Mercenary for Justice (2006)
★ — Mercenary for Justice (2006)
By 2006, Steven Seagal's theatrical career was effectively over, and films like Mercenary for Justice were the result: direct-to-video programmers churned out under the Millennium Media/Emmett-Furla banner, a partnership that became notorious for packaging faded action stars into low-overhead productions aimed squarely at the foreign sales market and DVD rental shelves. Director Don E. FauntLeRoy was a longtime cinematographer (he'd shot several earlier Seagal vehicles) who transitioned into directing precisely this kind of product, and he'd go on to helm a string of further Seagal titles through the late 2000s. The film was shot largely in South Africa, a popular destination for productions seeking cheap locations and favourable exchange rates. At a reported $15 million budget, it sits at the higher end for a straight-to-video release, which makes the finished product all the more dispiriting.
This isn’t just one of the worst action films ever made, it’s like watching cinema give up on itself. Steven Seagal, doing his best impression of a man who would rather be anywhere else (including underwater, judging by the plot), sleepwalks through this sequel with all the energy of someone waiting for a delayed train. The action? Painfully slow. The dialogue? Worse than a Google Translate conversation. The plot? Something about mercenaries and betrayal and… was there even a script? It’s not just boring, it’s aggressively dull. Scenes drag on with zero tension, fights look like they were choreographed by a bored intern, and the whole thing feels like a direct-to-video leftover from the late '90s , even though it came out in the mid-2000s. There are bad action movies. Then there’s this, a film so lifeless, so utterly devoid of excitement or purpose, that you start questioning why you even bother watching movies at all. Save your time. Watch paint dry. Watch grass grow. Just don’t watch this.
Rating: ★ | Year: 2006 | Watched: 2025-05-20
Where to watch (UK)
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More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
