Steven Wilson sent this review in:
DVD Review: Hunt To Kill starring Steve Austin
Reviewed by Steven Wilson of MainEventRadio.com
Coming off his role in the box office smash hit The Expendables, Steve Austin is looking to continue his transition into the acting world with the straight to DVD release of the action thriller “Hunt to Kill”
This is the 3rd straight to DVD release which stars Austin in the leading role, the prior two being Damage and The Stranger, and much like the previous releases, this film takes a familiar route to an enjoyable yet somewhat “by the book” film.
Austin plays the role of US border patrol agent Jim Rhodes who is not only trying to get over the loss of his murdered partner but is also trying to raise his teenage daughter as a single father, which as you may guess with any girl of that age, is rebellious to the bone. This ends up getting both her and her father in some major trouble as Austin’s daughter is taken hostage by a group of criminals and when Austin’s character walks in on the kidnapping, he is forced into assisting the group in hunting down one of their former colleagues who is hiding out from them in the mountainous woods of Montana, a place that Austin knows very well having worked there on a daily basis.
As they embark on the hunt through the mountains, the movie begins to follow the typical storyline playout of the bad guys turning on eachother, and Austin’s character taking advantage of this to begin outsmarting them in a survival of the baddest type of situation. I couldn’t help but have a bit of a déjà vu feeling while watching the movie, That being said it is far from being a bad movie, in fact I enjoyed it very much as would any other Austin fan or fan of the action thriller genre. The timing and playout of the story is well done, and the climax is fast paced enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, but it was hard to kick the fact that I felt I had seen this before. Perhaps that’s the downfall of some movies in this day and age, where everything has been done before and even slight twists on the outline of what a thriller is supposed to be, still comes off as by the book.
Austin does play his role perfectly, perhaps because it’s designed for him as who wouldn’t portray Austin as a rugged, tough as nails guy who can kick your butt, but also the lead villain played by Gil Bellows serves as a bad guy whose performance compliments Austin’s role greatly.
DVD Bonus features for the standard DVD release of Hunt to Kill include audio commentary with Director Keoni Waxman and actor Michael Eklund, as well as a behind the scenes of Hunt To Kill featurette.
Having been a fan of Austin for many years, im glad to see that his acting career is coming along nicely, not every retired wrestling star gets this chance in the movie mainstream and starts to succeed, Austin is quickly establishing his own movie career, which may not get to the level The Rock has, but will certainly be a respectable one.
Hunt to Kill is out on DVD and Blu Ray November 9th from Anchor Bay Entertainment, For more information check out hunttokill-themovie.com.