'Seized' Trailer: It's 'Taken' Meets 'John Wick', With Martial Arts Superstar Scott Adkins

These days, Scott Adkins is the worst-kept secret in the world of martial arts movies. The ass-kicking English actor flew under the radar for a few years in films like the Undisputed sequels before making enough of an impression on Hollywood to play supporting roles in mainstream films like Doctor Strange, Zero Dark Thirty, and The Bourne Ultimatum. But hardcore action movie fans know him from his low-budget, down and dirty action thrillers like Ninja: Shadow of a Tear and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning.

Now he's back in a new direct-to-video action film called Seized, which pits him against fellow B-movie star Mario Van Peebles and is sort of like his version of Taken meets John Wick. Those bad guys really should know better: when Scott Adkins' son is kidnapped, asses are going to get kicked.

While Seized admittedly isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, I think if you're the type of person who, like me, lined up to see the Transporter films when they first came out in theaters, you're going to get a real kick out of this. (And yes, of course that pun was intended.) Adkins is an absolute beast in these movies, and in an era in which CG and superheroes are dominating the action landscape, it's nice to see the occasional throwback like this and know that there are still filmmakers out there who are keeping the flame alive for tactile, hard-hitting, Hong Kong-style action films.

Isaac Florentine directs this one. He directed several iterations of Power Rangers throughout the 1990s, and really settled into becoming one of the go-to directors in the modern martial arts space with films like Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, Close Range, and Acts of Vengeance. And it's also cool to see Mario Van Peebles, an actor/director famous for New Jack City and Baadasssss!, go head-to-head with Adkins as the big bad of this movie.

Here's the film's official synopsis:

Hiding out with his son Taylor on the Mexican coast, Nero (Scott Adkins, Doctor Strange) hopes to put his violent Special Forces career behind him. But after Nero's home is attacked and Taylor is abducted, the mysterious Mzamo (Mario Van Peebles, Heartbreak Ridge) orders Nero to slaughter the members of three rival crime syndicates. If he fails, Taylor will die. Now, with bullets flying and bodies dropping as Nero completes his mission, he races to find Mzamo's hideout and seek revenge.

Seized lands on DVD, Digital, and On Demand platforms on October 13, 2020.