After an attack on her parents, a pre-teen girl has to be put under protective custody. The man put in charge of her safety is Jack Devlin, a U.S. Marshal who has no experience with kids. Sounds like a pretty standard, cliché setup for a made for TV flick, doesn't it? What do you mean, it could be a sit-com? Huh... I suppose it could. I digress. In the hands of John Woo it... well, it looks a whole heck of a lot better and more stylish than it would otherwise. He definitely brings his brand of over-the-top, visually amazing action to this. The shoot-outs certainly bring this up to being worth at least a single rental for any fan of his. Ultimately, however, the weak premise drags it down, and there aren't actually all that many original gags in the fun, exciting and at times awesome fights, gun-battles and chases. It doesn't exactly help that the child grows irritating within the first few moments of the audience meeting her, and she's a pretty poor actor, as well. The editing and cinematography are quite nice, although obviously inferior to anything the director has done that wasn't this limited. I can't entirely determine if you can really tell that it was meant to be a pilot or not(apart from the ending leaving room for continued adventures). This does build tension well most of the times it tries to, and Lundgren is seldom disappointing in the lead of something like this. There is eye-candy for young males in this. I recommend this to those who want a serving of the unique and instantly recognizable aesthetic, even if it's not of the same level of quality. 6/10
Review of Blackjack
