Weaponized is set in the near future, when on July 4, 2017 the worst terrorist attack on US soil occurs. Kyle Norris (Tom Sizemore) is a former Army soldier turned CEO of BlackSun Weapons & Technology, who lost his son Alex during the attack on the Pentagon. The US has been increasing its efforts in the war on terror, but its weapons technology is not evolving fast enough. This leads Norris to create a futuristic weapon involving some morally questionable new technology.

Meanwhile, back at home, another horrible event occurs—a mass-shooting at a hotel lobby. Detective Mitch Walker (Johnny Messner) investigates, and a suspect confesses to the crime, but Walker doubts the integrity of the confession. Walker receives a request for a secret meeting from Professor Clarence Peterson (Mickey Rourke), who claims to have evidence that all is not as it seems. Walker soon finds himself mixed up in much bigger conspiracy and cover-up that puts his life and the lives of his family in danger. He must expose and stop this top secret project in order to clear his name and to save those he loves.

After seeing the trailer, I was really interested in checked out Weaponized. However, I was disappointed to find that it is a bit of a mess. The film tries to be both a tense thriller and a big action flick, but never fully succeeds at either. While it does have this interesting futuristic weapon technology idea at the core of the story, this doesn’t really come into play until at least two-thirds of the way into the movie. However, if you watch the trailer or read the description on the back of the Blu-ray case, you would think this is the main focus of the film.

Instead, the film tries to squeeze every action movie character type, cliche and situation into 90 minutes. It starts off with a terrorist attack, then quickly switches to action on the battlefield in Iraq, followed by a mass-shooting back at home. Then the film kicks into your typical cop drama with the angry police captain (Michael Paré) upset that his detective continues to work a case even though he’s been pulled off of it. And then Walker becomes a wrongly accused cop on the run when his partner (Cullen G. Chambers) finds him standing over a dead body. And in very unimaginative dialogue, Walker says “You don’t think I did this?”, to which his partner responds that he needs to call it in, but that he’ll give Walker an hour. When Walker receives an encrypted flash drive, he consults his Asian informant/hacker Victor (Jon Foo), who just happens to be a kung fu master even though he spends all day just sitting in his computer loft lair playing online poker.

While the film does have some cool action scenes, car chases, explosions, fights, etc., it’s the script where the film is lacking. I think this movie could have been great if the story and dialogue were as original as the concept at the heart of the film. I wouldn’t have even minded just a buddy action film with just Walker and Victor—they were the two best characters in the film. Some of the other characters just seemed horribly miscast—Mickey Rourke as a college professor?!

That said, the Blu-ray presentation looks quite good, with a clear, detailed picture that captures all of the action and effects. However, the audio track was a bit underwhelming—I never noticed much use of the surround or LFE channels. As for bonus features, all that is included are 5 deleted scenes (including another cliched scene where the captain tells the rest of the force about a corrupt cop in their ranks) and the film’s trailer.

What’s Included:
Film: (1:31:01)

• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes (2:34)
  A collection of 5 deleted scenes presented with a running time counter at the bottom of the screen. Play All or select from “Mitch Confronts Casey White”, “Phil and Captain Rice Discuss Mitch”, “Norris Meets Yakov”, “Phill Arrives At BlackSun”, and “Captain Gives Orders”.
• Trailer (2:14)

Final Thoughts:

Weaponized has an interesting concept at its core, but it takes too long to get there, and in the meantime it is one cliche after the next. The trailer and description on the box are a bit misleading, concentrating mainly on events in the final third of the film. The dialogue and story felt a bit lazy and derivative, and some of the film’s characters felt a bit miscast. Fans of the film will appreciate the decent Blu-ray presentation and the inclusion of 5 deleted scenes. However, others should probably rent the film first before making a blind purchase.