Hollywood stardom tends to be short and Steven Seagal, martial artist and action film star isn’t an exception. All of the big hits that made him fame and fortune were produced in late 1980s and 1990s, after which his career switched towards direct-to-video and television. His only big hit in 21st Century and the last theatrical release in which starred (not counting the role of villain in Machete) was Exit Wounds, 2001 action film directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.
Film is based on the novel by John Westermann. Plot begins in Detroit where police detective Orin Boyd (played by Seagal) shows great initiative and uses his weapons skills to save US Vice President from being ambushed by right-wing militia. His superiors, however, are displeased with his lack of subordination and, as a punishment, they transfer him to a precinct in drug infested neighbourhood. Boyd is also ordered to attend anger management class where he meets and befriends radio talk show host Henry Wayne (played by Tom Arnold). Boyd also gets to work and, together with his partner George Clark (played by Isaiah Washington), discovers that many of his colleagues are corrupt and that they may be connected by local drug boss Lattrell Walker (played by DMX). Further investigation, however, shows that some things aren’t what they seem at first glance.
Exit Wounds is now considered to be a swan song for Seagal’s career of top Hollywood star, but after the premiere it was viewed as his come back. It fared surprisingly well at the box office. Seagal, however, can take very few credits for that. In this film he seems to have more weight that in earlier films, seems even more disinterested than before and the script doesn’t allow him to show what he knows best – martial arts. Thankfully, the real force between this film is Joel Silver, legendary producer of action hits like those in Lethal Weapon series. Exit Wounds was originally developed as one of its instalments. In any case, Silver employed his formula based on plenty of gunfights, explosions, strong “buddy buddy” dynamic and plenty of humour, allowing Seagal’s charisma to work only as part of much bigger puzzle. Although the script has plenty of cliches, including obligatory romantic subplot involving Boyd and his female boss played by Jill Hennessy, and although some of major actors – Seagal and DMX – show obvious lack of proper acting skills, the formula works. Silver’s best move was casting two comedians – Tom Arnold and Anthony Anderson (in the role of Lattell Walker’s sidekick) – whose brilliant performances overshadow everything else and whose dialogue during the closing credits is reason alone to watch this film. Although Exit Wounds isn’t particularly memorable, it would please most of the action film fans that watch it, even those who care little about Steven Seagal.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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