Movie Review: Vendetta – I Just Didn’t Buy The Whole “Dean Cain, Badass” Thing

ven_6 - 22jun2015

Never in my life have I wanted to pat Dean Cain on the head and say ‘good try’ more than I do right now. I get that’s he’s trying to play a tough guy, but in my heart, he’ll always be Clark Kent. No, not superman. I mean he’s just so generically Clark Kent. There’s just something that’s so weirdly average about him.

He plays a great serial killer though. I’ll give him that. In fact, I think he might be one.

Back to the movie. Vendetta is a movie whose plot can be summarized by its name. It follows the same generic outline. Mason Danvers (Dean Cain) is a cop with a mission. His arch nemesis Victor Abbot (Paul “The Big Show” Wight) had his wife killed and now he had a vendetta to settle. Hence the name of the movie. Lucky for Danvers, Abbot’s in prison. So it’s off to jail for lots of bare knuckle fights and subtle innuendos about ass rape.

Let’s just admit that Dean Cain would be insanely popular in prison. While you’re trying to watch this movie, your mind will keep drifting back to that thought.

There’s no real plot to speak of. The entire thing is reliant on rapid fire action, which isn’t bad in and of itself. Cain spends most of the movie punching his way in and out of things. But he just kind of ruins it for me.

As a result, even though this movie has a lot of the things I like, shivs and punching and the like, the whole thing just rings so falsely to me that I can’t seem to get invested. I can’t make myself care.

ven_10 22JUN2015

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Even when Danvers loses his wife, I just kind of said “eh, saw that coming.” The fact is no happy couple at a beginning of a movie with a name like “Vendetta” gets to make it to the end. That’s just a Hollywood rule. The Big Show is pretty good, but his job is mainly to be menacing.

He does that by walking into a room.

But no matter how many beatings Danvers dished out, I just didn’t buy the whole “Dean Cain, Badass” thing. The fights were choreographed well. They looked gruesome and violent. This movie definitely has a mean streak. It’s just that Dean Cain doesn’t feel like he does.

If you’re looking for a gritty revenge thriller, I just can’t recommend this. It’s a formulaic movie and it should have worked. But Dean Cain as the lead just throws the whole thing off. As a result, it’s impossible to get into.

Maybe it’s all the years in Lifetime movies, but Dean Cain just feels softly menacing. He’s the kind of guy who buys you flowers…and then disposes of your body in a lake. When I see him playing a hard ass role, its more ‘charming sociopath’ not bare knuckle bad ass.

It’s a loud movie, with a lot of in your face, brutal action. It’s earned its R rating for the violence and f bombs dropped. It’s just that every time a bad word comes out of Dain Cain’s mouth, you’ll flinch. It’s like catching your mom rapping. It just doesn’t work.

WE GAVE IT : 3 STARS! Watch the Official Trailer and See the Official Movie Poster below

stars

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