A Hitman in London

source: Skin Traffik

Ara Paiaya is a veteran of low-budget filmmaking who's even achieved some underground acclaim with his DUBBED AND DANGEROUS series. He breaks into the slightly more mainstream arena of action cinema with SKIN TRAFFIK – a vehicle for Gary Daniels that addresses the very real problem of sex trafficking. Bringing a slew of cult costars and his own set of strengths and weaknesses to the production, Paiaya succeeds in making an entertaining but thoroughly flawed adventure that's nevertheless worth the price for most of Daniels' fans. The story: A guilt-ridden hit man (Daniels) seeks to regain his humanity by rescuing a young girl from the clutches of sex slavers. The film's biggest selling point is its cast, which constitutes a fine collection of veterans: Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Alan Ford, and Jeff Fahey comprise a pretty sweet lineup for any film, direct-to-video or not. However, the way these actors are utilized and how well they perform is another matter: few of them appear in more than a few isolated scenes, and even fewer of them get in on any of the action. Roberts and Fahey are the most rounded and integrated characters, while Rourke ad-libs awkwardly and Hannah does her best to speak her lines in an undertone. Luckily, Gary Daniels is growing as an actor, and he carries the picture well enough. Overall, the dramatic content is passable, though it's clear that most of these stars have been cast solely for their names on the poster. Director Paiayah may have overspent on this marketing move, for while the film usually looks professional enough, there are surprising dips in technical quality that briefly make it look like Ara's no-budget outings of yesteryear. However, the movie remembers itself promptly enough, and it certainly sobers up for its fight scenes. These too are imperfect, but do more things right than not. Ara edits the brawls a lot looser than I expected and often does not utilize sound effects to signify strikes, but the fights possess a level of energy that I haven't seen in a Daniels vehicle in well over a decade. While Gary's one-on-one dream matchups (against Ron Smoorenburg and Paiaya himself, respectively) disappoint, the mass brawls are an athletic delight. This marks the first time in Gary's later career that the action of one of his films was designed by a younger stunt team with a more modern take on fight choreography, and I'm happy to say that Gary holds his own throughout. With the movie's human trafficking theme, Gary joins a slew of fellow action heroes starring in pictures of the same topic. While I'm pleased that awareness of this crime is being treated as more than window dressing, I am critical about the proliferation of male heroes in this setting. Sex slavery is something that predominantly affects girls and women, but in this film, their trials exist only to fuel the righteous indignation of Daniels' character. (SPOILER) It doesn't do much for the tone of the picture when the only featured victim (Dominique Swain) is killed off for shock value after being established as a main character. In this regard, consider this review a distress call to Cynthia Rothrock: we need you to put a female face on this particular subgenre. Nevertheless, when viewed as nothing more than a cheap action flick, SKIN TRAFFIK delivers where it counts and most of its faults are overlookable as experimental touches. This one may divide general action fans and devotees of the more famous performers, but if watch this movie primarily for Gary Daniels' sake, you could definitely do worse. I hope that Gary continues to seek out ambitious projects like this, and that Ara Paiaya continues to hone his craft – he might yet become a good guy of the karate scene.

Skin Traffik's action is fast paced and very slick. Just like the Directing, camera-work, editing and choreography, very graceful indeed. This is a refreshing change to the current number of low-rent genre exercises over the last several years. This picture provides a great alternative to Hollywood Blockbuster nonsense. Well Directed this film takes you into the world of human trafficking and adds a burst of action and martial arts into the mix. A cross between Taken and Kiss of The Dragon this highly entertains and even has moments of comedy which adds to the overall enjoyment. The film is even setup for a sequel and hopefully we will be seeing it soon. Action packed direct to video movie heaven.

This could have easily been a direct to video movie from the 1990's. Regardless of the era, this movie somehow found its way from the bottom of the barrel and made its way onto DVD. Even so, I thought I'd give it a go. Worst 10 minutes of my life. The cast which is made up of actors that are well past their prime including Gary Daniels (Fist of the North Star), Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart), Eric Roberts (Runaway Train), Daryl Hannah (Wall Street), Dominique Swain (Face/Off), Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs), Jeff Fahey (The Lawnmower Man), and Alan Ford (Snatch). Although Mickey Rourke had his career resurrected with The Wrestler (2008), he must have been desperate for the money to appear in this crap. Eric Roberts and Michael Madsen certainly don't do their careers any favours here. Dominque Swain, who was on the pathway to being the "It" girl in the late 90's, looks like she will never get her career back. The 90's called. Their want their direct to video movie back. Don't waste your time and money with this garbage. You can find better entertainment elsewhere. 1/10.

Skin Traffik is the love letter to the grind house era that Rodriguez and Tarantino's Grindhouse failed to send. Every element is overdone to near perfection: the corny acting, the gratuitous bloody gore, the flamboyant action scenes and choreography. Obviously, the film latches its appeal to a very specific audience and anyone familiar with the action genre will love it, leaving the rest in the dust. But for what the film planned to achieve, you can't leave without thinking that Paiaya succeeded. Skin Traffik is cult action cinema of the highest quality. With an all-star cast to die for this independent film delivers where all others fail. It's inventive and has a lot of heart considering one man 'Ara Paiaya' made it all. Remarkable!

There are in action movies two ways to go when it comes to fight sequences. The first and most common style in Hollywood is to bust a few moves then use shaky camera-work and quick edits to make an actor look like a martial arts master. The more challenging route and more popular in Asia is to choreograph an extended sequence, sit back, frame a nice wide shot and let the actor show their physical skills. Given that first-time Hollywood director Ara Paiaya is a martial arts expert and seems to have starred in a slew of DTV Kung Fu movies the fact that he opted for door number two is not surprising. Gary Daniels is real life martial arts master and this is displayed perfectly on screen in all action scenes. He could take all The Expendables in a real fight. The action scenes look painstakingly mapped out and executed with silky smooth precision. Daniels glides through moves with practiced ease, punching, kicking and shooting his way through the endless henchman. The sequences are inventive with Daniels fighting in various set pieces. The action is the film's main course and the director knows it, serving them up at steady intervals. The story most certainly is, existing solely to set Daniels in motion, then keeps the corpses coming. The films boasts an all star lineup of Hollywood veterans all of which deliver a cult worthy performance.

Skin Traffik excels, unapologetically, at what it seeks to be: a fun, violent action romp, built upon a amazing cast and plenty of action where Bradley (Gary Daniels) kills mobsters, assassins and all the middlemen in between. As for the actual narrative: it's blessedly simplistic and unsophisticated, with no illusions of grandeur: Bradley's hit goes sideways with Vogal (Mickey Rourke) and his old employer (Eric Roberts) wants him dead. He drops out the game and is hiding out in London where he comes across a hooker (Dominique Swain) who needs help. He makes a promise to help her find her little sister and from that point everyone who gets in Bradley's (Gary Daniels) way as he makes his journey of vengeance ends up in a body bag. Simple. The invincible tough-guy archetype and action mixed with the amazing cast of EVERYONE!!!!! which include MICKEY ROURKE, ERIC ROBERTS, DARYL HANNAH, MICHAEL MADSEN, JEFF FAHEY, DOMINIQUE SWAIN, ALAN FORD ! This is an independent film written, produced, directed, filmed, edited, action, fight choreography and co-starring all by one man ARA PAIAYA. The action and cast are the most enjoyable aspects of the film. Paiaya creates both the visual and physical dimensions of the film it's no surprise that the director is able to put together some of the slickest action sequences seen in an independent film with such a high profile cast being a martial arts expert according to IMDb Trivia and looks to have starred in a bunch of low budget DTV chop socky flicks. Certainly a step up from the usual Hollywood shaky cam action fare. The action is very well executed, slick and polished in design. When the violence and action isn't taking place, some good production and set design plus some nice cinematography help keep the eye reasonably satisfied whenever things slow down. It's action, it's British and it has an all star cast not the greatest story in the world but it's a little action gem.

Enjoyable film bit of a Taken Reboot but with a much cooler cast and better hand to hand combat. I would recommend this to anyone who likes action and seeing lots of stars in one movie for example like in The Expendable films. Gary Daniels is at the peak of his powers as a killing machine in this British action film. Paiaya delivers a film which plays like one prolonged, glorified action sequence, in which dialogue and characterisation are strictly secondary. Bradley (Gary Daniels) leaves corpse after corpse in his wake, the storytelling becomes more and more preposterous – it's saving grace is the sheer operatic excess of the bloodletting. Certainly a timeless DTV action classic and even more so when you think of all the star power involved.

A fast paced, stylish and ultra-violent extravaganza that provides the stars with a much-needed infusion of cool featuring hard-core action and an amazing cast list of A list stars. There are enough pleasures going on in Skin Traffik to elevate it above just another dumb action movie. The film has a tendency to embrace the action genre's more obnoxious elements, but there's a proudly no-nonsense air throughout Skin Traffik won't redefine action movies, but it perfectly exemplifies what I want from an action film. The filmmakers expertly deliver one action highlight after another in a near-nonstop thrill ride it's the kind of fired-up, ferocious B-movie fun some of us can't get enough of. You know who you are!

One of the best direct-to-video pieces starring Gary Daniels in recent years (another strong notable being the surprisingly excellent Tekken adaptation), Skin Traffik is an entertaining, fast paced thriller that delivers hard action. Daniels plays Bradley, a stoic yet rage-filled hit-man who is the best at what he does. After an ordered job goes awry, the emotional trauma that results sidelines the former killer for hire into a quiet, subdued life in low-rent surroundings. One day, an aggressive pimp gets the idea that it might be a good idea to beat around his girls in front of Bradley, and chaos ensues. The power structure of the entire human trafficking ring is slowly targeted and lethally dismantled with cool, cruel efficiency. Gary Daniels once again puts forward a physically believable character performance, fitting perfectly into the role of the remorse-filled reaper of death. His martial arts form looks as strong as ever, delivering his trademark roundhouse kicks with blurring speed, and a side dish of close-combat choreography to boot. Directed by Ara Paiaya, the camera work is quite adequate, and the story flows along at an extremely brisk ~96 minutes. This necessitates a lot of quick camera work and a lack of exposition at times that leaves the viewer guessing as to how certain events may have played out in the interim, which is effective as a technique at times and somewhat distracting at others. Nonetheless, the decision to keep the film moving at a breakneck pace was a smart one, as the worst thing an action movie can be is boring. Viewers will certainly not be bored by the amount of fights and shoot-outs in the film. It seemed that Bradley was a one-man killing machine throughout the entire running time which is gratifying for fans of the classic 80s-era action motif. Though some of the foley effects are a bit weak, at other times they are very effective, lending credibility and realism to an over-the-top premise. The acting is also fairly strong, particularly Daniels, Jeff Fahey, Michael Madsen, and Eric Roberts. Eric Roberts nearly steals the show as the soul-sucking Executive, countering Daniels perfectly as opposition. Also worthy of note would be the performance of Dominique Swain as Anna Peel, the first friendly face in Bradley's world in a long time. A last yet excellent surprise was the narrative surrounding the character of Vogel, played by Mickey Rourke, again showing his chops in a light-hearted but ultimately dead-serious role that seems to flit in and out of our memory as Skin Traffik steams along. Fans of Gary Daniels and the other cast should not be disappointed by this rather modestly budgeted revenge film. The formula may be predictable but there is not much wasted screen time and Skin Traffik achieves exactly what it seeks to do — deliver hard-hitting action at a breakneck pace.