Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe

Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe is a journey into the past of the series' most enigmatic character as only Bruce Campbell can play him. Set in 2005, the movie follows Sam's last mission as a Navy Seal before he wound up retired in Miami. A moment of indiscretion gets Sam sent into the South American jungles to deal with a terrorist group causing havoc. But, things aren't what they seem. So far, the biggest complaints about this movie are that some of the uniforms are inaccurate, which means they must be doing everything else right. As made for TV movies go, this was very good. Even thought it felt more like one of Bruce's B-movie romps than an actual extension of Burn Notice, that only helps bring home the fun of the movie. Bruce gets many a great line, and a few nods to both his past and his fans. The other characters ranged from well-acted to a kind of meh performance, and the overall direction by Jeffrey Donovan was well done. Fans of both Bruce and Burn Notice will enjoy this picture and come away feeling satisfied. Was this necessary? Maybe not. Was it worth it? Hell yes.

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source: Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe

This was a great film because Bruce Campbell stayed so true to his character, Sam Axe; the Sam Axe we know and love from Burn Notice. The appearance of Michael Weston just brings a smile to your face and the fact that the inside jokes or small jabs they take at each other are from Burn Notice. Yes, some parts are super cheesy but they still make you feel good because you just cannot dislike Bruce Campbell and his charming self and smile. I think this was probably one of the better TV movies ever made. The story was simple enough and most of all it related to BN and that almost gave me goose bumps. God I miss that show and all those characters. Cheers, Daniel

It was completely and utterly terrible. I am so committed to the burn notice franchise and series, and love the characters, but this seems to be a joke. I was cringing for a good 99% of the time. I thought that Sam Axe was supposed to be so quirky because of his retired man mind set, I can't ever imagine that being a trait he kept whilst in military service. It was essentially slanderous to what is a truly great action drama, the film simply never needed to be done. I am trying to erase every part of this movie from my memory in order to retain some kind of regard for Burn Notice. However this is proving hard as I am somewhat scared from the experience.

... and if you are not one, you should be. Look, Campbell was pushing 60 when he did this and his performance is so smooth that he qualifies for the title KING OF COOL with the likes of Steve McQueen and John Travolta. The whole thing has a tongue in cheek feel, but that is hardly a bad thing since most of the headlines these days have a foot in your *&&%% feel. The dialogue is sharp, the scenery is interesting, the women (all two of them) are pretty, and there is a beginning a middle and even an end to the story. What more could anyone ask for?

As a long-time Bruce fan (I first saw Evil Dead in the early 90's, not realizing the man already had a cult fan base), I enjoyed every scene Bruce was in, and since he was in virtually every scene in the film, obviously I enjoyed most of the film. The doctor guy was annoying, the love interest was whiny but an OK foil, the teen girl was hot but evidently found the scenery too tempting to resist gobbling up in big bites. The villains were competently played but telegraphed oily evil immediately, losing all sense of suspense there. It was predictable and a bit preachy, and the mention of the SOA was bordering on heavy-handed, but Bruce charms and smirks his way through it and makes an otherwise forgettable bit of tripe an actual pleasure to watch. It is significant, however, that no one but him could have. Of course, one doesn't watch Bruce Campbell for the outstanding special effects (Alien Apocalypse, anyone?), the great supporting cast (The Man with the Screaming Brain?), or the realistic, down-to-earth plots (any Evil Dead you care to name), one watches for Bruce. By that standard, this movie does fine.

The concept is easy enough; a made for television spin-off prequel to a popular series with a cult following, on a dirt cheap, shoestring budget. Who said executing a concept is easy? The humor exhibited in Burn Notice: The Rise of Sam Axe spans the gauntlet from down-right imbecilic to border-line sophisticated. At the very beginning we see foreshadowing, in the form of his seemingly obsessive compulsive attention to the precision of his belt buckle's orientation, soon contrasted by a scene making one have no choice but to smell the possibility of the video game rights being sold to the makers of "Donkey Kong". Sam Axe, brilliantly portrayed by the affable Bruce Campbell, of "The Adventures of Briscoe County Jr." fame, is a living, breathing, oxymoron sans the "oxy", capable of leaving his calling card at the scene of the alleged crime while simultaneously reminding us how the likes of James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Jack Bauer often take themselves too seriously (perhaps those guys should be connoisseurs of Scotch, like Sam). I can't vouch for the authenticity of his uniform, or verify whether or not naval personnel are required to salute indoors, but I enjoy a good laugh when I see one. The cameo with Michael Weston (played by Jeffrey Donovan) is priceless. Jerry Seinfeld was not a better mentor to George Costanza, nor was Bud Abbott to Lou Costello. Accordingly, the tone of the movie is much more comedic than that of its progenitor. Fans of "Burn Notice" will especially appreciate the term of endearment Sam uses when referring to an un-named ex girlfriend of Michael's. The interplay of the source of the soundtrack with specific situations is reminiscent of a Mel Brook's movie. On the more sophisticated end of the comedy spectrum are the way subtitles don't always correspond to the spoken words, whether or not subtitles were even necessary in a given scene, and how Sam clumsily, yet fluently, spoke Spanish so inconsistently. I am reminded of numerous scenes in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds". Two examples are how Sam says "flaming sword" instead of "burning sword" for his interpretation of "ardiente espada", and when the subtitles display "thank you" when he says "gracious bandidos". Sam Axe should also receive the "Second Best Use of a Chainsaw in an Under-funded Film" Award. The name of the first best user of a chainsaw in one of those situations escapes me, making me feel like a tree. Chainsaws don't help trees, people help trees. To cap it all off, the song played at the end is about Snow White, in celebration of a Cinderella victory. Nice.

The Fall of Sam Axe was quite disappointing. In its best episodes, Burn Notice is tightly written, entertaining, and has a chemistry between the actors. Little of that was present in this two-hour prequel. The story goes two years before the Burn Notice timeline, but what surprised me was how little it added to the overall narrative. The movie follows Sam Axe, a supporting character in the show who supplies many of the laughs. As played by b-movie icon Bruce Campbell, he's a laid-back Lothario who knows a thing or two about combat. Here, we see Sam before a military tribunal, explaining what went wrong in his final Navy SEALS mission. The mission into Colombia involves all the usual intrigue of corrupt military officials and freedom fighters that herd goats. As Sam defies orders to save the rebels, he's joined by two doctors, played by Kiele Sanches and RonReaco Lee. Both are chronic whiners throughout the movie and offer no real substance to the plot. In fact, the only passionate performance comes from Ilza Rosario, playing the young rebel Beatriz in a debut role. Bruce Campbell has always been one of the great pleasures to watching Burn Notice. Here, as usual, he plays on the cult films of his past, at one point hurling a chainsaw in a nod to the Evil Dead trilogy. His appeal on the show was his devilish charm, a guy who doesn't mind name-dropping his connections. Ultimately, though, he's a Miami retiree with a good heart, and by setting this film before that, much of this is lost. Seeing him as an overweight soldier just feels off, and I wanted the Sam Axe we're familiar with. The movie was directed by Jeffery Donovan, who plays the protagonist Michael Westen on the show proper. This makes his feature-film directing debut, and in the end the debut is weak. It feels too much like an episode stretched out over two hours, with no added urgency to justify the extra running time. The high mountains of Colombia (or an adequate fake) are cloudy and gray, a far cry from the colorful, populated streets of Miami. But even Donovan doesn't deserve all the blame: series creator Matt Nix wrote the screenplay and co-wrote the story. His pilot for the show won awards, deservedly so, for creating a fast-paced and fun atmosphere for his spies and rogue agents to play in. All of that is lacking here. The best scene comes early on with a cameo by Donovan. His character Westen was still the CIA's top agent at this point, and the camaraderie between the him and Axe was sorely missed as the film progressed. Burn Notice is most at home with its leads and pushing them into ever-tighter corners, so The Fall of Sam Axe lacks all the advantages while making poor use of the show's breakout character. Bruce Campbell is an eminent crowd-pleaser, but the movie here is certainly not.

For whatever reason I never knew this even existed and just watched it this night (6-26-13). The movie itself was nothing to write home about but was nice to see Sam being Sam. With Burn Notice ending after this season I am actually glad I didn't know about this till now as it was the beginning to the end of a TV show I greatly enjoyed. For such a hodgepodge character set I was always amazed that they made it work. Campbell's character was a big part of its success and quite possibly its glue. If you are a fan of the show it is worth watching.