THE PACKAGE (Jesse V. Johnson, 2012)

[dolphage]

Well, I'm not giving up on it yet. It MIGHT be better than the trailer.

Dolph is great in that little interrogation clip.

[Jox]

Well, I'm not giving up on it yet. It MIGHT be better than the trailer.

I certainly hope so, it sure sure won't be groundbreaking but should be fun.

[leigh1975]

It just strikes me that this looks like one of those potboilers that fans usually complain about Dolph making, but everyone seems really excited... I just don't get it.

[Jox]

I wouldn't say I'm exited but the script though not great or original was good fun, Dolph's role has something interesting and Jesse Johnson is the guys to make this kind of stuff enjoyable. The project as a whole isn't better than ONE IN THE CHAMBER but I'm pretty confident I'll rate THE PACKAGE much higher and less dull. We'll see...

[Mosquito]

Sure it doesn't look like a new story but it's exactly the stuff Austin and Dolph do best. It has action and Dolph is great as a bad guy.

[Dida]

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-package.html

[bomaz]

Pushed back to april in france.

[Jox]

Tokyo theater listing
http://albatros-film.cocolog-nifty.com/ ... /post.html
(seems the movie premieres at Ginza Shinepatosu on Feb 9th first and then gets released on Feb 23)

http://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20130128/15/kamiyamaz/fb/01/j/o0378028312395520420.jpg http://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20130128/15/kamiyamaz/fd/19/j/o0269035412395522152.jpg

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/723295047.jpg?key=640480&Expires=1359881398&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIYVGSUJFNRFZBBTA&Signature=lTx30~BtuuFh8dGWkkcyEME1rzdg1Cz7-aF9EOXkHFLWME1LUOo-F2apY-6tEOxdFjcsUI1IvCGMCUXgcDzuUEQtZKK~5~9LOkVQmHsQhdgqY44AdbLcOoDtStZJvwx2NWs3NaZDD2G1A8~JSy4mq9Myhl5~jJGWU39pnexv4OI_

[Jox]

New clip (SPOILER)
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/9835384/e ... am_i_here/

Review
http://moviemavericks.com/2013/02/the-p ... 013-review

[Jox]

Found a U.S. one sheet on the MoviePosterDB for a February 15 theater release, maybe in a city or two?!
Anchor Bay already did that for ICARUS/THE KILLING MACHINE with no publicity remember?!



EDIT: Playing 1 week at the Laemmle in North Hollywood starting 2/15
http://www.laemmle.com/viewmovie.php?mid=8780

Anchor Bay releases:
http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/Films.aspx

HIGH-RES POSTER
http://www.anchorbayentertainment.com/i ... b65%7D.jpg

[Jox]

Sounds good to me:
http://theactionelite.com/movie-review/ ... kage-2013/

Positives: Great action, good performances and an interesting story.

Negatives: Needs more Dolph and Vancouver is a grey and depressing looking place to shoot.

Bottom Line: 4 / 5 - Rad

The Package spares no punches with great fight scenes that are brutal but not flashy. I’ve said before that my favourite kind of fight is not choreographed martial arts but just two guys fighting to survive.

There are several great fight scenes in this movie and the cast are giving their A Game all the way. The low budget means there is no shaky cam or lens flare to ruin it and the fights are hardcore.

Dolph is the villain, however he’s got a bit more of an interesting backstory than the usual bad guy and you almost sympathise him. I say “almost” because he radiates menace in every scene. I love how he’ll casually make a smoothie in a blender while talking about its ingredients just before killing someone. At 55 years old, Dolph can still kick more ass than the best of them and he does plenty of it in this movie.

His first scene in a restaurant starts off with two guys talking but of course ends with bloodshed. It’s extremely tense and builds up nicely. I would have liked to see more of him in the movie but when he’s on screen hes not over the top, but understated and threatening.

I have to give a shout out to Sean Murray who provides an excellent music score; it is a little like Inception in places but that’s no bad thing. It adds a greater sense of scale to the movie.

Overall, the Package is filled with bone-crunching action, Dolph Lundgren in an awesome dressing gown and some choice one-liners. If you’re a fan of old-school action, you’ll love it!

French edition

[Jox]

http://www.mediamikes.com/2013/02/blu-r ... e-package/

Film: 3 out of 5 stars
Extras: None
All you had to say here for get me sold is Steve Austin and Dolph Lundgren in an action movie together. Too bad it doesn’t heat up till the last 20 minutes. The film drags a bit but really gets going finally when the two action stars get together. There is such potential in this film for a real man’s man action shoot ‘em up and it does deliver but needs a little shot of Red Bell. Nonetheless, Steve Austin is badass (not a shock here) and Dolph Lundgren plays the kick-ass baddie as well.

Despite the film itself, Anchor Bay delivers a very nice Blu-ray presentation. The 1080p transfer is hot and works well with the action. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track really delivers as well and will have you dodging the bullets for sure. The release comes as a combo pack with both a Blu-ray and DVD of the film included. Lastly though, there are zero special features included on this release. If you are an action junkie and fans of these two greats, I would give this a watch just to see them battle it out.

Not even a 10 min making of like OITC?!

[leigh1975]

Just this second watched this... I won't say anything more than dull and anticlimactic.

[DRC2013]

I just saw it too and I wouldn't call it dull.

Granted I didn't have very high hopes going in, three week shooting schedule, generic sounding plot and a so so setting (dark and grey Canada), but I was pleasantly surprised.

I have heard a lot of good things from action fans regarding Jesse Johnson's previous movies, and even though I haven't seen them, I was really impressed by the directing here.

The fight scenes manage to avoid the usual problems they have in these DTV movies, bad coreography, visible doubles, bad editing.
They weren't groundbreaking or anything, but they worked fine and kept me interested.

Well okay, you could spot Dolph's double in one scene, but that's to be expected since he was on set for only a week, wasn't he?

I have seen all of Steve Austin's previous movies, and this has to be one of his best, if not the best, the role fits him great, he plays a tough guy, a brawler, but also gets to show his acting chops a bit.
He really isn't a bad actor at all, and he has charisma.
I would much prefer Steve Austin have the career Jason Statham is now having, I don't care for Statham that much.

I'm glad to hear that Jesse Johnson will direct Austin's next movie, I am looking forward to seeing it.

Now onto Dolph, I wasn't expecting much since it was reported that he was hired for only one week, and these one week barely above a glorified cameo roles tend to be more of a "okay I'm here, what's my lines, can I go home already?" quick paycheck kind of deals, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

Dolph really gives his all in this movie, he is a fantastic villain!

Even though he is a sadistic character, you almost feel bad for him in some scenes.

The first scene with Dolph in the restaurant had a great tension between Dolph and another character, it was a good scene with good direction, something you barely see in DTV movies.

Overall, this was a great DTV action movie.
Usually when I watch these movies I'll reach for the remote and fast forward through the boring bits, with this one I didn't have to do it.

Granted it's not all wall-to-wall action, there are quite a few "talky" scenes, but hey, it's a low budget movie.
The action scenes they do have are good though, and the directing is consistently good.

I hope Dolph gets to work with Jesse Johnson again in the future, he's one of the most promising directors coming out of the DTV land.
I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to move up to directing bigger budget movies in the future.

[Jox]

For the record Dolph was not there for just one week.

Jesse Johnson interview
http://theactionelite.com/2013/02/jesse ... interview/
Not so much on Dolph except that they technically lost half a day of work with him that they had to go and re-shoot...