Weaponized Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Tom Sizemore, Mickey Rourke, Johnny Messner, Jon Foo

Director: Timothy Woodward Jr

Format: Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Number of discs: 1

Rated:

Unrated

Not Rated

Studio: Cinedigm

Release Date: March 1, 2016

Run Time: 91 minutes

 

        Do I even need to expend energy criticizing this atrocious entry into low budget action? Merely seeing that Tom Sizemore and Mickey Rourke are crammed onto the film’s poster despite minor supporting roles should give you an idea of the B-film tactics used to try tricking audiences into accidentally viewing the film. This might even work for some, but anyone who has been following the career of these two fading stars knows that this is familiar pattern in their careers. And if their inclusion on the poster is not enough proof that the marketing department probably never saw the film, Rourke is featured standing on the cover, despite being handicapped and confined to a wheelchair within the film.

 

        There is a lot of posturing for the release of B-films these days, Weaponized even released in theaters one week prior to this DVD/Blu-ray release, no doubt to obtain a modicum of credibility. This ends up being the biggest problem with Weaponized, and many of its kind. The film takes itself far more seriously than the content or the ability of the filmmakers deserves. B-films of the past knew not to take themselves too seriously, or if they did it usually ended up being unintentionally hilarious. Weaponized attempts to make political statements about terrorism within a ridiculous science fiction narrative involving robot soldiers, bio-mechanical weapons, and a virus threatening to unleash this technology on innocent citizens. Even if the themes have some relevance, the lack of skill by the actor-turned-director ensures that nobody will take it seriously.

 

        Johnny Messner is the real star as Detective Walker, a cookie-cutter damaged cop who is forced to step up and save the world when he discovers the plot being carried out by grieving father and military contractor, Kyle Norris (Sizemore). The only thing more ridiculous than Sizemore’s character name is the costume and make-up job given to Rourke, who is the developer of the bio-mechanical weapons program. Much of the movie is just a series of pointless investigation scenes, all of which are spoiled by simply reading the synopsis included on the back cover of the disc.

 

        Most don’t watch these movies for the acting or the intelligent plot, but the action is no more satisfying. There are some random scenes of military violence which are over-stylized, some science-fiction elements that are under-stylized, and all of it edited together by someone with absolutely zero understanding of rhythm or logic. Even the portions of the film which are fairly well shot are spoiled by nearly every other technical aspect of the film, not to mention the stupidity of the screenplay and the ineffectiveness of the actors. In other words, unless you are stranded in a cabin without TV or any other choices, I would avoid this film at all costs. Boredom would be better.

 

        The Blu-ray special features include five deleted scenes and a trailer. The high definition provided by the disc is more likely to harm the film than help, showing with more clarity the number of failures in the technical aspects of filmmaking.

 

Entertainment Value: 1.5/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 2/10

Historical Significance:  0/10

Special Features: 2/10



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