Obviously just going through the list of names should and will get people excited (who are into the action genre that is and know their favorites). Having Dolph "team up" with Tony Jaa is a great move. Though it doesn't really matter which side of the law people are, based on the decisions they make during the course of the movie. Which also means, there is quite a bit of fighting ahead of you.

Ron Pearlman does a good job with his accent (playing a Serbian) and there is one particular fight scene (about 20 minutes before the movie ends) that is really good. But there are also cuts in the movie that seem to take note on the "jump cut" book, but don't really work. The overall story is easy to tell, the core of it is something that unfortunately is happening all over the world.

Also Tony Jaas English performance was captured a lot better in Fast 7, there are some weird lines he has to deliver here (not convincingly then). Decently made then, but could've been better

SKIN TRADE is a real surprise: a recent Thai action thriller that doesn't disappoint. In my view, CHOCOLATE was the last great Thai martial arts film and everything made since then has been a disappointment, but this B-movie thriller has more of an international flavour and excels in its depiction of non-stop action.

The plot sees various heroic types teaming up to tackle a Serbian gangster and his men. Tony Jaa is a Thai cop trying to break up a prostitution racket while Dolph Lundgren has his family massacred and goes on a revenge spree against those responsible. Ron Perlman is the baddie while Michael Jai White also co-stars. It was great to see Peter Weller too as the old police chief.

The story might be slim but the pace is very fast and the action offers a good mix of chases, hand-to-hand combat, and shoot-outs. Lundgren and Jaa make a good team and the latter in particular gets to show off his skills in a much better way than in his bit parts in the likes of FAST & FURIOUS 7 and XXX: THE NEXT LEVEL. Sure, there's plenty of camera tricks, wire work, and stunt doubling, but for pure action, SKIN TRADE delivers.

Nick Cassidy (Dolph) is a tough New York cop with a loving wife and daughter. When a Serbian gangster named Viktor Dragovic (Perlman) and his three sons appear on Nick's radar, representing many illegal interests, not the least of which is human trafficking, Nick makes it his mission to shut them down. It becomes personal when the baddies kill his wife and daughter and leave him for dead. Now fueled for revenge, Nick travels to Thailand, and while there meets up with a Thai cop named Tony (Jaa). At first they are enemies based on misunderstanding, but eventually they team up to end the Dragovic criminal empire - permanently. Add to that some duplicity on behalf of a man named Reed (White), Nick and Tony have their hands full. Will they both put an out-of-business sign on the SKIN TRADE? Dolph delivers what fans want with Skin Trade, and notches another positive on his ever-growing resume. Having starred in, co-produced, and co-written the film, Dolph has described it as a passion project. That he has two daughters of his own provided even more emotional fuel for him, and he even got involved behind the scenes with anti-trafficking organizations. While that is noble, and there is a tasteful title card after the film that informs us about trafficking, what we're here for is the action, and there's plenty of it. It's all framed around what is probably our favorite plot, the revenge framework.

Dolph even assembled a dream cast for this one. You can't do better than having Dolph, Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White (MJW as we call him), Ron Perlman and Peter Weller all together, can you? Weller's part is necessarily restrained, but he does bring his classic voice and intensity to the role. Perlman, honestly, doesn't get a ton of screen time either, but he makes the most of what he has. The Dolph-Tony Jaa fight amongst all the falling rice was a movie highlight, as was another dream pairing, the MJW-Tony Jaa fight.

It looks professional and non-junky, thank goodness, and the stellar cast only reinforces the "this could have gone to the theater here and probably did in other countries around the world" vibe. Dolph does walk away from an explosion, which is always cool, but sadly it's a CGI explosion. While we really liked the movie overall, and there is plenty to commend within it, the use of CGI explosions, bullet hits, sparks, etc., plus the annoying use of cut frames was a bit bothersome. But it's very clear the positives outweigh those minor negatives.

We applaud everyone involved, especially Dolph, for producing Skin Trade. On the one hand it has brutal violence and top-notch fights from the best in the business, and on the other hand it delivers an important message about one of the evils in the world today. The fact that Dolph and the gang found a way to marry those two together is impressive and noteworthy. Skin Trade is worth seeing and recommending.