Steven Seagal plays ex-CIA agent Jack Foster, who arrives at a Romanian airport with his 8 year old daughter Amanda (played well by Skye Bennett). However the holiday starts badly as a car bomb goes off. This is a spectacular explosion. Amanda is kidnapped (or is she?) by Anya (Eva Pope). Eva Pope is very easy on the eye and handles her role well. It's good to see Seagal employing a few good actors.Jack's father-in-law George (Michael Elwyn) has smuggled out the formula for a bio-warfare chemical that the CIA, the Romanian mafia and the Romanian cops all want for differing reasons and everyone suspects that George has used either Jack or Amanda to smuggle it into the country.Jack now searches for his daughter. Ambassador Cochran is looking for her too. Amazingly, Imelda Staunton fitted this rubbish in between Vera Drake and Harry Potter! Jack is also being chased by former CIA colleagues including Harry (Vincent Riotta).There are lots of shootings, fights, torture. Usual stuff. Seagal is again bloated, slow, has a strange skin colour and mumbles his dialogue. Having said that, I have seen him worse, which probably shows I've been watching too many of his films.Director Michael Keusch uses the 'modern' style of quick cut editing and shaky camera moves but you get used to it. The script is by Steven Collins, Joe Halpin and Seagal. It's a bit predictable but this isn't Shakespeare. It's Seagal.

The film has nothing to do with the title. The plot is simple. His daughter is abducted and he is running around, beating the crap out of people to find his daughter. Seagal is slow, monotone, emotionless... he uses Tai Chi in fight scenes, extremely boring. Other actors are also bad, nothing special... just there for being paid. It's very interesting to see actress Imelda Staunton here... what a hell is she doing here?! In this straight do DVD crap? She is a good actress that deserves more better films. Seeing her and Seagal in scene... it was a pretty large fail... that was so unbearable... I bet she was disgusted by Seagal's "performance"... There's nothing special to say about this film... it's incredibly boring and impossible to watch. Do something better... for example go beat the crap out of your dog... much more fun.

I'll repeat this again: I like Seagal. But he's not trying anymore. You got the photoshopped head on the covers, retitles every two seconds, and the big man once again shows he's not going to World Gym. I have a Steven Seagal DTV addiction. I need to go to S.S.A. {Steven Seagal Anonymous} This time around: Jack Foster (You know the guy I'm talking about) is an ex-cop on a mission to save his daughter from terrorists. Same old, same old.When Steve was making films with Warner Bros. in the mid 80's-90's, all of his films were professionally made. Now since 2001- and present day, his films look terrible. They are shot in Romania or Bucharest or some foreign country with tax breaks. The green screen during the chase scene is horrendous. On the plus side, it looks like Seagal lay low on the stunt doubles this time around, and the climax is unintentionally funny.It's better than "Attack Force" but not as good as his DTV peak "Belly Of The Beast".One more thing: You can make some lame jokes at his expense with the title: He's a "Shadow" of his former self, or he casts a big "Shadow". Your choice.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

The former CIA agent Jack Foster (Steven Seagal) travels to Bucharest with his daughter Amanda (Skye Bennett) and his father-in-law George (Michael Elwyn) to spend vacations in Romania. In the airport of Bucharest, Jack sees his daughter being kidnapped by the taxi driver Anya (Eva Pope) and the limousine of George exploding. He chases the taxi with the CIA agent Harry (Vincent Riotta) and he finds that different groups believe George gave him the research of a lethal virus. While trying to rescue his daughter, Jack is entwined in a network of traitors and criminals that are disputing the powerful biological weapon and he has to fight to survive."Shadow Man" is another messy and noisy movie of Steven Seagal. The screenplay is terrible with an awful development of the characters and the situation, and along the first fifteen, twenty minutes, the viewer does not know what is happening. The cast is above average, highlighting the awarded Imelda Staunton and Eva Pope, but unfortunately the story is not good. I found funny to see the character of Steven Seagal with a girlfriend (with a wonderful body) and having a romance with Anya, since it is unusual in his movies this type of situation. The locations in Bucharest are very beautiful and with a better screenplay, this film could have worked. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "O Homem Sombra" ("The Shadow Man")