DVD Review: CSI’s George Eads Gambles And Steven Seagal Channels Marlon Brando In GUTSHOT

Gutshot (also known as Gutshot Straight) is a weird ‘90s throwback starring C.S.I star George Eads as a Las Vegas gambler who gets in over his head when he wants to make some easy money. Director Justin Steele surrounds Eads with a selection of familiar faces, including Stephen Lang, Vinnie Jones, Ted Levin and the mighty Steven Seagal.

Don’t let the marketing fool you – this isn’t a B-grade action movie where Steven Seagal faces-off against Vinnie Jones (surely they must have done that before?). What you get with Gutshot is a neo-noir that plays like an Elmore Leonard adaptation from the end of the last century. It’s an engaging enough thriller with a likeable performance from Eads, who manages to show quite a bit of range in the lead role. Meanwhile, Seagal appears to be morphing into a late period Marlon Brando. He delivers a solid performance in his limited screen-time but his bizarre hairpiece leaves a lot to be desired!

Kicking off with a James Bond style opening credits sequence, Gutshot bets big on trying to engage with its audience. It has enough visual ticks to give it a little panache and Jerry Rapp’s screenplay offers enough twists and turns to engage its audience, even if it becomes a bit clichéd and far fetched.

The world of direct-to-DVD has a lot of bad movies. Gutshot isn’t one of them. Admittedly, it might not be a top tier feature but it’s a solid piece of entertainment if you go into it with the right state of mind. It won’t change the face of cinema but it does show that George Eads has the potential to have a career away from the world of C.S.I.