Beyond the Law

Should one expect good acting from a sub B movie? Perhaps not. How about an actual plot that isn't a rehash of every other revenge film? How about Mr Seagal without that fake New Orleans accent?

Time lost never to be recouped

The line from Detective Munce just about sums it up: "Gremlins... it's a f$@!ing film. Watch it, it's a classic!"

So true, a classic. Unlike this film.

Seagal has been coasting on fumes for a while, but this is cheap and shoddy, even by his rapidly declining standards. He's not even the star of this revenge tale; his role - such as it is - is tangential, and his contributions to the "action" is even less than his poorly-delivered dialog. And for new achievements in cost-cutting, several of the fatal shootings are heard, but not seen. As little as they obviously spent on the script, you'd think they had a few bucks to spend on squibs, so we'd at least see some blood on the bodies. This flick deserves all the lack of revenue the budget people must have expected.

Didn't they pay Steven Seagal for this film? What was he doing there? Wasted 1.30 hours for this trash.

The answer is no... they would've done a better job. Two writers - amateur Johnny Martin Walters in his first ever writing credit, I can cut some slack, but there is no excuse for seasoned writer Chad Law to allow such an atrociously dialogued screenplay make it to the cameras. Then there was the plot-hole riddled convoluted and infantile story. There was more smoking cigarettes and cigars than action, you'd think this film was financed by Marlboro.

Casting Seagal is what you'd expect in his performance, only less and less action from him the more films he's in. I really wish he'd stop that annoying whispered dialogue thinking it makes him more "hey boss" mobster-ish. And enough with the hair color and hair plugs already, it's getting hard to take him serious anymore. All other casting and performances were decent, with Johnny Messner being the stand-out.

Directing by James Cullen Bressack was adequate, some decent camera work, but also bad choppy action {of what little there was} scenes. Cinematography was decent, and the score bearable - it was annoying, out of place and overbearing in some parts of the film.

Even if you're a fan of Seagals, don't expect to see him much in this film, let alone any more than 1 min total of him in action. The rest of the film he's drinking, smoking stogies, and whispering. It's a generous 4/10 from me.