Product: Logan's War: Bound by Honor (2004)
Rating: 2.0
"Okay, I give up - what is this stuff?!"
With his days of theatrical releases behind him, Chuck Norris' career revolved almost exclusively aroundWalker, Texas Ranger. His extracurricular output (i.e. DTV movies) seemed to consist mainly of favors to his sons and brother, but at least those were still technically Chuck Norris vehicles, unlike this one. "Logan's War" is a film with an identity crisis, wanting to be an action/revenge/mafia thriller on one hand and a quasi-inspirational drama on the other...but without Chuck Norris in the lead. I'm not a diehard fan of the man, but even I can tell that this would've been a better movie if the man featured most prominent only the DVD cover was also the man most featured in the movie.The story: after his family is murdered in a mob hit, Logan Fallon (Eddie Cibrian,Third Watch,Invasion) is brought up by his uncle Jake (Norris) to be a soldier and a man of honor. However, upon returning home as a military hero, he pursues his lifelong ambition to seek vengeance on the man who made him an orphan (R.D. CallYoung Guns II)...Not unlike his role inSidekicks, Norris plays the role of mentor to his fiery young protégé, whom this film really is about. Norris is consistently present for the first half of the movie, and then practically disappears until the very end. The false advertising of this one's cover - highlighting Norris' visage and billing him over Eddie Cibrian - is pretty disappointing: Cibrian is a decent leading man, but even at this point in his career, Norris would have been more exciting to watch. The mixed morality of the tale (i.e. Logan is raised to be a good man but can't be separated from his anger) is surprisingly mature and less black & white than most movie fare tends to be, but it contrasts inharmoniously to the motivational themes of unconventional families and military glory: scenes in which Logan rescues an officer under fire and befriends an abused boy, his mother, and their dog almost feel like they're from a different film than the ones in which he schemes his way into the mob and beats up various enforcers. There's also a part thrown in about Logan being psychic, but it's an unnecessary addition and could've easily been left out of the movie.There's not a lot of action in "Logan's War", I'm disappointed to say. A couple shootouts and three mostly short hand-to-hand fights comprise the adrenaline centerpieces. Cibrian is surprisingly adept with his spinning kicks and sweeps, but just when you're starting to appreciate this guy's athletic ability during an encounter, the fight ends. Norris gets the coolest move of the movie by copying the flying kick through a car windshield of his ownGood Guys Wear Black, but a couple acrobatic takedowns by his character are clearly performed via stunt doubles. Slow motion is excruciatingly overused. The film's production is clean but clearly of made-for-TV quality, what with the aforementioned red filters, slow motion, and the opening credits stretching throughout the first fifteen minutes of the movie. The acting is passable, but no single character is all that interesting.There's nothing very wrong with "Logan's War", but it's just not intriguing enough to get a higher rating. Norris fans can do better, and they would probably be the only ones who'd be interested in this movie in the first place. Keep looking.