The Age of Commercialism

hyped garbage

Good start, but then it gets ruined

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

7 Seconds is set in Bucharest in Romania where ex US special forces turned thief Jack Tuliver (Wesley Snipes) & his gang hold up three Vanderbrink armoured cars each containing millions in casino takings, Tuliver's elaborate plan works & his gang steal twenty million however while making their getaway they are held up themselves & are all killed except for Tuliver, his girlfriend Suza (Georgina Rylance) who is kidnapped as a hostage & Spanky (Deobia Oparei). Tuliver is pursued & while dodging bullets comes into contact with British Sgt. Kelly Anders (Tamzin Outhwaite), with Tuliver on the loose & Anders under suspicion of being his accomplice she sets out to discover the truth behind the robbery & arrest Tuliver who himself sets out to get his girl back & find out who set him & his gang up & find out if all the double crosses & twists have anything to do with the sixty five million dollar Van Gough painting also stolen from the armoured cars...This American, Swiss & English co-production was directed by Simon Fellows who is also credited as director of photography I didn't have that high a hopes for 7 Seconds going in to it but I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I liked it, sure it isn't any sort of masterpiece but it's a fairly fun fast moving action thriller. First of all I have to query the title 7 Seconds which means absolutely nothing in context with the film itself, there is no 7 seconds anything in this so why it's called that I have no idea. On to the film itself & it starts off at a brisk pace with an elaborate heist to steal millions of dollars, a double cross, a shoot-out & a car chase all in the first twenty five minutes & then the film didn't go in the directions I thought it would. Snipes lets the woman go & while he beats people up to get to the truth she uses her police authority to solve the crime & I quite liked the two distinct & opposite concurrent narrative. There's a subplot about a possible Van Gough painting, a couple of decent twist's at the end & some smart action scenes including a fight in which Snipes takes on two bad guy's with his hands tied behind his back. The character's are slightly better than usual for this type of offering with Outhwaite's British cop coming across well with personality & a little depth. Some of the plot is a bit muddy, who the actual main bad guy's are & some stuff about two couriers & a painting expert get a little lost but then again I never said it was perfect, did I?There's one or two good action scenes here with a fun if implausible car chase (you can't jump over another car by travelling backwards into it) & some well choreographed fights & shoot-outs. This is certainly better than I expected & better than the normal for these direct to video action thrillers filmed in Eastern Europe which seem to be everywhere.The IMDb reckons 7 Seconds had a budget of about $20,000,000 which seems like a lot to me & would be surprised if it was that much. Film in Bucharest in Romania. The acting is alright, there's a few bad accents here which can make it hard to understand what people are saying but it's hardly taxing stuff anyway, British actress Outhwaite is a regular face on British telly & pops up all the time over here in all sorts of things & it's strange to hear her swear but also rather amusing at the same time.7 Seconds is a film which surprised me, I had very low expectations going into it but I did enjoy it for what it was & think it's one of the better direct to video action films although that in itself isn't saying much. Bottom line it I liked it, it ain't the best film ever made but it ain't the worst either.

Sure, I sound like I don't know what I'm talking about, but I do trust me. The only real reason everybody is hating on this film is because it's a DTV movie. But you could watch it and not know that at all because it's just about as good as other Action movies currently out there. Now, I know Wesley Snipes has been losing most of his appeal due to questionable roles and the recent bombs "Blade: Trinity" and "Unstoppable ( A.K.A. 9 Lives )." But I saw him in this film and a film, that has yet to be released in the U.S. called "Chaos." Anyway, this film never lets up on the thrills and is probably worth seeing for anyone into Crime Thrillers as well because this film is all about heists, car chases and back-stabbings. If you're not into that sort of thing thats been done before in "Ronin" and "Ocean's Eleven" then you won't find anything different here. For fans of the last two films I mentioned, you might find your needs satisfied here. Director Simon Bellows uses slick video-editing and electronic music to accompanie the martial-arts and gun battles & he does a solid job w/ what he has to work with. Beware, even though I saw this on USA cable network edited, it is still a pretty violent flick w/ suggested sex & f-bombs ( I could tell what they just said even though it was bleeped out on regular T.V.) so I recommend this for more mature viewers. Rent it or watch it when it airs on T.V. because it's a decent hour-and-a-half of your time.

Point 1: Good action. Wasley Snipes delivers nicely. Great close combat moves. Point 2: Obviously not the biggest budget possible for this movie. And still a very good movie. Point 3: Action movies always have those unbelievable characters and actors who have been hired not so much because of how they act than what they look like and what they can do physically. No exception here. Point 4: Plot was simple and straight forward with a nice twist at the end. I'd say the script was adequate for a movie gone straight to video. Point 5: This movie delivers exactly what you expect from a movie in this genre. Period.Now that you judge this flick in it's context (B-movie), you realize it's really not that bad people say it is. Expectations are too high only because they see Wesley Snipes at the opening credits. Throw your prejudice in the corner and see this movie for what it is; Good clean above average action.

I'm not too sure if this comment contains spoilers so you have been warned anyway.I rented "7 Seconds" on DVD today. As I inserted it into the DVD tray, grabbed the remote control and layed back on the sofa I was anticipating an hour and a half of high octane gun-fights and car chases, a movie with an exhilarating storyline and some sublime stunts from the great Wesley Snipes. Is this what I got I hear you ask? Was it heck! From the very start of the movie it looks like a decent action film but I was hoping for a lot more. Amongst the midst of things there was - I think - two exciting car chases and some good gunfights...but nothing fresh and new. Just the same old. The plot of this movie seemed to be quite bland and again it seemed like your basic everyday action flick. Good cop (or in this case military officer) turns bad and runs off with the bad guy for them to live happily ever after with everything they could ever want...blah de blah de blah. So £3.50. Was it worth that amount of money and an hour and a half of my time? Well...yes as a matter of fact. There isn't many modern action movies around which could offer a lot more and I have seen worse! For a DVD Rental...yes. To buy...no, unless you like building up collections and see it lying in a bargain bin somewhere. An average film...average plot and average acting but I know Snipes can do better than this. So until he does then rent this and you can moan about how bland this film was later.My Rating : An average 5/10