Shrapnel

I always wanted to go to Texas to try their amazing barbecues, dress in tight jeans while wearing a cowboy hat and blend in with the Texas folks. It is possible i would visit a rodeo show or perhaps watch a country gig, after all if you are in Texas you want to experience as much as possible. A former working collegue of mine back in 2003 who´s name is Mathias he did travel to Texas. He showed me some pictures when this trip was done in the spring of 2003 and he had a really good time there. I remember he told me about one night while he and two of his American friends were drinking in a bar in El Paso, an older man in a pick up truck offered them to go to his home to drink more. That might have sounded like an ordinary invatation but it turns out he was trying to pick up younger men for his wife. He explained that he likes to watch men take his wife in bed, but Matthias laughed at this and was clearly not interested. They didn´t go with the older man in the pick up truck, but the fact that they were approached like this was insane by a complete stranger. Mathias told me though that the rest of trip was great and he really enjoyed his visit to Texas. The one thing he did admit was that he had too much beer on this trip and had a hangover almost every day. If i ever get to visit Texas i am more interested in knowing some of the history regarding Texas and their culture. Whenever i hear news regarding Texas it is usually regarding stories of immigrants who is trying to get into America. I have only seen border issues myself when i was at the border between Spain and Marocco, so i would imagine Texas does have a lot of challenges regarding the border. A lot of drugs are coming into America everyday even if border patrol is trying to stop illegal substances. Speaking of criminal acts, there is a film we barely hear much about these days that´s a really good crime drama called Narc starring legendary actor Ray Liotta and The Lost Boys actor Jason Patric. A cop film that´s both really well made and have powerful acting performances. If you like these kinds of films you should definetely check Narc out on streaming or physical media. Speaking of Jason Patric i did sit down to watch a film he made last year called Shrapnel, that takes place on the border between Texas and Mexico. Since i enjoy action films in a desert atmosphere i was curious to see if Shrapnel would be something in my taste. Is this an action film worth checking out or should you rather watch the 2017 action desert drama Revenge instead?

Former Marine Sean Beckwith ( Jason Patric ) finds out his daughter have been kidnapped by the Mexican cartel, Not knowing if she´s still alive or where she is being kept he decides to find out anything he can. The cartel finds out that Sean is looking for answers and they plan to make his life a living hell.

The best way to describe what kind of film Shrapnel really is would be to call it a throwback to action films of the 80´s and 90´s. There is no big plot here and this is a film more focused on the revenge of a father, a lot like we used to see from action films in the VHS rental stores. In many ways you could say that Shrapnel is a film that will most likely be appreciated by fans to classics such as the 1990 film Revenge with Kevin Costner. Not that they have similar plots or anything but the revenge theme shines very bright in both of these films. Let´s get into the details i enjoy most about Shrapnel and we have to start with lead actor Jason Patric as the lead action star of this film. He reminds me of a younger version of Liam Neeson where he makes sure that the mexican cartel knows he´s serious and is not afraid to risk his own life. There are some action scenes with Jason Patric that works surprisingly well that i did not expect, especially when it get really violent. Even if i have seen Jason do stronger acting performances such as in Narc i would still say he does a great job being an action star in Shrapnel. Actor Cam Gigandet ( yes the guy from the cool horror action film Priest ) works well in his character Max. This film looks good and i feel that they capture the Texas desert atmosphere really well with wide shots, especially during a ranch attack with the mexican cartel. Some of the actors doing the Mexican cartel characters manage to look evil and shows no remorse of causing chaos. Of course we have to bring up some negative things as well and let us begin with actress Keisa Elwin as the character Susan. Her performance is unfortunately weak and im sure she is a wonderful woman in real life, but she didn´t really do much with her character in this film. I feel that the dramatic scenes doesn´t add anything to this film, they could have skipped these scenes completely. Being the action fan that i am i had fun with Shrapnel, it may be silly and doesn´t bring anything we have not seen before but i just want lots of violence and bullets in a film like this and that´s what we get. Director William Kaufman ( director of the great action thriller Sinners And Saints ) knows what the action audience wants and deliver a film that VHS fans will appreciate. Tired of watching Love Island on TV? I suggest you let Shrapnel guide you to the true island where bullets do the talking.

Rating: DDD