of trouble makers showing up just so Payne can show what a bad-ass he is. He also gets to throw in some good one-liners about how the country has changed in the last decade, with talk of there being a black president as well as an orange one.
As expected, Jai White is his usual charismatic self, inflecting his performance with some humour, although he is serious when required. Now over 50, he shows no signs of slowing down. His fights scenes give him ample chance to show off his skills. The best of these is a night club fight which results in him ripping a man’s ear off.
2019 is proving to be quite the year for the actor, with the releases of crime thriller Dragged Across Concrete and future action classic Triple Threat (2019) showing audiences multiple facets to the actor. The Hard Way is clearly the lesser of these productions, but unlike those mentioned; it does feature Jai White in the lead role, giving him ample opportunity to show off his martial arts skills.
Luke Goss also manages to make an impression in his co-starring role, getting his own fair share of the action. His most impressive action sequence is his deadly knife fight during the finale. The Hard Way marks Goss’ second film for Waxman, with them previously working together on Killing Salazar (2017). It is also the second time he and Jai White have co-starred together, with them sharing the screen in Silver Hawk (2004), although the less said about that the better.
Randy Couture doesn’t get as much screen time as his two co-stars, with him only having one fight scene during the finale. Others have complained in the past of his acting skills, but I have always found him a likeable screen presence. He is certainly better than the remainder of the supporting cast.
In regards to the fight scenes, it is no surprise these are of a higher quality when considering they are choreographed by the great Tim Man. Man's fight scenes always manage to impress, and while he has done better work, he always gets the best out of his performers. This Mark's his third time working with Michael Jai White, with them previously collaborating on Accident Man (2018) and Triple Threat
The Hard Way was released last year to streaming giant Netflix. To be honest this is probably the best platform for a film like The Hard Way, with it being available to the widest audience possible, especially those who are just looking for a quick action fix.
Rating: 2.5/5
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