Rent it
Summary
Attrition is one of Steven Seagal’s better movies of recent times with an impressive visual style but by the end you just want someone to tell him to shut the fuck up and kick his ass as it gets so tedious seeing him never get remotely injured.
Plot: When a Thai girl called Tara with mythical powers goes missing, Axe (Steven Seagal) and his old team unite in attempts to bring her back.
Review: I’ve had Attrition on DVD for a while but only just down to watch it the other night; I’d heard surprisingly good things about it describing it as Steven Seagal’s best film in years. After viewing it I think I’d have to agree; it isn’t a classic or anything but it is rather stylish with some nice visuals and trippy dream sequences.
Seagal spends most of the movie spouting some portentous bollocks and acting as if he is the second coming but he at least shows up for the entire movie and even takes part in some of the fight scenes… well his double does.
There are several times where you can tell it is a body double as Seagal simply doesn’t move like that but the real star of the show is Louis Fan whose presence and fight scenes are the best things about the movie.
The story isn’t all that exciting and it plods along at a rather slow pace lacking the energy that an action picture should have. I also struggled to understand what a lot of people were saying so I wish the DVD had subtitles on it.
I enjoyed Yu Kang as the villain Qmom who was suitably menacing; apparently he also managed to freak out one of the female cast members he was so convincing.
It was nice to see James Bennett in a sizable role as one of Axe’s comrades in arms who comes back to assist in the rescue of Tara. Axe of course never gets injured like most of Seagal’s movies which takes you out of the fights a little as you know he will be completely unscathed.
Seagal wrote and produced the movie and it’s very much a passion project for him; he is proud of it and to be fair it is definitely one of his higher quality movies of recent times. I like the idea of keeping old-school kung-fu alive but you can’t help feeling Seagal wishes this was like Ip Man… it isn’t.
Overall, Attrition is a step up for Seagal with Louis Fan stealing the show but despite being rather dull storywise it has a sense of style and enough action to keep fans mildly entertained.