The Keeper (Keoni Waxman, 2009)

Starts with a little stand-alone plot which just serves as an introduction of Seagal's character Roland. He's a SWAT member and not only that - "he's the inspiration of every guy who joined this elite team". A bit disappointing bad-ass induction statement (usually they get much more colorful) but we don't need to question his capabilities because there's a camera shot that scans his formidable collection of  awards and certifications. Usual stuff from martial arts to explosive handling...

It soon evolves into pretty formulaic "guy-wisiting-an-old-friend-in-troubles" type of shit. But it's done pretty well, this time story is totally straightforward and easy to follow. Which is welcomed because this was not always the case in his DTV career. Also location set in the Texas offers brighter tone to the movie comparing it to recent Eastern European bleak settings.

Action is more than decent although I would estimate it favors shootings over martial arts in a ratio of about 70% to 30%. Still there are some broken arms and Seagal is much more violent than usually. I did miss a final encounter between him and one of the main villains who's supposed to be a big time boxer. He's really an asshole (doing drugs, cheating and even selling-out his girlfriend) and I was looking forward to Steven kicking his boxing-ass with his martial arts techniques but for some reason it just doesn't happen. So I guess I need to correct myself a bit about this movie being too formulaic.

6/10