When you start a straight-to-video movie that proudly places the fact that Tom Sizemore and Mickey Rourke are starring on the cover, you’re not exactly expecting an awards contender. Obviously, Weaponized is a B-movie. The only question remaining is whether or not Weaponized will at least have the audacity to be a brazenly bizarre B-movie or just settle for the lowest common denominator? This B-movie directed by Timothy Woodward, Jr., who directed at least 4 other B-movies in 2015 alone, chooses the latter option. Weaponized feels like it was cobbled together using the half-completed scripts of mediocre action films.
In 2017, a terrorist attack on the Pentagon takes the life of Kyle Norris’ (Sizemore) only son. After that fateful moment, Norris dedicates himself to fighting terror by any means necessary through his company Blacksun, a weapons manufacturer. By 2018, the soldiers from the global war are coming home, carrying emotional and physical scars. Jack Simon (director Timothy Woodward, Jr. in a small role), a veteran, comes home and goes on a horrendous killing spree which kills a senator, though he’ll have no recollection of the events later. Brought in to interrogate the suspected killer is Detective Walker (Johnny Messner), a rough cop with a loving wife and child. Walker is soon confronted by Professor Clarence Peterson (Rourke), who hands Walker a number of encrypted films. The police detective takes the encrypted files to Victor (Jon Foo), a computer expert, to find out just what’s so important. What they discover is a shocking secret that some will kill to keep under wraps.
All Weaponized really needed to pull off were one or two decent action scenes crafted within the confines of the film’s minimal budget. However, Timothy Woodward, Jr. seems to work at such a break-neck pace that luxuries like fight choreography are simply not an option. Combined with some astonishingly poor special effects, Weaponized is virtually indistinguishable from any other piece of straight-to-video action schlock.
The script by Sean Ryan hits so many clichés along the way, it seems like the film was written using some form of action cliché bingo – in a world where terror reigns, one man is willing to stand up for what’s right until one day they came for his family and framed him for a crime that he did not commit; now he must unravel the mystery that may shake the foundation to the corridors of power.
That very same script squanders its two aces in Sizemore and Rourke. For all their personal problems and questionable choices in roles, the two actors can still be quite entertaining when given the right material. But Weaponized isn’t the right material. Rourke sleepwalks through his role, always carrying his dog and donning a ridiculous wig to compliment the bandage on his nose. Sizemore does a bit more with his underdeveloped bad guy, even at one point lamenting the “raghead motherfuckers.” As the lead, Johnny Messner is practically a cipher that can be placed within any generic action movie.
Even with low expectations, there’s no saving grace to Weaponized. This is nothing more than a B-movie that was made to be forgotten while being watched. All it would’ve taken was a bit of self-awareness, a bit of fun, but it’s just not there. Weaponized is a movie that doesn’t dare to do anything more than the least amount possible, and the filmmakers behind the camera don’t know how to do any better. I take no pleasure in beating up a little B-movie starring Tom Sizemore and Mickey Rourke. I also take no pleasure in sitting though bad movies.
Thank you for taking the time to review our film. Sorry it wasn’t for you but we are thankful for your review and opinion as we are always trying to grow and improve.
Thank you for the gracious response, Timothy. It’s a sign of character to say such nice things in the face of a negative review. I may not have cared for your movie, but I certainly respect you as a person. I wish you the best of luck on your future projects.