Hunt to Kill

To be completely honest, I only agreed to review "Hunt to Kill" for one reason, and it wasn't because it stars Steve Austin (né Stone Cold).

It was because of Emilie Ullerup. If you've seen the Danish dazzler as Ashley Magnus on TV's "Sanctuary," then my admission should come as no big surprise. The only shocker with "Hunt to Kill" is that Steven Seagal hadn't already used the title.

Speaking of, the spirit of 1980s action cinema flows through this one. Watching it, it's not hard to imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger signing on to this in the "Raw Deal"/"Commando" phase of his early career. To that end, it'd make a nice double feature with "The Expendables" or, barring that, even Dolph Lundgren's recent "The Killing Machine," also from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Anyhoo, Emilie's the token chick among a group of bad guys who've just made off with a buttload of "unregistered bearer bonds," but are double-crossed by one of their own. While tracing their loot electronically, they kidnap U.S. Border Patrol agent Jim Rhodes (Austin) and his bratty teenage daughter, Kim (Marie Avgeropoulos), using them as hostages to find their money in the mountains.

Somewhere along the way, Austin starts fighting back, which means hitting people with 2-by-4s and shooting arrows like he was Robin Hood. It's too little, too late, but at least allows for Austin to go mano y mano against kickboxer Gary Daniels in the middle of the forest.

At least director Keoni Waxman keeps Ullerup around for all but the last few minutes. That's not a spoiler " you know it's not if she was marked for death, but how and when. Lead villain Gil Bellows doesn't last much longer, as if the guy from "Ally McBeal" ever would against Austin.

Although utterly mindless, "Hunt" at least beats Austin's other 2010 starring role, "The Stranger." He's not much of an actor, either, but neither was Schwarzenegger. —Rod Lott