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Member since:08.03.2001
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Ten word review: Segal and DMX fight corruption and drugs in “gritty” thriller.
Steven Segal is actually quite a jolly man. The reason for his constant grimace is his constant fear that his usual happy go lucky smile will make him seem less of a hard man. So every day when he turns up for his acting job, he sucks twelve lemons and watches John Carpenter’s Vampires. Feeling suitably sullen (and a little angry), he goes on to a productive day kicking ass. And whaddya know, he’s done it again.
Now, the last time Joel Silver put his name to anything other than The Matrix, it was the superbly average Romeo Must Die. Mercifully, this effort has far less wire work, is believable, and… dare I say it… A Good Steven Segal Movie.
In the mood for a slice of “pulse-pounding action” as the sleeve puts it (I’ve heard that phrase a million times, and not one lentil has been stood on yet…), I sat down with the lights out in the living room and my brain, but lo, I soon had to engage the grey matter, as this is not simply a man set for revenge, it’s a tale (based on the novel by John Westermann) of police corruption. Dang, I didn’t want to think…
Still, the opening sequence sated my lust for things going boom. Segal plays “bad penny” Orin Boyd (another great Hollywood character name!), who is introduced to us via an impressive sequence in which he saves the Vice President from an assassination attempt.
His flamboyant and violent crossing of Secret Service orders leads him to being demoted to a troubled Detroit precinct (the toughest in the state, of course!), where police beatings and corruption are rife. After accidentally getting on the wrong side of his new boss (played by Jill Hennessy), he drives home, spotting a drug deal in progress. Like a fleshy Robocop, he busts in and arrests one of the perps, only to discover he’s a cop. Another demotion later, and he’s blowing whistles and wearing white gloves – no, he’s not undercover at a rave, he’s a traffic cop. Steven no like. Steven want action, and stubbornly tries to track down the crim that got away on his misinformed bust – one Latrell Walker, played by rap star DMX.
From here, the story delves further into the mire of corruption, with Segal busting heads in nightclubs and no the street, whilst something fishy is going on with not-what-he-seems DMX getting further involved in shady deals and drugs smuggled in T-shirts.
This being a Joel Silver production, one can often expect a few touches of originality to seep through the typical Hollywood sensibilities. There’s no bullet time here, but there is a very cool wire-assisted move, and some incredible stunts, which I only hope were done for real. There is also some surprisingly graphic violence – characters die in original and wince-inducing ways.
There’s also a pretty good sense of humour – Segal actually comes off as cool with his throwaway lines (spotting a suspicious man in the bushes, he quips “Don’t people sleep any more?”), and Tom Arnold reprises his role in True Lies as a hyperactive jabber-mouth TV presenter, who Segal meets in a therapy group (seriously!). Also playing to type here is Anthony Anderson as DMX’s portly partner in crime, who seems to have cut & pasted his Romeo Must Die shtick straight into the character of TK. This could get irritating, but he seems to have reined it in a little, and I didn’t want to stick needles under my fingernails quite as much as I did in the aforementioned beat-‘em-up.
The soundtrack is yet another blend of Hollywood score and R’n’B tunes, with DMX popping up from time to time, unsurprisingly. It’s pretty effective, and the backup rap tunes do make you want to listen to them on their own, the score itself being functional rather than superb.
So, there’s action, jokes, a good Segal performance and some solid supporting actors (Michael Jai White, Isaiah Washington), but this left me fairly unshaken. Crime thrillers are two a penny, and apart from the inventive action, this really doesn’t add much to the genre – the odd twist here and there (some ruined by the trailer, to no surprise), the “fish out of water” storyline. The story is well told, and DMX’s performance is especially good – he can kick ass and act, and Segal is pretty much outshined in the acting stakes. Andrzej Bartkowiak’s direction is a little patchy, with some action scenes linking together well, but at other times it’s hard to see the action, and there are some slo-mo moments that didn’t really add to the thrills. This isn’t great, nor rubbish, it’s just… there. Still, turn up the TV and grab your favourite snacking combo (this week I have attempted Curry Pringles – bleuch!) and this will pass an hour and a half of your life quite well.
Oh, and if you’re not a fan of Tom Arnold and/or Anthony Anderson, you may well want to switch off at the natural conclusion to the movie, as the pair blab on for a good 8 minutes as the credits roll… I would have liked to see some out takes or bloopers, but instead the uninspiring pair just sit on a couch firing off jokes until my brain starts to pour out of my ears, and my cheeks feel warm as it slides down my face to the floor below... have I made myself clear? :-p
Recommended for fans of: Under Siege, Shaft (Sam Jackson remake), Singing In The Rain.
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 2007 - Action/Adventure - Director: Paul Greengrass - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, Edgar Ramirez, David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
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: some interesting twists and fight scenes, some decent acting at times Disadvantages: stale plot, some rather overdone and pointless violence, I can act better than Seagal
adamsputnik 29.12.2003 ·
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Review of Exit Wounds (DVD)
![Exit Wounds [DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78521837.jpg "Exit Wounds [DVD] [2001]")
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