Essential
Summary
Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s is a love letter to some forgotten action movie gems from the early 2000s and is a perfect checklist for movies you need to watch if you haven’t already. Essential stuff!
Plot: Globetrotting mercenaries! Ruthless assassins! Sci-fi apocalypses! Cyborg ninjas! Ex- Special Forces Operators! Real badass scumbum cops! Down-and-dirty hand-to-hand martial arts brawls! Car chases! Gun battles galore! Knife fights! Explosions! All of that (and more!) is what makes up the direct-to-video action movie genre, especially early 2000s DTV action flicks. But what early 2000s DTV action flicks are worth your time? Let author and B-movie enthusiast Bryan Kristopowitz and his book Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s fill you in. Showcasing fifty full reviews of early 2000s DTV action flicks featuring such badass action stars as Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, Mark Dacascos, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Scott Adkins, Olivier Gruner, and even Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr., Not Coming to a Theater Near You! will help you discover, rediscover, and celebrate the sort of movie that used to fill the shelves of video stores and now can be found on myriad streaming services. So what the heck are you waiting for? Some of the best of the direct-to-video action movie genre awaits you. They’re just not coming to a theater near you!
Review: Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s is the kind of book anyone who is a fan of this site should own. Focusing purely on the Straight to Video market of the early 2000s (thus the name), this book is almost a checklist of must-see gems from that era.
Movies covered include Hero Wanted, The Shepherd: Border Patrol, Missionary Man, Crooked, Submerged, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Ninja, Command Performance and many more.
I’m surprised Undisputed 2 and 3 aren’t in here, but aside from that there are indeed some choice movies in this book. The introduction from Jesse Johnson is fascinating as he laments how the industry has changed so much in recent years while also discussing Roger Corman’s belief that an action film should have an action scene or nudity within the first 8-10 minutes, and I’d have to agree.
I like how Brian defends Straight to Video movies as there has always been that stigma attached to them, however, by ignoring a lot of these movies you are missing out on some genuinely entertaining movies. These days it’s usually the only way to see real old-school action pictures as they rarely get released on the big screen outside of Statham flicks.
Brian is an excellent writer, and he’s clearly watched more movies than me from that era so like I said, I’ll be using this book as a checklist to cover these movies in the future.
I love seeing Chad Law discussing Hero Wanted and how he started off writing horror scripts before moving to action.
Overall, if you love the action genre then you need to add this book to your collection as Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s makes for an easy read with entertaining reviews and insightful interviews making this a must read.