Just so...so bad

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A US-made movie shot in Thailand, THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT seems to be something of a vanity piece for writer/star Rick Yune. Perhaps he was hoping to break out of the B-movie mould and become a modern-day Bruce Lee or something, I'm not sure, but this cheapjack rip-off of BANGKOK DANGEROUS was never going to do that for him.In fact, the wooden Yune is one of the most uninteresting things about the whole production. Yune seems to do much better when he's either in support or playing the bad guy, as he has zero charisma as the protagonist here. Still, the supporting cast are better, and there are a couple of nice turns from both Bokeem Woodbine and Keith David, although neither actor gets a whole lot of screen time.THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT is a typical B-movie action flick filled with shoot-outs and fight scenes, and as is usual the storyline comes second to the battles. Yune is a trained assassin who gets caught up in protecting a Jennifer Lopez-lookalike singer from a husband and wife assassin team (shades of MR & MRS SMITH). Sadly, the action is pretty poor, with dodgy choreography making things difficult to see, and there are only a couple of good fight scenes in the whole thing. It's clear to me that British director Jesse V. Johnson should stick to being a stuntman.

The Fifth Commandment is an average action movie. Not so good and not so bad. In the good side, its action sequences is quite well at one point. The movie doesn't make suck cinematography like some action DVD movie which make me fretful even the crew has a limited budget. Its drama scene also very good indeed especially between the brothers. Rick Yune and Bokeem Woodbine can make sense to me because of their imperfect lives. The movie is very proper in how to mix action and drama scenes.Not only that but also how the crew make some thrilling things like the role of Max "Cool Breeze" Templeton. He maybe the bad guy who is the mastermind behind everything but at last, he is the really father who care their child so much! However, in the bad side. The Fifth Commandment has some unreasonable section of its plot. First, Miles Templeton should not died too fast. I actually expect when he died that he would come back surprisingly in the climax to help his younger brother, but my guess is wrong which make me unsatisfyingly.Second, the movie is over the top in many point! Not only police in the movie who was killed too easily (Even in the police station!!!) but also the scene which Chance was tortured by the police. Hey! the story occurred in Thailand. Why you put some foreigner in that scene rather than use all of them Thai people? OK! They maybe police at all but that's very corny about some guy who was tortured in Thai police station by Thai police and foreigner police! (I mean those police in the movie only, not in reality.) And the last one, they make Thai police's look so bad! To be killed like a piece of cake and their barbaric action in Chance's torture scene. (I want to complain about that because I'm Thai people!) About the cast, even I feel unsuitable about Rick Yune's leading role because of his look, but I grant him later because his action is fit with the role. Roger Yuan has a fit look as the villain, not too much and not less than the standard. He makes me remember about Mr.Hertz in Shoot 'Em Up who died so hard and looks nasty. Bokeem Woodbine and Keith David also fit their role as well. However, Dania Ramirez's role as Angel is a little hecticness.For the overall, the movie is OK. It can entertain you better than some action movie which has a suck plot and cinematography. I hope you will enjoy with The Fifth Commandment!

I would just like to point out that the 5th Commandment on the Holy Bible is actually honor thy Father and Mother, not "Do not kill" as the theme song for the movie goes. So the title already sets the mood for the rest of the picture - a bit of a joke. I would like to know who came up with the title as they made a serious booboo? I went to the DVD store to pick out a fighting movie that we could all say "how cool was that?" to, but unfortunately i picked this movie. the cover seemed good but the explanation was slightly off, going into life theories and morals etc - not really describing what is to come. I was seriously disappointed in the acting abilities of the 3 main characters, especially Angel. They might as well have held the script up and read it straight with no emotion, because even no emotion is better than fake emotion. The one single part in Ong Bak where the guy fly kicks the other fighter and says the most cheesiest and random line ever "the mustang has galloped on your face" was still better than the entire 5th/6th Commandment Movie. Krystal

I was really mentally fatigued so i decided to spend the evening with something mindless, just dribble in fact. It turned out more than i expected but less than what i wanted it to be. Rick Yune if given a chance IE, left the writing to professionals and concentrating his efforts on his acting, has a real potential to be ranked amongst Chow Yun Fat and those type of actors, but his skill has to improve, as well as his close hand combat choreography. They attempted a hand to hand scene trying to pull off the Bourne and Asset fight off in the last movie, but it was too messy and not visually fluid like you would have expected. Clichéd dialogue and plot tears this movie to shreds. I mean Van Damme, Snipes, Lundgren have all exhausted this regurgitated storyline and see what happened to them. I must say the editing was OK for a bad movie. The girls were sexy as in any B movie, but i don't think we will ever see the lead actress (? Ramirez)again as her performance was so unrealistic and paper thin. She is an Ashanti type artist. She carries a 9mm in her stockings while she is in concert, i mean come on. I am an avid movie goer and this movie gave me an opportunity to exercise my movie analytic skills, eg what bad fight choreography looks like, or what a script should avoid etc etc. So much for a mindless evening, ironic isn't it.