Next up and as promised is part 1 of my Steven Seagal double whammy. I do have to say though that i am not a fan of the pony tailed akido master, but i am willing to give his films a chance. So without further ado, i give you Out For Justice....
!!!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING! SPOILERS ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I think of the 80s and action cinema, I think Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Willis, but there were other equally well know action stars from that period, ones that are laughed off. Chuck Norris is the butt of jokes although they are in his favour. Van Damme's career has shrivled since the mid 90s and Michael Dudikoff isn't taken seriously and reduced to cable action films, Lundgren has just had a scene stealing role in the Expendables which leaves us with Mr. Steven Seagal, a man who has made 38 films 25 of which have been made since 2001, but I'm not looking at those, I am looking at early, studio Seagal and his fourth film, OUT FOR JUSTICE. Now like I said in the previous paragraph I am not a fan of Seagal, I don't know why, but it may have something to do with the fact that the man churns out movie after movie after movie and none of them are successful, but I enjoyed this film.
THE PLOT
The plot of Out For Justice is pretty straight forward. Seagal plays cop Gino Felino, who's beat is the Brooklyn Streets, his neighbourhood, the streets he grew up on and the streets run by the Mafia. Gino is respected to a degree by the mob and in return he respects them to a degree. Gino's partner is shot down in broad daylight and on a busy street by wannabe wise guy Richie Madano (William Forsythe) who happens to be a drug addict to and a childhood friend of Gino's. As Richie makes his getaway he and his crew of hoods leave a trail of death behind them and Gino wants revenge for the death of his partner Bobby Lupo and to solve the case as to why Richie did this. Gino goes from club to club tracking down Richie, beating up his brother and arresting his sister and father just to get closer to the cop killer. The film ends in a rather well shot shoot out in a house situated in a run-down area of Brooklyn where Gino gets his revenge before the Mafia have a chance to take out Richie themselves.
So not like the typical Seagal film in which he's a former CIA operative turned hippy who is called back into action when a top secret nuclear cow has been stolen by some Balkan Terrorist group then, definitely not, this film feels more like a Bruce Willis film, it's a very early 90s Cop thriller that happens to have some martial arts, gun fights, car chases and a lot of bad language. It's very much of the period because it still has the remnants of the 80s such big hair, bad rap songs, big American cars that look like they'd fall apart after the first corner in a car chase and gangsters in suites or jeans and shell suit jacket but It all adds to the cheesy charm of the film.
THE CAST
STEVEN SEAGAL as Gino Felino
Ok, Seagal is awesome in this, the man is actually acting and commands the screen with a presence that is missing from his more recent efforts, Sure his Brooklyn accent is a little off or seems too forced but his will to get the bad guy is relentless. I have to give to the man, he really did carry the film. So if he's this much fun to watch in his early films why is it such a chore to watch his newer films.
WILLIAM FORSYTHE as Richie Madano
Now I like William Forsythe, loved him in The Rock and he was fantastic in The Devil's Rejects but here he was just awful, he spent almost all of his screen time shouting his lines and was obvious that he was acting the part because there was no reality to his performance, he wasn't menacing enough to be taken seriously as a villain and although the ending was predictable, it was obvious this guy wasn't going to win. So unfortunately this is not one of his better films, for a truly great performance from Forsythe, I highly recommend the afore mentioned The Devil's Rejects.
GINA GERSHON as Patti Madano
Gershon is good in this, it's only a small role but she seems to be the better of the actresses. But alas as I said her role was only small.
JERRY ORBACH as Capt. Ronnie Donziger
Jerry Orbach was familiar to me as Dr. Houseman, Baby's father in Dirty Dancing and not for his 12 year role on the Successful Law And Order show, that is quite depressing but here he is pointless. He is in maybe three or four scenes through out the 90 minute film. So to say whether he was good or bad would be pointless as he wasn't on screen enough to take any particular notice of his performance.
There were some well known face in very small roles here such as Julianna Margulies (ER, The Good Wife), Raymond Cruz (The Closer) Julie Strain (adult movies) and John Leguizamo who is credited as boy in the ally who only two years later played Luigi in the Super Mario Brothers film and Played Benny Blanco in Carlito's Way.
The Direction of the film is very much like every action film made in the early 90s, sun drenched LA or New York, neon lights reflecting off car windscreens, night clubs lit buy multi-coloured bulbs and close up shots of bullet penetration. That's what is missing from modern day action thrillers, the balls and the guts to show violence on screen in a non torture porn film, yes films are still violent but action films have become more subtle and less in your face to appeal to a younger audience. For me the 80s and early to mid 90s was the best era for action cinema.
MY FINAL VERDICT
What it all comes down to is...did I enjoy this film? yes I did, I found it to be action packed, violent, gory and well acted by Seagal. It was an entertaining popcorn flick that if you don't want to watch all the dross that studios seem to be putting out these days, I highly recommend this film, especially to fans of films such as Die Hard, Cobra and even the Dirty Harry films, just don't go into the film expecting something perfect as the film does have huge flaws....but check it out and enjoy it.
MY SCORE
FILM: 7/10 for action and fun.
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