Justice

Phew! I had to work hard to get my five or six brain cells to keep up with this one, a scatter-shot film in the genre of action/court drama/prison/gangster/revenge movie.

The film started off in Colombia where a DEA agent gets executed and micturated on, then jumps ahead eight months to a prison where James Belushi saves Henry Silva from getting shanked, then jumps ahead a year to a courtroom. I was beginning to think that by the time Charles Durning showed up, they'd all be in the future fighting on hoverboards (man, that would have been great).

The hugely complicated plot is this: Tracy Needham convicts a Colombian drug dealer who killed her partner, so he orders a hit and her partner gets wasted (as does his wife), so Charles Durning turns up as her protector and they go after the Colombian (who in turn are trying to kill them), Belushi is now working for Silva in the mafia (or is he?) and some Fed and her Marshall are covering things up for some reason I didn't catch. Got all that?

The film moves briskly enough and there's plenty of action and such like (except my disc had a glitch that missed out the climatic battle - cheers Cash Convertors!), but if you're drunk you might want to watch something with a simpler plot.

I give this film a high marking because Henry Silva is absolutely brilliant here. Just wait till you see the scene where, in one of his restaurants, he offers Colombian dealers a coffee and then charges them $2.50 for the pleasure (then gets really really angry when they don't want to pay) - worth watching for that scene alone.

It's alright. I must note, however, that I couldn't take my eyes off Charles Durning's frame. He's...err...a bit on the large side.

This is a solid crime thriller TV movie with some good performances throughout. It plows along at quite a pace and throws a lot of story into the pot, but it just about holds it together. The production value is strong and it still looks good today almost 20 years later. Its a mix of the mafia, courtrooms and cops, and attempts to explore what suffifcient justice really means in society. Be warned though as despite star billing on the DVD cover Jim Belushi has a small role here, and is best described as a minor co-star.

All films must necessarily proceed from the script. When the script is drawn from the Collected Cliches of North America and the largest line item on the budget is cocaine acquisition, the result must be worth far less than the life force used to view it. The only good thing I can say about this movie is that Tracey Needham is pleasant to look at once she wipes off the Marilyn Monroe makeup.

JUSTICE, or BACKLASH, was a dull and plodding TV flick about a prosecutor attempting to avoid being executed by a Colombian drug cartel. I watched it thinking it was going to be a Jim Belushi vehicle, but Belushi wasn't the star. A TV actress named Tracey Needham was, and while she was very attractive, she ain't no Jim Belushi. I didn't quite make it to the end, as I had to leave for work and I was getting bored anyhow. Charles Durning co-starred to no particular effect. While glossily photographed, JUSTICE looks like it was strictly a paycheck for all involved, including the legendary and ageless Henry Silva as Sal the Joker. And here we go again: IMDb wants more lines, God knows why. Brevity is often the beauty of a movie review. But not here. No sir-ee, Bob. You gotta drag these things out. Drag them out, I say!

This is really bad!Even for a tv movie,why is James Belushi getting star billing and on the front cover?He is in the film for like about 7 minutes total and on the front cover he is in a prison,he is actually in a prison for about 1 minute of the film.This is a blatant marketing scam to get people watching it because of James Belushi in it.The film itself is awfull even though I paid £5 for it.The one good thing about it is the leading lady who is very attractive,AVOID.