At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The Soska Sisters (Jen & Sylvia) made a splash in the horror film scene with "American Mary" (2012), but more recently their careers seem to have taken a down-turn; this is the second consecutive WWE film project (after "See No Evil 2") that they helm. They do inject a lot of blood (literally) into it, but the story is banal, and by the time of the climactic prison riot, it is clear that the whole thing has gotten out of their hands (it's also distressing to see a film directed by two women that's so male-centered, and the only woman in the cast has three lines and then gets gruesomely killed). Dean Cain looks tired and overweight, while the imposing Big Show has trimmed down and is better than expected. Michael Eklund apes (I think) Gary Oldman in "Leon" - he deserves a Razzie award. * out of 4.

"Vendetta" never feels real. It opens with a car "chase" that looks more like a product placement. The police procedures don't seem authentic. The detective's home looks like something he could never afford and the back yard doesn't seem to belong to the rest of the property. A criminal who supposedly is involved in all manner of nefarious activities is set free when one key witness disappears. The prison looks like an abandoned prison with brand new weights in the exercise yard. There is a bright new humidor that sometimes holds cigars and sometimes holds something else. Even the fight scenes, which are usually strong points in WWE films, aren't convincing. It has a few bright spots, including interesting performances by Michael Eklund as the warden and Matthew MacCaull as a guard. The cinematography is pretty good with decent lighting and steady shots that look like the camera had actually been locked down on a tripod or other support mechanism. There are a couple of nicely executed time-lapse shots. Make-up effects were convincing.Dean Cain has 139 credits on IMDb, but I've only seen a few of his films. He held his own in dramatic scenes playing opposite Denzel Washington in "Out of Time." But he was in much better shape then and had a convincing role. With a more capable director at the helm, a better screenplay and better action choreography, I might believe that the 2003 Cain could hold his own in a fight against Paul Wight. We've seen movies about characters who break into prison one way or another to confront an adversary, including "A Law Abiding Citizen," "Face/Off" and "Escape Plan." For such plots to work, the protagonist must have some expectation of eventually escaping or using his incarceration as an alibi. Here, the plot makes the protagonist unsympathetic and fatalistic. The biggest problem with this film lies in the motivation of the characters. For the story to work, there needs to be a lot of history between the detective and the villain. The villain needs a strong motive to target the detective's family and the attack needs to be particularly loathsome. The plot also needs to make sense. Danvers is a detective. Abbott is locked up with murderers and other violent criminals. Danvers could more easily destroy evidence or persuade a key witness to recant testimony to induce one of the inmates to murder Abbott. Danvers doesn't seem driven by extraordinary circumstances. None of the motivations, big or small, make much sense. When Danvers learns there is an intruder in his home, he races there and calls his partner instead of sending uniformed officers. Joel pulls a dramatic U-turn and races to the prison to attend to something that could wait until morning. Police need a warrant to arrest somebody, unless they actually witness them commit a crime. Nobody can simply tell a SWAT team to arrest somebody for some crime committed months or years previously. It's difficult to make revenge plots sympathetic. The protagonist has to have a strong sense of commitment to justice and feel justice has been thwarted, but the movie fails to do this. The protagonist is unsympathetic and uncommunicative. His plan isn't clever. He takes a blunt force approach, but doesn't have unique skills. Along the way, he engages in confrontations with others who had nothing to do with his original motive. We don't see character development. The movie lacks any sort of moral. Very little seemed convincing. Nothing seemed original, exciting, suspenseful or cathartic.

The story was formulaic and we have seen it all before. But Dean Cain and Big Show give outstanding performances both. The violence is graphic and at one point Dean was showing that he had the chops to play Batman in another life!This film does not shy away from the blood and violence. There is very little bad language in it though, if any. One has to suspend belief a lot though. How Big Show's character can do what he does and how the number of murders goes unnoticed, got stupid. When people are being killed who are not even inmates, the rest of the police should have been investigating. Why a cop was put in general population is another mystery. My score of 7 is probably higher than the story deserves, but Dean Cain's performance earns it an extra two points and made this a very enjoyable watch.

While having distinct cast with Dean Cain and Paul Wight (Big Show) Vendetta feels terribly mundane. It follows a straightforward plot of a renegade cop who does everything he can to exact his revenge. The main problem isn't the plot itself, but how the execution falters in almost every action sequences. It just looks amateurish as punches and kicks barely land, while the choreography consists of random flailing or pushing. The poor presentation is incompatible with the gritty mood it tries to build and the film ends up running around in circle like the on-screen inmate.Mason (Dean Cain) is a detective in feud with crime mogul Victor (Paul Wight). After shoddy first act where development feels forced, Mason deliberately incarcerates himself to the same prison Victor does time. The film repeats this hardened cop gimmick too much, almost the entire movie portrays him fighting and outsmarting Victor and the corrupt warden. This get repetitive very fast as events happen with little to no build up.At some points the screenplay almost literally repeats itself by rehearsing the same scene, I even wondered whether this wasn't already done fifteen minutes ago. There's no intelligent move on Mason's part, honestly his plan relies far heavily on coincidence and the others' stupidity. Dean Cain is stuck on his Batman impression with overdose of angst while Paul Wight is just not convincing on the antagonist role aside from his large physique.The weakest link must be the lackluster cinematography, Vendetta's action is timid and feeble. Motions look awkward and editing is jittery, it resembles WWE match with fake blood. Character would swing and miss, yet his enemy would fall, in the wrong way. Gun effect is poor as well, as though they plaster flash effect with lots of strawberry jam filled prosthetic for blood substitution.None of the action looks genuine. With good presentation Vendetta could've been a decent action, but seeing it's hampered by obvious flaws, it'd be better to serve your time somewhere else.