Ambushed definition movie#

Instead, it winds up being the kind of flick that was made for the sake of hammering out semi-serviceable manufactured goods and somehow spinning them into cash for the producers. Why anyone would ever develop a film around characters like them is the only semi-worthwhile question that comes from watching this movie.Īmateurish movies are sometimes entertaining based on the pure ineptitude that's on display, and 'Ambushed' feels like it should at least be that kind of movie.

Now, it's possible there are people who think characters like Frank and Eddie are interesting to watch, and they maybe even identify with them in some way or another, but these characters are not only completely loathsome, they're dull and dumb as hell. Meanwhile, Frank and his loose cannon (read: dimwitted, yet volatile) partner Eddie (Gianni Capaldi) wind up in a sure-to-end-badly business deal with Vinnie Jones' kingpin, Vincent Camastra that last all of five minutes and begs anyone watching to actually care. The rest of 'Ambushed' concerns an anemic plot revolving around a dirty cop played by Randy Couture, trying to make one last cash-grab before retirement, and Dolph Lundgren, the DEA agent trying to bring everyone down. From beginning to end, Frank is supposed to be the audience's surrogate, taking them on a wild ride through the criminal underbelly via his completely unnecessary voiceovers that make him less of a tour guide and more an insufferable dolt, espousing insipid didacticisms intended to be poignant, meaningful and edgy. Augustin is clearly attempting to juxtapose the two facets of Frank's life – namely, his suburbananite-in-the-making façade that he presents to his girlfriend and her WASP-y family, and the down-and-dirty drug dealer who'll kill a colleague just to get ahead – but he only winds up painting two slightly different pictures of the same incompetent and detestable moron. 'Ambushed' opens up on Frank (Daniel Bonjour), who is at the tail end of his journey from being a strip club owner to wannabe drug kingpin who's looking to retire and settle down with his conservative girlfriend Ashley after finally making his big score. What it all boils down to, however, is a string of surface-level deep pontifications on the drug trade smattered across 97 minutes of tedious action-movie larking about that manages to forget most of its cast and subplots about halfway through the movie. And things are only made worse when all of the abovementioned defects find there way into a screenplay with little interest in things like pacing, character development or dialogue that doesn't sound like a pre-teen who – having just smoked his first cigarette after watching 'Scarface' for the eleventh time this month – is pretty sure he's got this whole complicated, bureaucratic, decades-long battle with drugs and the inherent questions of the legality/illegality of narcotic substances all figured out.

Ambushed definition movie#

Written and produced by Augustin (that's right, he goes by the same naming convention as, say, Madonna or Cher) and starring some recognizable faces such as 'Expendables' teammates, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture, this wannabe drugs-to-riches story not only comes across as lame, infantile and utterly amateurish, it also takes the cake as the most repugnant, puerile and ridiculously unwatchable movie of 2013.ĭespite what most flicks of this ilk would have you think, layers of lazy nihilistic misanthropy, topped-off with a healthy helping of misogyny (there's an actual moment when a female undercover DEA agent engages in a slow-motion pillow fight with a drug dealer's girlfriend), and some half-baked ideas about capitalism and the inefficacy of the war on drugs don't make for much of a movie, especially when they have nothing pertinent or intelligent to say about nihilism, misanthropy, or, heaven forbid, capitalism and the drug war. Otherwise the shame that follows you from that moment on will truly be a fate worse than death. This should serve as a note to all up-and-coming young actors: If you find yourself faced with the choice of actually starving to death or earning a paycheck by landing a role in a movie such as 'Ambushed,' the choice is easy: you starve.