Hey folks, Valkor here. As independent films go, I can go one of both ways – either really liking them or really hating them. It's rare to find something in between the two; but with this next film to slide across my desk, The Devil's 6 Commandments… Yea I'm in the middle. It's an Australian film directed by Dicky Tanuwidjaya and there are some major spoilers ahead! Just givin you a heads up.
The Devil's 6 Commandments is a film broken into six chapters, each based on the Devil's six commandments in which each scene relates. However the film's primary focus is on Nina (Gianna Pattison), a victim of rape turned assassin, she seeks revenge on her attackers with the aid of her stepbrother Ares (Felino Dolloso) and a crooked cop named Trevor (Maninho de Araunda). Trevor is actually the guy who finds the rapists, but doesn't take part in the actual execution. But Trevor isn't through with the dynamic assassin duo yet and uses them to help "clean up" some of his cases. This gets the attention of one Albert Pike (Robert Luxford), who through Trevor offers the duo jobs. One job in particular is to kill his brother's lover. With only a picture to go on, Trevor passes the deal onto Ares and Nina… only they kill Pike's brother instead! DOH!! Now Pike wants revenge and gathers a troop to go after Nina, Ares, and Trevor; in the process Nina is shot unconscious, Trev gets shot in the chest… and lives, and Ares gets shot in the hand and we don't hear from him again until he and Trevor go after Pike to get revenge for Nina.
The film ends when Trevor is killed by his captain Jerry Thorn (Rob Sheens) and Nina wakes up from her coma. Through it all, the only voice of reason is Father Ramone (Robin Queree) who attempts to impart the word of god onto the main characters to try and get them to end these heinous acts (because you know violence only brings about more violence). But his story may or may not have ended when he faces off with against Captain Jerry.
TOV Breakdown? TOV Breakdown.
The Good:
The Devil's 6 Commandments has several aspects going for it that doesn't place it in my barrel of mediocrity. First up, the story is pretty solid with lots of twists to keep things interesting and well-paced that it never slows down. Next, the idea of Nina and Ares as brother and sister bad ass assassins works extremely well - the twosome go great together. When you're first introduced to their characters, you think… well I didn't know what to think! Ares was trying to kill someone, Nina stops him, but she ends up killing the person Ares was trying to kill. WHAT! Crazy as it sounds, it works for me and I love their "I don't give a shit" dynamic. It's perfect. Creepy credit goes to Rico Banderas, whose memorable role as Morgan the Morgue will sit with you long after the movie is done. His on screen presence takes a bit to kick in, but when he starts talking about the differences in young and old human meat… yea. Plus he has one of the best lines in the film - Nina picks up this huge knife, waves it around and asks how much it cost. Morgan responds "It is worth an arm and a leg... literally". HA! Acting nods must also be given to Felino Dolloso whose Ares is not only crazy, but also has a sense of humor. Finally Gianna Pattison not only scores points for her acting but she's also extremely sexy, definitely PerfectView material and the pic below is definitely related.
The Bad:
First up, the story runs off the rails at times into areas of "what the fuck just happened?" Case in point, Albert Pike shows Trevor a picture of his brother Henry and his brother's lover, yet Henry is killed instead of the lover. The part I don't get is, no one says "Yo, you didn't specifically say which one is which" (or did I totally blank out and missed the mention). Then you have the shootout between Pike's men against Trevor, Nina and Ares, which is a complete mess – Nina takes a bullet for Trevor, Trevor takes a bullet for Nina and no one dies. And where the hell was Ares? He only got shot in the hand! A few other points: Did we need to know the background of Pike's men, that they were shoplifters and wife beaters? They're not key to the story and are only there to get shot up. Finally the doctor who says that Nina will have no memory of anything... I thought she was shot in the chest/back not the head?
The Ugly:
N/A
Overall, the good and the bad negate one another leaving The Devil's 6 Commandments as an average action/thriller, in my eyes. Some may like it more so than I did, while others might completely trash on it. But either way an average film gets met halfway and out of TOV 5 stars, I'm giving The Devil's 6 Commandments a 2.5.
