The Package

THE PACKAGE:

Just because Tommy Wick (played by Steve Austin) is an enforcer for a Seattle mob boss, that don't mean he's a mean guy. When it comes to his family he will do anything to make sure they remain safe, which includes taking over a very sizable debt that his brother owes to the mob boss while his brother is in prison. Hating the life he leads of beating up people who don't pay his boss the money they owe, Tommy figures he will never pay off the debt. But when the boss offers him a job that would clear all debts owed, Tommy can't pass it up. All he has to do is deliver a small package to the German (played by Dolph Lundgren) and when the job is complete, Tommy and his brother will be free. Believing the job to be a simple one, Tommy finds himself being hunted down by hit men and mercenaries that only want to see him dead and the package to not reach the German. It's a race to the German that Tommy might not make it back from.

DON'T OPEN THE PACKAGE:

What do you do when you're an ex-wrestler and a B-list action movie actor? You do even more B-list action movies but now you have one where you are in it together. The Package pits Steve Austin against Dolph Lundgren where the plot of the movie is having Steve Austin's character, Tommy, delivering a package to Dolph Lundgren's character, The German. Thrown in the middle of this delivery are some hit men/bad guys with guns trying to kill Tommy before he completes his task of getting the package to The German. Of course with the main character being played by Steve Austin it's unsaid that there's going to be lots of fights where he is beating the stuffing out of everyone.

First thing to know about The Package is that there is nothing new, original, or even revitalized in this movie. It has all the moves from the well-used how-to book for action movies. Steven Austin always wins the fight, even when he goes up against a guy that's almost or as big as he is (by the way why is there always someone that's that big) who gives Steve Austin some trouble during the fight scene but like I said he always wins. Also being used is the ability of the hero to run ahead of the rapid-fire machine gun shooting out a bazillion bullets but not hitting Steve Austin at all. Then there's the usual character that Dolph Lundgren plays, the antagonist that don't do anything except wait for his moment to fight the hero and lose.

I like action movies, even ones like this where they are nothing but fights requiring no thought process but I still like some semblance of a plot and acting. So much is left of The Package that it felt more like I was watching a movie where all that I was given was the action scenes and a few scenes where I am told that Steve Austin is not working for himself. When Eddie, Tommy's brother (played by Lochlyn Munro) is introduced I was expecting something to be shown between these brothers or at least some back story as to the reason for the debt, why he couldn't pay it back, how he ended up in prison, or even how he got Tommy to pay his debt for him. But his story is only there to say that Tommy was doing it. Characters are semi introduced to the story but then they are not used again and nothing is given as to why they are even there. Sure the fight scenes where intense, sure they are the usual fight scenes, and I even liked that the ended had a slight unexpected twist to it, but with the phoned-in acting performance these two men give, the no substance to the plot, and having forgotten that there are other characters in the movie, The Package ended up being one that I could have done without watching.

BLU RAY:

Along with the lack of plot and poor acting in this movie I wasn't that impressed with the way the Blu Ray looked. If I were to compare it to a DVD I wouldn't have seen any difference between the two. There's some noise to be seen in the blacks of the picture and the colors where a bit on the bland side. While the times that the actions scenes where playing I could hear the audio fine, it was during the few dialog scenes that I had to fuss with my volume to hear what was being said, even though it wasn't really that important. Even though the Blu Ray includes a DVD copy of the movie it has no bonus features to offer as compensation, not even a trailer or a making of feature, just the movie and that's it.