SHADOW MAN (2006)

Directed by Michael Keusch. Starring Steven Seagal, Eva Pope, Imelda Staunton, Vasile Albinet. Action/Drama. Synopsis: An ex-CIA agent and his daughter travel to Romania, where finds out that he is the unknowing carrier of a deadly virus that is coveted by the U.S. government as well as Eastern European organized crime figures. Once in Romania, his child is abducted and he must find a way to get her back without letting the virus sample fall into the wrong hands.

Well, Seagal is back at it in this latest installment of the sudden rash of his films to hit the market. It seems as if the recent spate of Seagal movies are made only with his die hard fans in mind, the thinking apparently being that, as long as he is in the film, his fans will give it a "look see" and they'll make their profit on the video and, presumably, overseas market. In all fairness, they are probably right, as this Seagal fan was right there, again, and probably will be the next time, too.

 In all fairness, Shadow Man is a much better effort that Seagal's last film, Mercenary for Justice.  Having said that, its not saying too much. Seagal does appear more in this film and does seem to be doing the majority of his own stunt/fight scenes. There is enough of him kicking butt to satisfy his blood thirsty fans, but not enough energy to really excite them.

The plot is vintage Seagal and basically similar to almost every plot of every film he does. Seagal plays Jack Foster, an ex-CIA operative who is a widower with a young daughter (Skye Bennett) who is traveling to Romania to visit the homeland of his late wife, who hailed from there. (Kudos to the movie for giving us a reason, no matter how half-baked, to set this in Eastern Europe, where the cost of filming is much, much cheaper. At least they didn't try to shoot this film in Bucharest and tell us it was Los Angeles)

Soon after arriving in Romania, where he is to meet his still grieving and enigmatic father in law, Foster witnesses his daughter abducted and escapes an assassination attempt on his life at the airport. Strangely, a familiar face from agency days is at the airport as well, and Jack begins to smell a rat. In short order, he foils yet another attempt on his life, beats up some Bucharest policemen, and finds out that the female cab driver (Eva Pope) who took his child may, when its all said and done, be on his side after all.

We see several scenes involving the American ambassador (Imelda Staunton) dealing with conniving subordinates in an effort to smooth out the disjointed plot of the movie. The body count is fairly high, with me unofficially crediting Seagal with nine kills, a few with the gun, most by hand.(These include the gratuitous killing of a student during a tai chi exercise at the beginning of the film, something that was never explained nor relevant to the plot, as well as the gunning down of an elderly, machine gun toting woman when Jack rips off some Romanian drug dealers)  There is some satisfying bone breaking and eye plucking by Seagal as well, as his hand speed does not seem to have diminished.

His acting, however, is suffering, and its not like it was ever all that good to start with. I won't tell you anything that you don't already know: Seagal is noticeably heavier, out of shape, and worst of all, he still seems to be bored of this whole thing, as if he is thinking: how many times can we do the same basic story?

Well, Steven, I can't speak for those who are not your fans (and, lets be honest, those folks haven't seen anything of yours since Under Siege), but for those of us who are , you can tell it a lot more times if you bring back the attitude, energy, and screen presence that you showed in the late '80's/early 90's. I mean, if you're bored, how likely is it that we are going to be excited?

I should say that Eva Pope and Imelda Staunton do step up to the plate and deliver good performances in their roles, but the story is, as always, so far fetched and the direction in this one leaves much to be desired (the story unfolds unevenly, and there is a car chase early on that goes on for three minutes too long in addition to being so obviously shot against a green screen that you might giggle), so its hard for the two of them to look as good as they probably should, as they are the best part of the film from an acting standpoint.

Shadow Man is not bad when compared with most of Seagal's films since 1994. But some of us want another look, even if only one more, of the cool, intimidating  energetic, charismatic figure seething with righteous anger at injustice that we cheered for in Out for Justice, Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, and Above the Law. 

Just show it, Steven, and we will come!