Synopsis
When killers collide, every bullet counts.
A seasoned assassin plays both sides in a Russian gang war and becomes the target of an unknown enemy.
2012 Directed by William Kaufman
A seasoned assassin plays both sides in a Russian gang war and becomes the target of an unknown enemy.
Mordercze starcie, Souboj zabijáků, Last Bullet - Showdown der Auftragskiller, Balas Cruzadas, Una bala en la recámara, A Ultima Bala, Last Bullet, Shoot the Killer, Узник, Mordercze Starcie, Egyetlen golyó, Hra pro jednoho, 密室死斗, כדור בקנה, Çemberdeki Biri, A Última Bala, На мушка, 더 킬러스, Truy Lùng Sát Thủ, Vsaka krogla šteje, Lov na zabijaka, В’язень
William Kaufman focuses on sharp gunplay, fade to black editing, explosive action and easy to follow plot lines. He makes the best out of any hand he's dealt. With One In the Chamber, he gets one actor who tries, Cuba Gooding Jr, and one actor with natural charisma, Dolph Lundgren. The story of dueling hitmen working both sides of a Mafia war in Prague is extremely entertaining, and I had a blast watching.
You can show Cuba Gooding Jr the money, and he will give it his all. I like his character. However, he's no Johnny Strong when it comes to gunplay. He's serviceable with a weapon in his hand, but a tad bit sloppy. But, his effort triumphs his…
Decided to follow "The Channel" director William Kaufman back to his 2012 Direct to Video effort "One in the Chamber." Much like "The Package" from the same year, this is an early script from "John Wick" creator Derek Kolstad that features many of the same story elements that Kolstad would reconfigure and ultimately perfect with the Keanu Reeves franchise: there's an underworld assassin called 'The Wolf' that mobsters talk about with the same bated breath as 'Baba Yaga'; there's a handler character who looks and talks just like Ian McShane; hell, there's even a cute puppy (don't worry, nothing bad happens to it).
This is definitely a cut above your average DTV fare, though Cuba Gooding Jr. has always been…
William Kaufman has always been a competent action director and this is Derek Kolstads first credited screenplay. Even though he's only credited for the rewrite, it still has a bit of that John Wick feeling.
There's the honor among killers. There's the relationship between hitman and handler. There's the love for a dog.
It may be a European DTV thriller but Lundgren and Gooding Jr. make for good leads, Kaufman is a solid director and Kolstad is just getting his feet wet. For movies of this type, you could do a lot worse.
Its plot is nothing we haven't seen before but a generic script is elevated by capable performances from Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Dolph Lundgren and surprisingly solid direction from William Kaufman, who brings plenty of energy to the action sequences and displays a good knack for sharp gunplay and effective build-up.
Wirkt auf den ersten Blick wie der übliche bulgarische Actionquatsch kommt aber zu jederzeit guckbar daher.
Auftragskiller Jay hat ein großes Problem bei seinem aktuellen Auftrag. Er ist nämlich gescheitert und das Ziel lebt weiter. Die Russenmafia arrangiert dann einen weiteren Auftragskiller namens Aleksey der ihn um die Ecke bringen soll. Jay will sich aber viel mehr um die Tochter seines letzten Opfers kümmern, statt unterzutauchen und sein Leben zu retten.
Cuba Gooding Jr. vs. Dolph Lundgren ist natürlich irgendwo eine Hausnummer und interessanterweise funktioniert dieser Konflikt irgendwie.
Dank William Kaufman sieht Rumänien wieder mal schön dreckig aus, aber die Action passt halt größtenteils.
Gerade die Ballereien sehen schick aus und die ein oder andere Klopperei hat schon etwas Bums.…
William Kaufman knows how to shoot action. If only he had a budget and a quality action script. Or maybe its best for him to keep himself doing his thing. Cuba and Dolph are both great as hitmen mixed up in a Russian mob war. Its action packed and the script isn't garbage. The only thing that I didn't like was a silly and unnecessary voice over. So, another good action romp from Kaufman! Keep em coming Willy!
The kind of B movie people claim they want but have little use for. Very committed to the comings and goings of its hitman plot and to a nice detailed high-stylized underworld. There is some pretty good gun play, and the mix of slight desperation and violent action is well handled by director William Kaufman. Co-written by the guy who wrote John Wick and Jesse V. Johnson's in some ways similar The Package (they even share very enjoyable over the top side action with Dolph Lundgren) which had a little better balance of tones. I've always avoided Cuba Gooding Jr DTVs because I've always assumed he was slumming in them, but while this all comes out as a lot of drudgery to him (even more so compared to how much Dolph is enjoying himself), his underplayed exasperation does a lot to help anchor this beyond a collection of low budget shootouts.
One in the Chamber is one dimensional and lucky enough to get one star.
Directing- 5 Acting- 4 Story- 2 Visuals-6 Soundtrack- 1 18/100 Overall
In Short: A repetitive and clichéd action film that somehow manages to lower the bar for the genre.
Recommendation: I'm not recommending this to anyone. I know this scored lower on my grading scale than Shadowboxer (with Cuba) did, but I would say I found Shadowboxer to be less enjoyable for sure.
Rewatch?: That's an easy no from me.
Thank you for reading my review- Joseph.
I remember liking this hitmen movie with Cuba Gooding Jr. versus Dolph Lundgren. But I'm logging this 11 years after the fact, so I should rewatch it before I rate it. Either way: the last movie I watched in 2012. New Year's Eve.
Well-above average iteration of the dueling hit men thriller. Dolph is having a great time. The dialogue is often amazing.
“What would you like to drink?”
“Well I don’t know, what would you recommend to be sipping on in a wet fucking heap like the here and now?”
***
“7 foot tall wearing a tacky Hawaiian shirt with a white fedora. They said he looks like a Frank Sinatra on steroids.”
“The Wolf.”
There's not really much to say about One in the Chamber. It's an entertaining little action flick basically the DTV edition of a Denzel Washington programmer. It moves at a nice, quick clip and doesn't take too long between getting to scenes of bloody violence. For it's part, it's perfect 3am fodder when you get home from the pub still utterly soused.
The movie is mostly elevated by Dolph Lundgren's performance as a Russian hitman that's straight out of the pages of Garth Ennis' Punisher comics.
This was the first film of writer Derek Kolstad who notably created the John Wick universe, and it's definitely worth checking this film out as a dry run, it touches on similar colourful criminal underground elements and Dolph's character is absolutely in keeping with the style of those films. Hell, perhaps Dolph could show up in a similar capacity in the worldwide hunt for John Wick.
Every time Dolph Lundgren showed up on screen a smile sprung to my lips. He's obviously having a blast.
The rest. Not so much. It's a generic Cuba Gooding Jr. DTV actioner with a po-faced storyline about Russian mobsters and....zzzzzzz.
The action is competent.