Sanctuary (1998)

Pretty impressed with this thriller. Mark Dacascos has a good on screen presence as the CIA killer-turned-priest-turned-killer-again. The story holds interest and the director steers clear of the usual mad machine gun frenzy Hollywood imagines its action viewers want to see. This is a movie with some style, of an almost modern Gothic feel. Dacascos performs with all the intensity expected of a man facing his past demons. The action is sharp and straight to the point, with no unnecessary flourishes. My only criticism was the standard showdown between hero and chief villain at the end, which was a tad too long. It would be refreshing if this formula was altered to an extent by having the chief villain getting it maybe a lot sooner, and then having the rest of the enemy polished off after as they panic. Instead we have martial arts expert Dacascos pitted against the Schofield Kid from Unforgiven, and the Schofield Kid holding his own for more than ten seconds. This is a minor blip however in an otherwise engaging thriller. Nice little twist in the tail at the end, and as other viewers have observed, it leaves the door open for a sequel, although hopefully not Sanctuary 3, 4 and 5, as that would just kill the original concept. All in all this is a good movie and much recommended.

Luke Kovak is part of a covert group within the CIA that works on illegal black ops involving blackmail and assassinations. When his boss orders the murder of one of the team, Luke realises how expendable they all are and gets out (taking proof of their activities with him). He now lives as a priest until the group start to get close to tracking him down.I'm a big fan of Dacascos, and I'm constantly at a loss as to why people like Seagal have had big hits but he remains very much part of the `direct to video' stable. This film has a pretty standard plot in that an ex-CIA agent is on the run from the very group that he was once part of. The plot is still passable, what it lacks in originality it makes up for by being pretty dark and gritty. The film has a few action scenes but these too manage to be quite dark and work the better for it, coming off as more than just the usual bangs for the sake of bangs.The direction is pretty good and the use of a gritty film stock makes the dark subject matter feel a lot better for it. A downside is that Dacascos doesn't have too many chances to do his martial arts stuff, going for more traditional action instead. That said, he is still quite good in the lead role. Aside from being moody in the first bits of the film, he is actually quite charismatic despite his character. The rest of the support cast is not so good, they are workmanlike but there are a few really poor performances in there.Parts of the film don't work that well, and this isn't a blockbuster or class act – it is just an above average video thriller. The flashbacks are a little confusing early on, and those that flashback to Luke's childhood are poor and too simplistic. Despite this I enjoyed the film – it isn't anything new but it has a good gritty feel and the dark nature of the film makes it feel a cut above the usual video thriller things.

SANCTUARY was Dacascos' first movie after the excellent DRIVE, I think, and it shows all the hallmarks of direct-to-video Hollywood junk on the surface. I really wasn't expecting much from it at all, but found myself pleasantly surprised. Mark plays a priest who has something of a dark past... in fact he was a CIA secret agent, trained from childhood to do the dirty off-the-book jobs for the agency without questioning. But he couldn't help questioning, and fled the agency after one particular job. He ended up becoming a priest in an attempt to atone for his past life. But his past life doesn't want to let him escape so easily. The plot sounds incredibly cheesy and free of subtlety, but the script and direction manage to flesh it out into something with a bit more subtlety. The movie splits its time between flashback to Mark's past and the hunt-chase after he is found doing his priestly work. Mark shows much better acting skills here than in Drive, perhaps because the movie is generally darker & serious in tone. He could have been more expressive and convincing, but I think he did a passable job. It's not really his acting that has got Mark noticed by the HK cinema crowd though, it's his extremely impressive martial arts skills, which are arguably the best of anybody working in movies anywhere in the world at this time (if we assume that Jackie/Jet/Biao etc are unlikely to ever match their early work again). Although there's a moderately high degree of action in the movie, there's not all that much acrobatics or hand to hand fighting required, so we don't get to see Mark's skills to anything like the extent that they're showcased in DRIVE. He still handles the action well though, and I really can't imagine how some reviewer came to the conclusion that he was "a poor man's Jean Claude Van Damme". The action scenes are better filmed than I expect from a Hollywood movie, and quite realistic - bullet impacts in particular are almost disturbingly convincing. It has to be noted that Mark gives up his priestly vows a little too easily, and could have been much less lethal at times than he habitually is. I guess it's just his training :D A less forgiving reviewer might dismiss it as the Hollywood b-grade movie it probably is in objective terms, but I found myself pleasantly surprised and am glad I bought the DVD, as I'll probably watch it again a couple of times. It's a shame the DVD distributors chose, in their infinite wisdom, to release it Pan & Scan though.

I turned to this movie late at night mainly to see Mark Dacascos who is nice to look at, and not a bad actor either! I tend to fall asleep if a movie doesn't keep me interested. Well, I felt that, for a cable action movie (on Action Max) it was entertaining and had an actual plot that made sense. In a series of flashbacks, we see the events that shaped Dacascos's character. It's got plenty of guns, a few explosions, a government conspiracy, bad guys, good guys, a possible good gal, and an ironic ending that is both unexpected and appropriate. This is a flick that both guys and gals can watch - lots of action but not any gore. I wish Dacascos luck in catching a mainstream movie and riding it to the big screen. He deserves it!