Film: Out For Justice

Nowadays it’s easy to forget just how good a good Steven Seagal movie is.

This 1991 effort sees Seagal play Gino, a tough Brooklyn cop, out to avenge the murder of his partner.

From the brutal opening scene in which Richie (William Forsythe) guns down the cop in broad daylight in front of his family, you know that this is gonna be all out action.

Seagal swiftly sets about tracking down Richie and his crew and obliterates anyone in his way. The pool hall fight scene remains an all time favourite and the entire film has aged surprisingly well. Look out for The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies as a downtrodden ex-hooker.

I caught this on tv with no intention of watching the entire thing but before I knew it, it was all over. Seagal’s character is a brilliantly clichéd action hero, the tough guy with a heart of gold which is perfectly shown in the cool puppy rescue scene and the subsequent encounter with the greaseball who threw it out a moving car.

With the odd exception, they just don’t make them like this anymore.

Ric’s Rating: Highly Recommended

Film: Machete

This was originally just a spoof trailer that played with the Grindhouse films but Robert Rodriguez liked the idea so much that he decided to actually make the movie.

The result is a glorious homage to the type of straight to video action film that I grew up on.

Machete (Danny Trejo) is an ex-federale working as a labourer in Texas. When he is hired by a slimy political aide (a show stealing Jeff Fahey) to assassinate local bigwig McLaughlin (a wonderfully hammy Robert DeNiro) he becomes a target as the whole thing was a set up. The man behind it all is Machete's old enemy Torrez (Steven Seagal) and our hero must evade cops, criminals and hitmen to clear his name and get revenge.

Rodriguez has managed to make this work. I didn't see the Grindhouse films but they didn't do too well, this deserves to do better. It's a deliciously over the top violent escapade, the likes of which we haven't seen much of recently (although The Expendables springs to mind). Even the cheesy 70's style effects work as they add some humour to the gore. Also the fact that no woman can resist Machete evokes memories of films starring the likes of Wings Hauser and Mark Gregory.

All the cast seem to be having a good time and that comes through on screen and it was especially cool to see action warhorses Trejo and Seagal tear up the screen in the finale which also contains some nice comedy moments.

Highly recommended to anyone who likes a good old fashioned action film and can appreciate the style in which it was made.

Ric's Rating: 82%

Ric Recommends: Exit Wounds

To celebrate the return of the Steven Seagal: Lawman tv show (see review elsewhere here) this week's recommendation is a film regarded as Seagal's last decent movie.

It involves Seagal investigating police corruption and also stars DMX, Anthony Anderson, Tom Arnold, Isaiah Washington, Jill Hennessey and Michael Jai White. There are nice comedy moments with Seagal and Arnold and the action scenes are pretty good too.

As for Seagal escaping the direct -to-dvd market, one can always hope. He does have a part in Machete so you never know......

In the meantime, check out Exit Wounds, it's a decent cop action thriller.

TV Show: Steven Seagal: Lawman

In this reality show we join action movie star Steven Seagal as he goes
on patrol with real life cops.

Seagal has supposedly been a serving deputy sheriff for 20 years and has just now decided to make this public. Income from the straight to dvd market can't be so good.

In the three episodes I have caught so far Seagal looks better than he has done in his last few movies, gone is the long leather coat, and he seems very comfortable on camera in some potentially dangerous situations.
At one point a suspect reaches under the seat of his car after announcing that he has a pistol. Up steps Big Steve to unceremoniously wrench the guy from the car and send him sprawling across the street. When things settle down the unfortunate induividual comes to his senses, looks around and whispers to another cop "That's Steven Seagal over there" when the cop tells him it was Seagal that threw him out the car the guy becomes starstruck. From menacing thug to starstruck fan in two minutes, priceless.

Elsewhere we have Seagal and the team helping out with rebuilding houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and Seagal and his band (he is an accomplished musician and I happened to catch a gig in Glasgow in 2007 where he put on a great show) performing a charity concert for a local children's hospital.

Far better than any film he has made in the last few years so highly recommended for any Seagal fan or anyone who enjoys any real life cop shows.

Look out for Seagal's return to the big time in the upcoming film Machete in which he stars alongside Robert De Niro.

Rick's Rating: 88%