Movie Review: Seized

credit: Seized

Scott Adkins is one of those stars that manage to hang with the A-list actors at times but appears bound and determined to keep pumping out direct-to-video movies that aren’t horrible but aren’t always that great. Seized is one of his many movies that does have a solid premise and enough action to be a lot of fun, but it also feels kind of generic in a lot of ways since it introduces a protagonist and his son and establishes that the wife/mother isn’t around, and then proceeds to create a dilemma between the father and son. Then, when a dart hits the protagonist in the neck, he wakes to find that his son has been abducted, and an unknown antagonist wants the hero, who is codenamed Nero from his days as an operative, to kill off rival cartel members that are known for their violent habits and tendencies. Not only does this stranger arm Nero, but he gives him a bodycam to wear and a bulletproof ride as well. One might actually question the sense of this, but the bodycam does kind of cover up the plot hole that’s opened when one thinks of how unwise it is to arm a person that is intent on recovering their child and has the skills to do it. 

credit: Seized

It’s not often that people get to see Mario Van Peebles these days.

Peebles used to be a big deal in the movies back in the 80s and 90s, but even his star kind of dimmed after a while since he didn’t appear to rise past movies like New Jack City and Solo. He’s not a bad actor, but he makes kind of a campy villain even if he’s not the worst of the worst. It’s almost as though the movie wants the audience to think that while he’s a bad guy, he’s not such a bad guy since he doesn’t traffic in humans. He’s not out to do anything other than consolidate power and perhaps stop all the infighting. That doesn’t forgive the kidnapping of Nero’s son, but then again, he does end up redeeming himself at least a little bit near the end of the movie. 

This isn’t the first time that Adkins has played a one-man army. 

In quite a few movies he’s starred in, Scott Adkins has been the tough guy, the one that no one can take down unless they bum rush him or manage to find a way to strike at a weakness. In this story, he’s fighting to save his son, and despite his reluctance to do the dirty work of another person, he ends up cleaning house when it comes to the cartels. Nero takes out one bad guy after another as his training kicks in, and his ability to silence the competition is put on display as he runs rampant through one area after another, doing as he’s been told to keep his son alive. When he makes his way to one final location, however, he’s taken by surprise and presumed dead by the man holding his son. When the cartel leader sends his people to mop up the rest, Nero escapes and fights way free to confront Peebles’ character, killing the operative that was working with him to avenge his wife. Yeah, there’s another story to go with the rest of this. 

credit: Seized

The main gripe with this movie is that it follows a pattern that Adkins has done more than once. 

It’d be nice to see Adkins break out and do something else at some point to make certain that he’s not just a one-trick pony that can’t do anything other than action. He’s been in other movies, and he’s tried to take on other roles, but they’re all action most of the time. Getting away from his comfort zone would be interesting to see since he did accomplish this just a little bit in Day Shift when he came in for a brief appearance. But apart from that, his biggest strength has been as the action hero that takes his lumps but can’t be stopped. Anything else has been kind of awkward since it feels as though he pushes things a little too much.

It’s not his worst movie. That’s something, at least. 

There are movies that are still out there showing what Adkins was like when he first started up in the industry, and yes, those are pretty bad. But like every actor out there, he had to start somewhere, and this is where he’s come to at this point in his career. Adkins has come a long way over the years, but these types of movies make one believe that he might have found his niche and is sticking to his comfort zone. It’d still be great to see him step out a little more often.