Trailer—House of the Rising Sun

This film tries again to score with wrestling stars and fails, like most of those who dared to try it. A stupid movie that nobody needs.

The movie starts out like it is going to be a pretty good grindhouse. Tough guy Dave Bautista, as Ray walks through The Rising Sun, a strip joint in Grand Rapids. It has illegal gambling and prostitution upstairs. Ray is an ex-cop who just got out of jail and works for a guy named "Vinnie." While watching the door, some gunmen rob the place and shoot Vinnie's son. Vinnie wants Ray to use his police abilities to find the guys who killed his son, and bring them to him. As Ray investigates the murder, his suspects die, making it look like he is involved. In fact so many get shot and killed at one point I was laughing. As the police and Vinnie's boys hunt down Ray, Ray must try to solve the crime to a sound track of metal and hip-hop music. The grindhouse aspect of the movie wanes as it becomes an action/drama. Danny Trejo has a small role. In acting Baustista is above Steve Austin and Seagall, but he is no Vin Diesel. F-bomb, sex, nudity.

A crooked ex-cop working as head of security of men establishment (a cross between casino, brothel and lounge) has to deal with a robbery that costs the life of the owner's son. He gets blamed and is forced to investigate. Obviously it was an inside job and somebody is trying to benefit of the scheme. Dave Batista is not as charismatic as the Rock but is humble and likable. I never saw him doing the super-macho or super-hero. He plays his parts as just big regular guy not particularly bright. In fact he gets his ass kicked quite often. Craig Fairbrass, Amy Smart and Dany Trejo are always good particularly in small parts. Dominic Purcell is the type of personality that can play the bad or the good guy easily (but as baddie is better). So considering the pedigree; it is pity that the story get lost about half of the movie. The main character never realizes who is doing the betrayal neither some some skilled killers. So why the first half of the movie is promising; the second part becomes too obvious and not interesting as it should be. You can basically predict everything that happens. In brief; it is acceptable and never boring; but deserved a better script and perhaps a better director.

Well, "House of the Rising Sun" proves to be no grand thespian experience. I mean, just look at the cast ensemble, and you essentially know what you are in for. The story is about former dirty police officer Ray who is now working security detail at an illegal casino and brothel. After a robbery Ray finds himself framed for the robbery and murder and must go to extreme lengths to clear his name. It should be said that the movie is entertaining enough for what it was; a somewhat bland action movie that was running on autopilot and offering nothing to challenge the intellect of the audience. Now, I mentioned that this is not a grand thespian experience earlier, and with names like Dave Bautista and Dominic Purcell at the lead, well, enough said. Bautista moves about with the grace of a bull in a China shop, and Dominic Purcells hair just gets taller and taller with each movie. There were a couple of adequate action sequences here and there, but it was not sufficient to lift up the movie and bring it above mediocrity. If you enjoy action movies, then your money is better spent elsewhere if you want a movie with just an ounce of content. However, if you enjoy pointless and predictable movies that are devoid of anything to stimulate your intellect, then by all means spend an hour and a half on "House of the Rising Sun".

It's difficult to find a good starting point when it comes to this movie. As the author of the second review explains, the very beginning of the movie may have held some promise but the rest sure did not deliver anything better; it was all downhill indeed. I was amazed at the poor quality of the fight scenes, considering Bautista has the experience to deliver good fight sequences and has done so in the past. That can only mean one thing: production, editing and direction sucked. Okay, the script was as lame as the fight scenes; I would describe it as assembly line output writing or cookie cutter prose. In other words, the script also sucked. The pace of the movie is off; not fast enough when it ought to and chaotic when smooth is needed. If the director was a drummer in a band, the rest of the band would be better off with a "Sideman" (a.k.a. electronic drum/sequencer) and they'd kick him out the band. The cast had enough talent and experience to deliver what the production and direction would have asked, had the directors ask for the right things. Bautista is not quite ready to do dramatic scenes, yet it seems the directors (there were two no less) were determine to squeeze that ought of him. I'll bet Bautista could have directed and co-edited the fight scenes and produced better ones. Finally, Amy Smart was given another mediocre script; and again she did not pass it up. Aside from her amazing good looks, she can act the hell out of a part when it's a well written one; take for instance her role as Tracy Faucet in "The Rat Race (2001)", to name one that she can be very proud of. The whole cast was presumably given a script to read before accepting their parts; so all should share the blame for the poor result, unless of course the re-writes killed whatever life might have existed in the original version.

Nighttime shots of Grand Rapids, Michigan in winter. Huge Hulk talks to other people, then fights with them. Some fights he wins, others he loses. Then he talks to someone on a pay phone. (Where the hell did they find all those pay phones? I don't think there are that many pay phones left in all of the Midwest, much less Grand Rapids, Michigan. I swear they had to go buy some and tie them to streetlights with coat hangers.) Then he drives. Then there's some more nighttime shots of Grand Rapids, Michigan in winter. Then Hulk talks to some other people, then fights with them... repeat for 90 minutes. There, I just saved you the necessity of watching this dreadful movie. I watched this one late insomniac night on HBO because I noticed right away it was shot in Grand Rapids, and I'm a West Michigan guy. But the location is all it has going for it. There are just flat out ridiculous occurrences in the script -- the hero goes from driving a 1980s Oldsmobile from driving a 1990s Firebird or Camaro; no explanation given for the vehicle switch. Another time, he takes punches that would leave an actual human's face looking like lasagna, pro wrestler or no. He goes to visit his ex- girlfriend, who remarks that he looks like crap. Camera cuts to his face, and he has one tiny smidge of blood on his chin. Yeah, that's just awful. Finally, I'm a little surprised the city fathers in Grand Rapids didn't complain about the portrayal of their city -- who knew there was a gigantic four-story illegal casino and whorehouse in the middle of downtown, and the entire police force was among its best customers??

OK, I knew that one cannot expect too much from a flick that headlines Dave Bautista, but the DVD was cheap and the cover suggested a tag team of him and Danny Trejo. And they had a few decent B-movie stars to back them up. It looked like uncomplicated fun. Unfortunately, Trejo has no more than a cameo in this movie and plays virtually no role in the action at all. Bautista lacks the acting skills to carry the movie on his own, especially since the role does not exploit his considerable physical assets. The title also put me on the wrong foot, leading me to think this might be a precursor to Badasses on the Bayou. Nope, a lifeless wronged-cop-gets-retribution flick is what I got. Too bad about my one Euro.

A good movie if you are looking to kill some time. A movie with few surprises. I found the the love interest a bit unbelievable. Amy Smart did not deliver a convincing performance. One star for lots of breasts. Can't beat a topless bar for a local. Soundtrack was annoying. Some copy band screaming nonsense over and over was distracting. Fights...gun play..nudity and a short lived sex scene. Yes you could ask for more.

Ex wrestler Dave Bautista has been cast as Ray, a former cop and now ex- con working security in a nightclub. After he gets blamed when the club is robbed, he sets out to clear his name by trying to prove the robbery was an inside job. The crooked family who owns the club is trying to pin the crime on Ray, leaving Ray with little time to avoid being framed and eventually killed. Bautista should have stuck with wrestling, as his acting is flat, emotionless, and generally not believable. He looks like a useless meat head trying to get through his lines from the script while the rest of the actors slow down their pace so he can try and keep up. Even Amy Smart, who is usually pretty solid in her roles, is useless here. The one bright spot in the movie is actor Dominic Purcell, who plays Tony, part of the corrupt machine looking to take over the club's operations. I first watched Purcell in "Assault on Wall Street", and found his everyman character to be both understated and effective. But even he was limited in what he could do with such a weak script and weak leading actor.