One in the Chamber, 2012.
Directed by William Kaufman.
Starring Dolph Lundgren, Cuba Gooding Jr., Claudia Bassols, Billy Murray, Leo Gregory and Louis Mandylor.
SYNOPSIS:
A seasoned assassin plays both sides in a Russian gang war and becomes the target of an unknown enemy.
With so many action gods in The Expendables 2, and many of whom have been consistent video legends over the last few decades, there was bound to be a slew of releases out to cash in on the big budget draw of the film. There have been re-releases aplenty, long awaited releases to the DVD format, and brand spanking new DVD premieres out with many an Expendable attached. Dolph’s had his fair share. In the space of 5 weeks, Expendables 2 aside, he’s had three new releases scheduled with firstly Pentathlon, then One in the Chamber and Stash House coming within a week of each other. It may be a little cynical but it’s bound to rake in the money as people stepping out of the big screen circus show of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris et al. will step into the local supermarket and spot more action star carnage in the DVD chart.
One in the Chamber is a pretty simple flick which pits Cuba Gooding Jr’s assassin against two rival criminal gangs as well as rival assassin “The Wolf” played by Lundgren. The basic premise should allow for plenty of mindless carnage, and to a large extent the film delivers. Director William Kaufman (Sinners and Saints) injects enough flair into the action to make this enjoyable, whilst there’s ample fights and shootouts for Cuba and Dolph to get in on.
Cuba Gooding Jr.’s post-Oscar (Jerry Maguire) career seemed to descend from poor family movies to po-faced straight to video action thrillers. He’s a good actor given the right role. Here as a hardened, haunted assassin he just seems a little mis-cast. It’s a role made for an action star really. Cuba’s starred in a fair wedge of action flicks in the video market, but doesn’t really have the presence that someone like Lundgren does. There’s an enigma required – a larger than life persona and the real deal background you get with martial artists like Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. Then there’s a feeling that someone like Cuba, as brilliant as he was in Jerry Maguire, is a little wasted in such two dimensional roles. Here he’s too humourless and there’s no script to help flesh out his character. The film takes itself far too seriously without any depth to back it up. It starts with Cuba and works its way down the cast list.
Lundgren steals the movie quite easily. It’s actually one of the best characters he’s played. Sadly it happens to be in an average film somewhere in the lower middle of his CV if ranked by quality. Decked out in a Hawaiian shirt, white fedora as a character with a distinct love of Sinatra, Lundgren revels in chewing the scenery as antagonist. He has great fun and his character despite his questionable morality, actually ends up as the most likeable. The action caters well to Lundgren too. He’s got a few chances to shoot up the place and also gets to use his martial arts a little in a couple of fights, including a reasonable face of with Cuba. Most interestingly though with this and his role as Gunnar Jensen, Lundgren proves he’d be very adept as a comedy character actor given the chance. Elsewhere the cast are mostly playing caricatures of overly serious Russian gangsters.
There’s enough action here to make the film worth a watch but it just lacks a standout set piece to enliven a sagging middle. The film also takes itself far too seriously and needs an injection of humour. Dolph is the only thing with character in this and he’s funny but we need more. That said, as far as straight to video action flicks go this is above average and delivers just enough efficiently made action to satisfy genre fans. Friday night with a pizza and a few beers and you won’t go too far wrong with this.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Tom Jolliffe
