'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enou...
'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enough to wish to continue to read my ramblings, you can find me on Dooyoo under the user name plipplop. See you around! :P
Member since:15.07.2000
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It was the weekend, so I could stop thinking and just relax – and with my brain switched off, what better film to watch than a brainless, big bang action movie?
Enter “Exit Wounds”.
Apparently, only 44% of Ciao members recommend this film (at time of press) – I find this extremely surprising, because in spite of my better judgement, I enjoyed this film more than any other I have watched for a few months now.
I don’t care if the stunts are virtually impossible or that the plot is as intellectual as Benny from Crossroads, this is what action movies should be about. It’s funny; it’s action-packed; it’s stylish; and it’s extremely entertaining.
Orin Boyd is a tough Detroit police detective who is running out of second chances – despite the fact that he always manages to save the day, he usually takes out about four city blocks in the process. After such an extreme operation, Boyd is disciplined and transferred to a tough inner city precinct where he soon finds himself up to his eyeballs in dodgy dealings. The problem is, the boundary between good guys and bad guys seems to have blurred somewhat – and Boyd finds himself in the middle of a corrupt police force, and a multi-millionaire drug dealer seeking revenge. Cue lots of explosions, fights
and double crossing, as Boyd attempts to work out exactly whom he can trust.
There are three main reasons why “Exit Wounds” works so well:
1. Visuals =========
The film was produced by Joel Silver, the man behind The Matrix and Romeo Must Die, so it will come as no surprise to learn that there are no end of tightly-choreographed, visually spectacular fight scenes. Whilst I doubt that any police officers in the States are trained to this level of skill, the fights really are superb, with the usual blend of martial arts, guns and improvised props – and yes, one of the characters uses his momentum to run up a wall (well, it wouldn’t be a Joel Silver movie if someone didn’t!). Whilst I am not stupid enough to believe that anybody can do these kind of things, the imagination behind the film alone is enough to give it merit, and some of the tricks employed by the characters really are rather cunning. This movie (as the name might suggest) has something of an obsession with guns, and if you share that obsession then this is the movie from you. Quite aside from packing some amazing hardware, the gun men use every trick in the rule book as well as inventing some new ones – watch for the guy with a shotgun and a belt – yoikes!
Aside from the fights, the stunts are also excellent. The film opens with a mad (if not rather irrelevant) ambush on a bridge and it never really lets up from there. The climax of a mad car chase involves a Range Rover piling into the back of a construction vehicle with a breathtakingly realistic (if not rather disturbing) sequence of the driver being fatally propelled into the windscreen. You have to hand it to Hollywood – nobody does this like they do, and this is a fine example.
2. Soundtrack ============
If you are into Gangsta Rap and Hip Hop then this is the film for you. At some points I was beginning to wonder whether the film had only been made to accompany the music, as the soundtrack was absolutely relentless. Like Aaliyah in Romeo Must Die, the film stars one of America’s top rap stars (DMX) in one of the lead roles, so needless to say he gets more than his fair share of the soundtrack, but the urban soundtrack really is appropriate to the subject matter. This kind of thing would sound out of place in many films, but it works perfectly here, and even those of us who aren’t really into rap music will be unable to stop themselves turning up the surround sound and enjoying the bass.
3. Dialogue ==========
This is a fast movie – there is no time to concentrate on plot details or characterisation – so instead the film-makers have thrown in a supporting cast of loud-mouthed comical support characters that keep the wisecracks coming almost as fast as the bullets. These supporting characters are particularly effective since the two lead characters are vocally quite reserved. Steven Seagal is never particularly vocal, favouring instead to keep fighting, and DMX seems to have been given a “restricted” script for reasons unknown. It is therefore left to DMX’s sidekick (TK) to keep the jokes coming – and he does! Played by Anthony Anderson, who is popping up more and more these days, TK’s finest moment has to be during the final credits when he gets his own slot on a chat show. The jokes are filthy, but then so is my sense of humour, so I was quite happy!
The DVD package isn’t too bad either.
First up is a Behind The Scenes Documentary, which is actually just a montage of clips from the film, with a few shots of cameramen, and some brief interviews with the star. This feature is almost as gratuitous as the violence – totally contrived and pointless, but it is 18 additional minutes for nothing. Likewise “A Day On The Set with Anthony Andersen” is really just a showcase for the man with the mouth himself – out of the context of the film he can be a bit much, but the feature is entertaining enough.
The DVD also features the music video to DMX’s track “Ain’t No Sunshine” which gets a lot of airplay throughout the film. The song is ok (if you’re into that sort of thing) but given that the video is mainly just a series of clips from the movie, it doesn’t really add to the overall package. Thrown in with the (now essential) cinema trailer, I quickly decided that the emphasis here was on quantity rather than quality. Nonetheless, all this comes as something for nothing, so perhaps I shouldn’t complain.
Don’t let me try and persuade you otherwise – Exit Wounds is no Oscar winner. This film is designed to look and sound good, and the filmmakers don’t want the audience to focus too much attention on the plot. It won’t win any fans over to the genre, but for a dumb weekend movie, I thought this was pretty good.
Recommended – as if you didn’t already know!
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Sometimes you have to go undercover to bring justice to the law: sometimes you have to ... more
walk in the darkness to bring the truth to light. From the acclaimed producer of 'The Matrix' Joel Silver brings you action hit 'Exit Wounds'. Fifty kilos of heroi...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Alot like Seagals other films, Realistic Fight Scenes, Anthony Anderson and Tom Arnold's sketch during the credits Disadvantages: Alot like Seagals other films, Maybe a little too much like 'Romeo Must Die'
Saul_Walker 28.05.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Exit Wounds (DVD)
![Exit Wounds [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78521837.jpg "Exit Wounds [DVD] [2001]")
Oct 3rd, 2001
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not helpful by (1%):
