Years ago I liked some of Segals work for the simple action. But, this movie is simply an insult to the intelligence of the viewers. Somebody should have offered some sort of advice to the crew responsible for this. Just about any aspect of this movies is poor. I strongly suggest you skip this one.

I wish I could meet Steven Seagal, not only to ask for his autograph but also to sit down with him and discuss what's made his recent string of movies so disappointing for even a devoted fan like me. I would use BORN TO RAISE HELL here as an example, being sure to compliment the film's strengths but also making clear to him exactly what about it sucks. I'm not so naïve to believe that Seagal is in total creative and technical control of each of his features, but perhaps I could convince him to take a more hands-on role in their production and perhaps aikido-chop the idiots who are truly responsible for the lackluster nature of some of these movies.The plot: An international drug task force operating out of Romania, headed by ex-Interpol agent Samuel Axel (Seagal), sets its sights on bringing down the operations of a deadly and sadistic gang of drug traffickers...People who don't like Steven Seagal by default are going to hate this movie. Seagal occupies most of the scenes (perhaps still making up for his absence throughout most of AGAINST THE DARK?) and his character is boisterous, arrogant, and most of the other characters cow to him in one way or another. Surprisingly, I found myself appreciating this: a supercilious Steven is still more fun to watch than the detached, bored-looking dope he played for a while in movies like FLIGHT OF FURY. However, whatever effort he seems to have made for this film is marred by extensive dubbing of his voice - something not present in his movies to this degree since the picture I just mentioned. There aren't any other real technical snafus to be seen, but further post-production add-ins like nonstop slow motion, freeze-frame shots galore, and way too many time-killing collage scenes continue to have the movie feeling more like Seagal's trash pictures of yesteryear, moving him further and further away from the high standard he had achieved with URBAN JUSTICE.The action scenes are composed mostly of boring shootouts, but there are a couple hand-to-hand encounters which, while not too flashy, feature Seagal doing just about all of his own moves and getting some good aikido throws in. There's also an impressive instance wherein he kicks a thug so hard that the man flies about six feet through the air before crashing through a bench. These lead up to the finale with martial artist Darren Shahlavi, who had been running around the rest of the picture as the necrophilic, drug-dealing main villain. This is where things get *really* disappointing, to the point of costing my rating an entire star. Shahlavi had consistently delivered great physical performances in the past, and one of his most recent movies at the time - IP MAN 2, released on the same day as BORN TO RAISE HELL - featured him in some very good fights with Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung; in this one, however, he has one very brief fight halfway through the film before getting absolutely manhandled by Seagal during the climax. The fact that Shahlavi had just been in an internationally-acclaimed martial arts masterpiece makes this ugly and one-sided encounter more disappointing than Seagal's similar exchanges with Gary Daniels and Byron Mann: at least they didn't have any recent major successes behind them to live up to.At this point in our conversation, if I had been able to speak freely and if the rumors concerning Seagal's temper and ego were true, I figure he'd either have left the room in disinterest or he would have me by my throat. I'd quickly try to point out that the acting is decent in general and, despite being shot in Romania, the film's cinematography is less grey than I expected and pretty fun to look at...but would this be enough to save me? It certainly isn't enough to save the movie, which I fear can be shelved along with the growing number of failed DTV outings starring the Buddhist Bonecrusher. I doubt that I'll ever actually have this conversation with Steven, but I'm still holding out on the hope that he's going to get back on the horse and make it worth being a fan of his again; when this one came out, it really wasn't.

As anyone who has followed Seagal's career knows, some of his later movies have been less than fabulous. The reason for this, as far as I can see, is post-production editing. It appears that post-production editing in these movies has been done by inept morons who wouldn't know an action movie if it roundhouse kicked them in their minuscule balls, punched them hard on their weak chins, and then ripped out their tiny hearts.Anyway, BTRH has (thankfully) been released without having been neutered, and is a rock-solid action movie, with decent direction, plot and characters. The basic tale is an old one, but is well done. And it's great to see Mr. Seagal do what he does best (battering, maiming and killing) without the over-the-top slowmo fight scenes, or utterly unconvincing stand-ins (another post-production stupidity, designed to add a few seconds to the running time).I watched The Expendables the day after watching BTRH, and BTRH was, in my opinion, a better movie.An aside: this movie, and a few other of Seagal's movies, really would have benefited from being a little longer. I would have liked to have seen a little more back story of the main characters.

Here we go again, another Seagal DVD, made in Romania where low taxes mean it's cheap to film there. Steamroller Productions/Voltage Pictures have been cranking out these low-budget, time-killers quickly and because I've been watching Seagal's movies since I was a kid, I can't resist renting them, when they pop up at the video store.Born To Raise Hell is not an improvement over Seagal's recent DVD releases but it does have its good points. It has a more structured plot and better music than some of his previous work. The fight scenes were a little short but adleast Seagal was more involved in them than his body double. The obligatory climactic fight was also over pretty quickly and the main bad guy didn't meet a very satisfying death. The shoot-outs were okay. I liked the gun-smoke in the air during the climactic shoot-out, but there was absolutely no recoil or kick when Seagal fired his shotgun. For such a powerful weapon, this looked a little odd.These formulaic films always leave room in the budget for a small explosion or a car crash or both. In Born To Raise Hell a balcony blows up sending two guys to their death and as far as stunts go it looks okay.If you didn't like the look of Seagal's previous DVD efforts, then this movie will not win you over. If however, like me, you've become used to the look and style of these films, then you know what to expect. So just go along for the ride and take it for what it is. A low-budget, formulaic Seagal action film. The Storyline--Seagal is a drug enforcement agent in Romania. He's going after a fairly sadistic mid-level drug trafficker, named Castel, who enjoys bashing, raping, robbing and killing rich people. Using information from a low-level dealer and also a high-level trafficker, Seagal closes in on Castel. As expected in these type of films Seagal's partner is killed, making his mission more personal.I'd also like to mention Seagal's body double again. I've noticed in a lot of these DVD's that Seagal will be talking to somebody, then a rear head camera shot will reveal the body double, before the camera cuts back to Seagal's face. You don't need sharp eyes to spot this because the double's hairstyle never quite matches Seagal's hair. I'm pleased to say that in this movie the double is less obvious because Seagal wears his jacket collar pushed up. This hides the neck and hairline making the double less of a standout. This was a good move on the production teams part to help hide this annoying problem. There is also a little bit of voice dubbing in the film, mainly at the start, but adleast the voice sounds similar to Seagal, unlike some other films of his.P.S---I hadn't watched Seagal's first movie 'Above The Law' in quite a while, so I decided to put it on the other night. I noticed that his hair looks like it's balding from the front, his hair also looks very thin. His hair these days is very thick and full as if he's wearing a hair piece or uses spray on hair, maybe he had some kind of surgery? His hair is just so thick and fake and he doesn't have the high forehead, thinning hairline that he had back in 1988.Also in 'Above The Law' Seagal sure could run and he looked thin, healthy and fit. Nowadays he can only manage a short lumbering jog and his face and stomach are bloated. Sometimes his face is so puffed up that it looks like he's had an allergic reaction to some bad shell-fish.Well enough about that. Lots of people put on weight as they get older. I like Seagal and I'll continue to watch his DVD's and other projects he brings out. He is less than a year away from turning 60 years of age and I wish him all the best for his future endeavours.