A young Catholic priest, Luke Kovak, doing good works in his parish has his life turned upside down when his past as an assassin catches up with him. After a previous operation had gone bad he sought sanctuary with the church but he kept a piece of evidence from that operation which his former unit now wants. There are a lot of flashbacks in the film but the narrative is clear and on the whole it is a decent enough film.The priest is played by Mark Dacascos and he does it very well, not only in the action scenes where he is so proficient but also in the emotional scenes. You get a good sense of how scarred his character is and the mounting despair he has when falling back into his more violent ways. It always puzzled me how Mr Dacascos never became a bigger action and martial art star. He had all the necessary attributes in martial art and acting skills and was very likeable and watchable.The very last scene is a lovely ironic twist in the tail of the tale.

The previous Mark Dacascos movie I watched—buddy kung fu flick Drive (1997)—was hugely entertaining nonsense, with a lightweight but fun plot, likable characters, and very impressive martial arts scenes; Sanctuary, made the following year, is the antithesis of that film, a joyless thriller that takes itself way too seriously, suffers from lifeless direction, and which completely wastes the extraordinary fighting skills of its star.Dacascos plays CIA agent turned priest Luke Kovak, who finds himself pulled back into the violent world of black-ops espionage by his ex-boss Dyson (Alan Scarfe), who is keen to lay his hands on an incriminating tape that could prevent a senator from becoming security adviser at The Whitehouse. A confusing narrative structure that involves numerous dreary flashbacks, coupled with a plodding pace and a lack of martial arts makes Sanctuary a B-movie bore from start to finish.

I managed to catch "Sanctuary" on a night with nothing else to do but flip through the cable channels. I stumbled upon this film simply because i recognized Mark Dacascos from the "Crow: Stairway to Heaven" t.v. series. Needless to say I started watching and actually became somewhat enthralled by this film. The acting is above what i expected considering this is a straight to video movie. The action sequences were directed well, and the story had a surprising amount of depth to it. Not only the entire "conspiracy" like aspects of it, but also the struggle of a man who has chosen to turn away from all he had ever known to be. The flashback sequences were awesome, showing a disturbing yet intriguing look into a strange form of raising children. Ultimately, it was the closing shot of the film ( I won't give it away, but I must say that being Catholic made this especially cool) that just made me say "WOW." In summary, a surprisingly good late nite movie that is actually worth seeking out. The actors deliver well and the plot is enough to keep even the most easily distracted somewhat entertained.

This one should have gone to the big screen. It's the different kind of action thriller that everyone has been waiting for. It's got lots of action, drama, and thrilling moments. And in this one everything is not perfect. There are no happy people and endings. This is dark and gloomy. Mark Dacascos stars as Luke Kovak, a former special agent turned priest. But when his former people find out that he's alive they send killers to take him out. Now that was the short version of the plot because there is a back story and subplot that help make this film go along better and feel unique. This film is dipped in darkness and never lets you out of it. It has a gloomy tone and every color is drug out to the fullest extent. Also the film has a noir quality because it's has this brownish tint to every scene. To add to the darkness, there is a dark backstory supplied by flashbacks that explain some of the story and they are very serious. The cast is the normal straight to video cast but Dacascos is great and should try to get out of these b-movies. The spy element is there with gadgets and guns. So action fans will be very happy. Sanctuary is a dark, straight to video spy thriller that is a great watch anytime and a darn good film. A very unique action thriller.