Did you miss when 7 Seconds hit theaters nationwide? Are you surprised that the film made it to video so quickly? To answer both questions, you didn’t miss it because it never happened, and you shouldn’t be surprised that it didn’t happen. Most of the time when a film doesn’t make it into theaters it can be boiled down to two simple reasons. Either the producers didn’t have enough money to back the film in a theatrical release, or the film was just so bad that nobody was willing to give it that chance to lose money. Well let me tell you, someone saved themselves a lot of grief by keeping this one out of theaters. I will tell you that I had never even heard of it until I rented it, and the simple reason I even did that came down to good imagery on the DVD case itself. Advertising that Snipes was in an action film called 7 Seconds, it looked like a good pick-up on a day I was looking for an action film, and I thought to myself that I must just have missed its release in theaters. Having been a little out of it for a couple of months I felt it was entirely possible, so why not just give the rental a chance I am thinking as I proceed to check out of the store. I now realize that I should probably always take someone with me when I am going to rent movies, because bad decisions seem to be happening all the time for me.

One of the dictionary definitions for action is, “The series of events and episodes that form the plot of a story or play.” Well… in this case I would have to say that 7 Seconds then fails to be an action movie, because it doesn’t do anything to advance the plot, nor does it help the story move on. Instead it becomes episodic garbage inserted into the film to try and make it more interesting. But, I am getting way ahead of myself here because I haven’t quite explained what this movies was about. Well, be assured that I want to be able to explain it in a fashion that is both easy to understand, and convinces you at the same time that you should not see it. So, let’s start at the beginning of this one. Wesley Snipes plays John Tuliver, an ex-special forces man, who has turned to a life of crime. No, you don’t ever fully get the story as to why he has taken this path, but yes he is a criminal with a conscience. Such a role is sometimes fun to watch, but in this case it just comes off as a tired cliché, because you expect him to always do the right thing, but you never know why he doesn’t choose the second path in each scene. Tuliver has been tasked to commit a series of armed-vehicle robberies in order to make away with millions of dollars. The movie actually jumps right into this aspect, and the heist becomes just the prelude to the rest of the movie.

Of course, something goes wrong with the heist, and the rest of the movie is spent trying to piece together exactly what went wrong, and to find out what can be done as a result of it. Oh and here is the spoiler for you; by the end of the movie you are expected to think that Tuliver is actually a pretty good guy, but that he has just been misunderstood for most of the movie. Wrong. The movie didn’t win me over in that, and it never convinces me that I should care anything for the character that Snipes is portraying here. Bad dialogue, terrible acting, and an even worse premise doom this film from the start, and we are expected to believe the intricacies of the story. When the story breaks down to the point that random action sequences are thrown in there just to shake things up, then you know something has gone terribly wrong. BUT, as I mentioned earlier these aren’t really action sequences, but rather scenes where explosions, car chases, and gun fights are thrown in to make sure that we know that this is an “action” movie. The only problem, is that none of these scenes is at all interesting, and it instead comes off as something more like a bad ‘B’ level television show that was created by film students.

Further upsetting me, is that several of the scenes are shown again and again, through the memory of Tuliver, as he thinks back on the same moment trying to piece together different things. Unlike in a normal film, we aren’t given a different view of what was happening, but instead shown the same sequence, the same reactions, the same misplayed roles, and the same bad acting in many flashback sequences. Not only does this kill the timing of the movie, but it just further shows you what is wrong with the plot. Instead of trying to move on, and cover up sequences that need to be looked past, this Director decides to focus on the bad parts of the movie even more. By the end of the film, it was no longer a surprise to me that I had not heard of this film, and I can see why it ended up being buried in the fashion that it was. Wesley Snipes really chose wrong when he decided to take on this role, and I can only hope that this isn’t the end of his action career, because I had been a fan of some of his previous work. With car chases that are obviously being done at about 20 miles per hour, plot threads that are never tied together, and some of the worst acting you have ever seen, I hope I have provided enough reasons to stay away from this movie. Do not do what I did, and pick it up because it “looks” good. Trust me, you will thank me later if you walk past this one.






Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD