The Fifth Commandment (2008)

30% of users liked it
(382 ratings)

Chance Templeton (Rick Yune of The Fast and the Furious) has every reason to be angry. At a young age he learned to channel the pain of witnessing his parents' grisly murder through an intense mentorship with a professional hitman (The Thing's Keith David). Ever since, he's been a remorseless… More Chance Templeton (Rick Yune of The Fast and the Furious) has every reason to be angry. At a young age he learned to channel the pain of witnessing his parents' grisly murder through an intense mentorship with a professional hitman (The Thing's Keith David). Ever since, he's been a remorseless contract-killing machine. But when his latest hit turns out to be the pop singer whom his dear adopted brother (Bokeem Woodbine) has been assigned to protect, Chance finally comes across a kill he can't make. Now the bounty is on the heads of Chance and the ones he loves, and, if he wants to make it out alive, he must use his lethal skills against the underworld that bestowed them to him. The Fifth Commandment was also penned by Yune.. ~ Jonathan Frey, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Jesse V. Johnson
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 22, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Jul 28, 2009
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Brent Simon, Shared Darkness
An unexceptionally shot and in many ways underwhelming actioner, but one given a bit of a boost by its Bangkok location filming, and a decent performance by multi-hyphenate Rick Yune.

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Featured Audience Ratings

Justin Y

The Fifth Commandment is a tarnish on the directing resume of Jesse V. Johnson.The story for this 90 minute picture is quite fitting for an action thriller of this caliber; however, some plot holes and poor writing really hurt the film as a whole. The… More
The Fifth Commandment is a tarnish on the directing resume of Jesse V. Johnson.The story for this 90 minute picture is quite fitting for an action thriller of this caliber; however, some plot holes and poor writing really hurt the film as a whole. The introduction is similar to an 80's shoot 'em up, which is one of the more enjoyable parts of the movie, but once the story advances years forward, it turns into a bland waste of time.As it should, The Fifth Commandment has its fair share of action. Still, the sound effects, editing, camera work, and background music all contribute in a negative way, resulting in mediocre sequences of violence.There are some recognizable faces in Rick Yune, Keith David, Bokeem Woodbine, and Dania Ramirez. None of these names are a big help. Rick Yune has the personality of an assassin, but his dialogue is just horrendous. Dania Ramirez is pretty, but she comes across as annoying and unimpressive. Both Keith David and Bokeem Woodbine are the only ones that contribute a little in the acting department.The Fifth Commandment has a lot of negatives, which makes it an easy film to pass on. Therefore, feel free to watch something else.
Dean !

A pretty good straight to DVD action film. Some good fight scenes and stunt work. An assassin passes up a hit on a female singer and gets drawn in to protect her from the next taker. Feels like quite a few other films put together most notably Bangkok Dangerous and the Replacement… More
A pretty good straight to DVD action film. Some good fight scenes and stunt work. An assassin passes up a hit on a female singer and gets drawn in to protect her from the next taker. Feels like quite a few other films put together most notably Bangkok Dangerous and the Replacement killers.
Steve K

Always great to see Keith David strutting his stuff, but this one is generic to the point of pointlessness. Watch it if there's nothing else on.
Dean M

Average assassin action with Rick Yune as it's not quite Ong Bak. The action is fierce. The tension is explosive. The camera work is dazzling. But what action sequences there are do not come off as anything special and some almost yawn-inducing.
Fascade F

This was a different kind of assassin flick. Father is the teacher...Brother takes his own road as a bodyguard..leaving the star of the show as an orphaned step son to take his own road as an assassin. Coincedentally there this one account involving a singer...("The… More
This was a different kind of assassin flick. Father is the teacher...Brother takes his own road as a bodyguard..leaving the star of the show as an orphaned step son to take his own road as an assassin. Coincedentally there this one account involving a singer...("The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston comes to mind at this point...) that the brother has is a target the other brother doesn't want to take...so they work things out in a way where the bottom line is that the singer needs protection...no matter what and the protections she needs takes him on the road to revenge...See this it's not too bad!
Remi L

This was basically Ninja Assassin-meets-Romeo Must Die with half the budget and even less of the acting. 'm a big fan of a multi-culti cast, but I'd love for them to be in quality films. No disrespect to Rick Yune, I loved him in The Fast and the Furious, but I was… More
This was basically Ninja Assassin-meets-Romeo Must Die with half the budget and even less of the acting. 'm a big fan of a multi-culti cast, but I'd love for them to be in quality films. No disrespect to Rick Yune, I loved him in The Fast and the Furious, but I was unimpressed with this flick. Everything about it was stale: the acting, the shootouts, the fight scenes; all of it. Perhaps the only highlight of the film was its original take on contract killing, to which I give Yune kudos. Other than that, pass this one up.
alan j

Throwback martial arts/shoot em up like they did in the 80's...plenty of action, gunplay and fight scenes..some of the drama is cheesy, but the theme of revenge runs deep in this actioneer and delivers. If you enjoyed early John Woo movies, you will enjoy this film as well.… More
Throwback martial arts/shoot em up like they did in the 80's...plenty of action, gunplay and fight scenes..some of the drama is cheesy, but the theme of revenge runs deep in this actioneer and delivers. If you enjoyed early John Woo movies, you will enjoy this film as well. Decent acting and predictable script and plot, but held my interest from start to finish.