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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
