The Hard Way (2019) User Reviews

why all the negative reviews?

[blackbutt-46428 · 6/10 · 3 October 2019]

My wife and I enjoyed it. I was entertained and that is all that matters. If there was bad acting I did not see it. Yes there are a thousand movies with the same story line. But all movies are the same, different time, different places, different actors. Also seems to me that a lot of reviewers have very negative attitudes to everything. I find within ten minutes of watching a film I can tell if is going to entertain me, and I turn it off if it does not. Why sit through a movie if you do not like it and then criticise it. Strange.

Michael Jai White is still doing it at 51

[stevenmusole · 6/10 · 11 March 2019]

For those who love some good old fight scenes, this is the movie to watch. I like MJWs kicks, he still has it. The movie itself is somewhat predictable and has no real twists. Credit to MJW for making it worthwhile.

Missed opportunity within the first 12mins.

[bushidoblazex · 5/10 · 10 March 2019]

Starts off with MJWs brother cody on a mission in which he is killed. No big deal you wont miss him. Credits end and were introduced to our star MJW who in all honesty is still his regular old charming self. Some real bad mob actors try to shake him down just to get their asses beat now heres where everything goes wrong.....MJW going on a mission to avenge his brother. This movie would have been much better if it just was about the mafia and his bar which honestly has a decent back story. They could have explored that more and could have set up plenty of more action scenes with various mafia members. In the end this movie would have benefited from sticking to what feels like the original idea.

Poorly Done

[darren_averett · 1/10 · 2 April 2019]

Michael Jai White is a decent actor with incredible martial arts skills. Please get him a script for a good movie!!!!!!!

Let's throw all the cliches and see which ones stick

[saima_pyke · 1/10 · 11 March 2019]

Poorly written, poorly directed, terrible acting by almost everyone and the most outrageous collection of cliches I have come across in quite a while. Sadly, it doesn't fall in the "it's so bad it's good" category. It's just bad.

Very forgettable stuff

[Wizard-8 · 3/10 · 9 March 2019]

To sum up, "The Hard Way" is a B movie actioner that will fail to give you much excitement, and you'll quickly and completely forget about it after a few days of watching it. The fault with the movie does not lie with its star Michael Jai White - he is as charismatic as ever, and he does put in a lot of effort with his performance and in fight sequences. Instead, the fault lies with the movie writer and director, Keoni Waxman. The script is very familiar, so there are absolutely no surprises, even with the so-called "surprise twist" near the end of the movie. As for Waxman's direction, though he occasionally generates a little heat with the action sequences (though more often than not they are kind of choppy), his direction is often pretentious (what's with the black and white moments and the freeze frame moments?), poorly photographed, makes the Romanian backdrop look like it was filmed in Montreal, and sluggishly and leisurely paced. Though the end results are a little better than the terrible direct to video Steven Seagal movies he cranked out in the past, one will still question why Waxman still is in business after all these years. He has to learn the hard way that he simply can't cut it as a filmmaker.

It's never easy

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 19 July 2019]

Yes you'll find quite an abundance in cliches here. And yes the dialog will never be considered Oscar or any other award there is - worthy. But that is not what you are signing up for here. You sign up for an action movie and the stunts themselves are more than decent. Not exceptional or amazingly awesome or whatever else, but not dissapointing either.

And while I get if some of the acting may be considered weak, that is never the case with Michael Jai White. And I'm not saying that because I am afraid that if one day I may meet him, he's going to kick my ass but because he really has gravitas. Now would I like to see him in something with more substance like Black Dynamite more often? You bet I would, but until then, I am content with stuff like this movie

Seriously? 4.6? Thats way too good for this crap

[lbellini-32486 · 2/10 · 24 March 2019]

I think the director got the wrong script. Or maybe he got the right script but it was the first draft. I mean holly ***** . Nothing seems to be right in the film. Every scene is full of comedy. I mean it. Its like they have taken out all scenes from a video game. Remember old playstation 2 games? Like Driv3r and GTA san andreas and that stuff? Its like those scenes. But really like I said its just comedy. You watch and laugh. I think if this film gets enough attention it will turn to be a classic movie. Just like The Room

Bad

[captzeppelin · 21 September 2019]

Bad- wish I could watch it but I can't. You can make bad movies in America. Save the airline ticket money to Romania and put it into screen writing.

Actually not too bad

[fallguy_jack · 7/10 · 3 August 2019]

Any fan of MJW can easily make allowances for this movie's non-existent budget. Most of the shockingly few plot holes are related to it. There are even not that many illogical action sequences which is nuts. MJW is old and less stretchy, but still very spry for an old guy. Basically if you know anything about fighting that you didn't learn from a video game, you'll be good to waste 1.5hrs on this flick. If you wear super tight pants and need a safe space, feel free to watch regurgitated and remade-to-be overly PC vomit with a big budget, and maybe stop screwing with IMDB ratings. It's has to be manually filtered out by those of us who aren't stupid.

...Hey! IMDB, how about you add a snowflake filter?

Yuck

[philtrabaris · 2/10 · 15 March 2019]

I watched this for 35 minutes and upon realizing that it wasn't going to get better, stopped. Poorly written, sub par acting/directing and boring.

Good movie

[inavthakur · 9/10 · 4 April 2019]

I don't know why it has low review ratings, but it deserves better than that. Trust me it's actually a good action movie. Good story . Thumbs up. I enjoyed my time

I love Michael Jai White, Luke Goss and Randy Couture

[minunimion · 7/10 · 1 March 2020]

I enjoyed the movie... Michael Jai White has very good skills in martial arts. Sorry for those who didn't like this movie and giving a low score they try to get out from their miserable lives. Criticizing everybody is the only way they have to convince themselves that they have power and they are important. Guess what? Michael Jai White couldn't care less of people like you... he will go on being famous and driving his Ferrari or buying one if he would like to and you won't ever be able to buy a wheel of that Ferrari. Enjoy your poor life without understanding anything about the life. Criticizing, judging the others is just the path to make your life worse. Acceptance, tolerance and enjoying what you have and you are, is the first step for a better life. Maybe a day you'll understand that, maybe not... who cares, the life is yours. For someone else... if you like action movies, some martial arts, and you don't expect an Oscar movie, you can enjoy "The hard way"... it's up to you deciding whether or not this movie has been worth of your time...

waste off time ...

[macqamber · 1/10 · 8 March 2019]

Indeed a hard way to watch the whole movie, bad script, bad acting...

A waste of good talent

[kefaouma · 1/10 · 20 May 2019]

The first movie by Jai White that I find boring to the grave. A waste of Jai White's time.

What could have been...

[collectspam · 3/10 · 22 April 2019]

Three or four of the lead actors, the cinematography, and the majority of the fight choreography were positives. Michael Jai White and Madalina Anea were very good, and even George Remes over-the-top psycho was pretty well acted. Luke Goss, though, is a quality actor, who rose above the muck he was given to turn in a really good performance.

The biggest downfall of the film, besides Randy Couture's to-be-expected woeful acting, and the absolutely atrocious 'acting' performances of everyone else in the entire movie not mentioned already, was the script. It was beyond terrible.

One example - a completely unnecessary and ham-fisted attempt to divulge backstory, in an attempt to force the audience to care about a barmaid, delivered by a terrible actress, was so bad it, just, stayed bad. Not one piece of dialogue seemed to fit, and when you give bad dialogue to bad actors, it's not going to turn out well. One of the worst scripts I've seen filmed.

The setup for a sequel was obvious. White and Goss could definitely make a really good movie together, and these characters themselves would be fine. But a better director and an actual script would really help next time.

Do you know who I am?

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 20 March 2019]

John Payne (Michael Jai White) owns a bar in Queens. When his brother is killed in Bucharest, Romania, John flies there for the funeral. It turns out he was killed by drug dealers and Payne can not let it go. He teams up with Luke Goss to go after the bad guys.

Guess how it ends? This is your typical action/fight crime movie. Nothing new. Predictable bad guy. Good for your fight fix.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

For Michael Jai White

[saptesh786 · 7/10 · 27 November 2019]

This is revenge-action movie. Michael Jai White takes revenge for his brothers killing and brother's friend helps him to complete the mission. This is the one liner story. But movie is watchable. It enjoys us from start to finish. No trails, no boring part and not too much lengthy. Moreover brilliant fight sequences of White will definitely impress you. This is the most appreciable part of the movie. Team of Michael Jai White and Luke Goss is well at acting department. Most of times their faces remains with no expression. Story is predictable. Twist at climax is not shocked well, because most of viewers can get hint in earlier. Overall it is watchable movie. For two reasons one for Whites' action and for another is start to finish movie, which will not bore you any more.

Has to be the worst movie I watched in a long time

[capac-108-256053 · 1/10 · 9 April 2019]

The acting is bad, the photography is bad, the directing is awful. The action happens in Romania but nobody speaks Romanian. The list could go on but it's just not worth the time.

Enjoyable

[Asalaam0069 · 27 November 2019]

Predictable but found the action above "par", along with performances an enjoyable watch

Good movie, bad script

[screbowcsgo · 7/10 · 9 February 2020]

I my self liked the movie a lot, Yes the scritp was poorly done. But my favorit actor Micheal Jai White was in it, another reason why I liked the movie. If I should be honest I think that the movie wouldn't intertain me, if MIcheal Jai White got switched out by another actor. I need Micheal Jai White to be in a really good movie, where he does not die in the start (The Dark Knight).

But affter all I enjoyed the movie.

All action, no story

[npjy83 · 2/10 · 16 April 2019]

The story loses its premise and is dragged out and boring. There are loads of action scenes and needless swearing throughout. The swearing is quite extensive and unnecessary.

It's just a pointless action film with a story that suffers increasing throughout. The story loses its premise and it ends up showing you fighting scenes which doesn't tie into the movie.

nice short movie

[denis-indzhov · 8/10 · 4 December 2019]

It was nice, action movie, again Jai White is very good in his job! I think he should make movies with budget over 20 mil. Acting for like 30 years and he is perfect in every role. The writer should get some credit, but why Romania, this country doesnt have any cinematographyc history.. next time do it at least in boyana film studios in Sofia,Bulgaria!

ANOTHER CHAMP LOSING

[michaelgham · 7/10 · 24 May 2020]

Fun movie with lots of kick butt action. I mean, you can figure out who's the bad guy early on. Don't worry about that, just enjoy the action. What gets me is we have another movie where a former UFC Champion gets beat in a fight. Come on now! We know Randy's not going to lose a street fight!

Just the usual

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 12 March 2019]

THE HARD WAY is the usual kind of action thriller B-movie from director Keoni Waxman, who often paired with Steven Seagal earlier in his career. This one's shot in Romania and features a couple of rival characters who eventually team up in order to bring down the usual powerful bad guys and their endless henchmen. The plot is simplicity and unremarkable, while lead Luke Goss gives an indifferent performance and Randy Couture is underutilised. Best of the lot is Michael Jai White, who at least gets to show off his remarkable power and ability in a series of hard-hitting fight sequences.