Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Writer: Ed Horowitz, Richard D’Ovidio (Screenplay) John Westermann (Novel)
Starring: Steven Seagal, DMX, Isaiah Washington, Anthony Anderson, Michael Jai White, Bill Duke, Jill Hennessy, Tom Arnold
Plot: Orin Boyd, a tough cop in an inner-city precinct discovers a web of dirty cops and corruption.
Tagline – This Is Gonna Hurt
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Seagal Action 101
Story: Exit Wounds starts when tough police officer Orin Boyd (Seagal) prevents an assassination attempt on the Vice President against orders from his superiors and Secret Service. This loses him his job at his prescient and being sent to a rougher one where new Captain Annette Mulcahy (Hennessy) sends him anger management.
When Orin starts investigating a known gangster Latrell Walker (DMX) he is assigned a partner in George Clark (Washington) and the two only honest sounding cops trying to bring him down and uncover the dirty cops in the force.
Thoughts on Exit Wounds
Characters – Orin Boyd is a tough no nonsense cop that will always run in first to do the right thing for people in danger, he doesn’t like dirty cops or criminals or partners and will go all out to bring down the criminals. Latrell Walker is the criminal that Orin is tracking, he is a genius, but not everything about what we learn about him is what it seems on the outside. George Clark is the partner that gets forced onto him, he has a family and just wants to do the right thing but could easily be another one of the dirty cops. We do meet plenty of cops that are dirty through the film, we see many different clichés for the genre in our characters too.
Performances – We know what Steven Seagal is capable of as an actor, he can handle the fighting fine, but when it comes to the line delivery he isn’t the best, this is typical for what we know about him. DMX was trying to make an acting career and he does show promise in a time when all musicians seemed to want to get into acting. When we look at the rest of the cast they are what we need in the film without anyone standing out too much, Anthony Anderson gets the funniest moments in the film.
Story – The story here follows a tough cop trying to bring down criminals and corruption from within the force. This does play into Seagal’s strengths where he gets to beat people up and be the good guy doing this. We have a big third act twist which does turn the film on its head and doesn’t really get implied early on which is nice. By the end this will have checked the boxes for a fun easy to watch action film and that is all we want from a story at times
Action/Comedy/Crime – The action is short fight sequences, shootouts and chases sequences which are fun to watch with plenty going on through them making the action all we want. The comedy is in small moments and does give a couple of laughs with Anderson being the one with the most. The crime world we enter is everything we know when it comes to corrupt cops which is fine for the film.
Settings – The film brings us to Detroit with crime running through it, we know it is generic for crime world, so this works for the film.
Scene of the Movie – Seagal versus White sword fighting.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The comedy works, but can takeaway from the main story.
Final Thoughts – This is a standard Seagal action film, it is easy to watch and will keep you entertained throughout.
Overall: Simple to watch action film.
Rating
