Comeuppance Reviews
"Den Of Lions" has been sitting on the shelf for years. It finally came out in March 2006. I don't know why it took so long to release it straight to video. Maybe it had competition from all the Seagal flicks cluttering stores. The plot: Mike Varga is an FBI agent who goes undercover to infiltrate the Russian Mafia. The head boss is Darius (Hoskins) who, like all kingpins, lets him in his circle. Mike eventually falls in love with Darius' daughter (Laura Fraser).This is the junky version of "Donnie Brasco" which means there's a scene where Mike can't take the pressure and starts yelling and smashing things. It doesn't have much action until the end, but it's worth seeing for the performances of Dorff and Hoskins.For more insanity, please check out: comeuppancereviews.com
xredgarnetx
American B-movie favorite Steve Dorf plays a Hungarian-American FBI agent working undercover as a henchman to a Russian mob boss (a very fat Bob Hoskins) living in Budapest. The movie consists largely of Dorf and others tooling around Budapest, with several time outs so that Dorf can reassure Hoskins, who never leaves his study presumably because of his great girth, that he is not wearing a wire. The movie was shot on the cheap in Hungary, and like all such productions employs the typical mix of American, British and local actors. It is truly terrible. You will be kept waiting in vain for something to happen. This one of those films that depends on the actors to work without benefit of real direction. Even the best actor cannot work without a decent director. Just watch Hoskins stumble around throughout this.
larry.launders
How this movie is earning a 4.9 I'll never know. It is boring and dull enough to where settings, recording quality and such really don't matter.We were attracted to this movie because of the cast. Bob Hoskins, David O'Hara, Stephen Dorkk, and Ian Hart were all recognizable. However nothing ever feels like it melds, nothing really paces and all the characters just come across as uncomfortable. Except perhaps for O'Hara, he seems to have a good grasp on his role, and can be excused for perhaps turning in a lackluster effort...after all, it is very difficult to not be affected by having to share scenes with Dorkk.So while there is no sign of Uwe Bohl directing (not nearly enough copious amounts of blood) nor any appearance of Wings Hauser (who probably would have fit well), this movie still sucks. Don't waste your time or money on it.
Christos_Stamos
This is one of those films that seem to have been written by a committee. The script consists of nothing more than an amalgamation of the clichés of thousands (upon thousands) of second-grade action flicks. The undercover FBI agent who casually infiltrates the Russian mafia and falls for the monstrous capo's daughter, your run-of-the-mill car chases, the millionth appearance of the ever-present sale of a nuclear device to terrorists (whenever there's the Russian mafia in a film, you just *know* it's going to involve a nuclear weapon sale to terrorists sooner or later)... you get the point. Amusingly, apparently because the film is set in Hungary, the director decided that it would be an "authentic" (!) touch to have the actors speak in a vaguely British-sounding accent ; that's indicative of the film's quality as a whole.If you enjoy the typical action movie fare (say, Chuck Norris, Van Damme and Seagal films), you might find this worth the TV-viewing (not a rental by any stretch of the imagination). If their by-the-numbers, unimaginative approach to film-making is not your particular cup of tea, you will find it tiresome and trite, as did I.