Born to Raise Hell

• Directed by Lauro Chartrand
• October 18, 2010 (UK) / April 19, 2011 (US)

A US drug cop in Bucharest faces a Russian gun and drug trafficker and a Gypsy gang leader specializing in home invasions of the young and rich. Guess which is actually the honorable criminal of the two.

So Steven Seagal is part of a post 9/11 anti-drug task force designed to break up drug rings in Eastern Europe and can apparently move about quite freely without having to worry about sovereignty and international borders. Does this man know how anything works? I know liberties must be taken with reality in any action-oriented movie but there is not even the sheen of plausibility in this scenario. And he wrote it!

And the initials of his fictitious agency are IDTF which stands for International Drug Task Force. DTF for a short. And if that’s not enough of a hint to allude to what I was thinking the first time I saw the letters on the jackets I don’t know what more help I can give.

Seagal’s character of Robert Samuels is a man dedicated to his work to the point of not giving two s***s about his wife that’s apparently living in England and young enough to be his daughter. He is focused on avenging his dead partner. Not sure how the guy died but a man that is overweight and pushing retirement with fake hair and a spray tan is ignoring the young thing that can’t act and is practically throwing herself at him? Really? What was going on between him and his partner?

While there is not a scene where several characters go on about how awesome Seagal’s character is there is a scene where a character-a new informant named Sorin (Claudiu Bleonț)-goes on about how obvious it is how tough and streetwise Samuels is. I was expecting Sorin to get down on one knee and propose. Bleont is far away the most talented person in this movie and through acting along with perfect delivery turns this side character into the most plausible person appearing in this movie.

And then there is our Russian mobster with the heart of gold. Dimitri (Dan Bădărău) is a Russian mobster who runs drugs and guns so naturally he is a nice guy with just because he has a wife and kids. Huh? So did Al Capone and Pablo Escobar. Dimitri is unstable enough that he headbutts a car window to fake an assault but he is cool. Really?

After watching this, I’m left with a feeling this was initially a run-of-the-mill movie. Nothing special about it but nothing bad about it either. This was written by Sensei Seagal who created something that was safe. But being cheaper to film in Eastern Europe Steven Seagal created a completely nonsensical agency in order to cover the use of a cheaper production locale. At its core the story is just a very special episode of your average police procedural.

There was something almost special in Born to Raise Hell. Despite the questionable logic and low budget this was entertaining. Seagal is not even close to the quality of his heyday, but not nearly as bad as some of his other direct-to-video efforts. With maybe a little more money or a little polish on a few things in front of as well as behind the camera this could’ve been something to be proud of. Instead it’s like that family member that’s trying real hard but not quite doing it. You’re not ashamed but you’re not bragging either. 

There really are a lot of shots in a strip club here. Then again what is a Steven Seagal movie without a visit to a strip club? I am curious how much that man goes to such places in real life. How is it so normal for him?

Born to Raise Hell, while not great, is not massively disappointing. It’s close enough to quality that you won’t feel disappointed. If you enjoyed Steven Seagal’s early work when he was a somebody this might appeal to you. But for the general moviegoer, move on.