Dealing with important and controversial social issue in the form of low budget exploitation film can be double-edged sword. It allows film makers more leeway than in high budget prestigious dramas, but it is somewhat more difficult for audience to take the message seriously. This is the problem encountered by Extreme Justice, 1993 action drama directed by Mark L. Lester.
Protagonist, played by Lou Diamond Phillips, is Jeff Powers, LAPD detective put on probation after beating up child molester during arrest. His disciplinary problems suddenly go away and the reason for it is Dan Vaughn (played by Scott Glen), an old partner who is now a leading member of Special Investigative Section (S.I.S.), highly secretive unit dedicated to deal with the most dangerous of criminals. Powers’ testimony has helped Vaughn evade his own disciplinary problems long time ago, so Vaughn considers him perfect new member of the unit. S.I.S. modus operandi involves surveillance and trying to catch suspects in the act, which would in theory guarantee conviction and long prison sentences. In reality, S.I.S. allows innocent people to get threatened, hurt or even killed in the process, while its policy of shooting instead of arresting suspects make them look like a death squad. After a while, Powers has a lot of trouble reconciling with such bloodshed, and things are further complicated when his girlfriend, newspaper reporter Kelly Daniels (played by Chelsea Field), begins to investigate story.
Subject of police brutality and enforcers of the law crossing the line isn’t new, and it was covered decades ago in Magnum Force. In early 1990s the issue became even more relevant due to Rodney King beating and subsequent L.A. riots. Script by Frank Sacks and Robert Boris is very loosely inspired by real life controversies concerning S.I.S. Unfortunately, direction by Mark L. Lester tries to make the point by framing the issue through series of too melodramatic, cliched and too Hollywood plot points, most notably in scenes depicting S.I.S. actions that are portrayed as too violent and too bloody. Romantic subplot involving protagonist’s girlfriend seems to be another of such cliches, introduced mostly to provide eye candy in form of Chelsea Field who wears skimpy clothes and even disrobes in one of the scene. The rest of the cast, on the other hand, is great, with formidable character actors like Scott Glenn, Yaphet Kotto and Stephen Root (in small but effective role of Kelly’s editor) give this film a touch of class and gravitas. Music score by David Michael Frank often makes Extreme Justice sound bigger film than it actually is. In reality, Extreme Justice was low budget affair and didn’t even get theatrical distribution, being instead aired on HBO and later distributed on video. While watchable and featuring some fine acting, it fares badly when compared with classic films that dealt with same issue in the past, like Serpico, or would deal it in the future, like Training Day.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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