The Keeper (2009)

I was so close, SO close. I almost settled on a 7/10 for this one, a Seagal movie from 2009 that really didn't suck and really proved to be genuinely entertaining for most of the runtime. Sadly, it was still held back by a few things. Like trying to convince us once again that Steven Seagal is the greatest person to have ever lived and we should all be thankful for his presence - he is Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Buddha rolled into one. Or so he would like us to think. There was also a poor opening section to get through and the standard choppy editing during the action moments (which are, it has to be said, still very entertaining and fan-pleasing).

Seagal plays an ex-cop named Roland Sallinger who is invited to Texas by a friend to guard his daughter after an attempted kidnapping. Seagal is happy to help, also beefing up the security system around the home of his friend, upsetting some local law enforcement and generally being the embodiment of awesomeness that he always strives to be.

With a touch of humour throughout, a decent premise that deviates just enough from the 101 other Seagal movies and good pacing, The Keeper is a solid action movie that deserves to be seen by more than the handful of die-hard Seagal fans who seem to be the only ones left keeping him in any kind of career.

Written by Paul A. Birkett and directed by Keoni Waxman, the film falls into a few of the usual pitfalls that appear in ever Seagal movie but makes up for this with the energy and fun factor of many other moments. The cast are all pretty decent, compared to past efforts starring our leading man, and Liezl Carstens is also easy on the eye, which helps.

A few more movies like this, and a few less like the abominations he has foisted upon his loyal audience, and Seagal may yet prove that his career deserves the faint pulse that it, miraculously, still has.

6/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keeper-DVD-Arron-Shiver/dp/B002KAIVVI