Post by ronnierocketago on Jul 17, 2009 14:59:26 GMT
"It's the Price of our Blood."[/i]
OUT FOR JUSTICE (1991) - **1/2
The Outlaw Vern is the best film critic you've never heard of...and a hell lot better than most critics' names that you do know. You may quickly dismiss him because he mostly reviews macho schlock and DT-DVD (Direct-to-DVD) junk, but head over to his website outlawvern.com/ and discover that he's actually a rather refreshing, constructive must-read online rebel from the egotistical and nonsensical Geek Theology as professed, indoctrinated, and practed by movie websites like Aint it Cool News and CHUD. Probably this is why AICN has him as the occassional Guest Critic. and surprise surprise according to the infamous Talkbacks (not known for their respectful politeness) he's the only one worth a spit and trustworthy.
With his trademark insightful and humor, Vern has endeared himself to fans everywhere. This includes director Guillermo Del Toro, who describes him as "Equal parts HELL'S ANGELS and Pauline Kael." No agent can buy that quote. He's also basically my critical role model, just ahead of Roger Ebert and Peter Travers. So yeah if anyone calls Vern a hack or go elitist on me, you can go fuck off a cliff. No exceptions.
Anyway, last year he went mainstream when Titan Press published SEAGALOGY, his recommendable 400 page opus analysis of action star Steven Seagal's entire filmography.
I know that sounds like trivial literature (i.e. waste of time), but it's probably the best book of film criticism that I've read in a good long time. At best it's a thoughtful if affectionate broad musing on action cinema, with the centralized canvas being Seagal's movies ranging from his box-office champion heyday to his more recent, more humble (and fatter) reign as King of DT-DVD. Consider his stunning (yet legit) argument that Seagal's debut ABOVE THE LAW was the only Hollywood topical release which tackled the Iran-Contra scandal. At worst, SEAGALOGY is a bathroom book. New York Magazine said it best: "We can't believe this actually exists, but the world is certainly a better place for it."[/i]
Alright enough of my shilling. In SEAGALOGY Vern considers OUT FOR JUSTICE to be the Ponytail's best movie. I completely disagree, I say it's UNDER SIEGE that terrific DIE HARD-knockoff on a battleship from director Andrew Davis (THE FUGITIVE) and also Seagal's most popular hit. I mean how can you top having both Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey as your villains?
But I'm arguing this from a filmatics perspective, not as an unprejudiced viewer. Those first few Seagal flicks, all which had three word simple titles (HARD TO KILL, MARKED FOR DEATH) where scripts and situational logic were mere petty bitches for Seagal's Aikido martial arts. And at times, these pictures are a hell lot of fun. So surmise to say, OUT FOR JUSTICE featured everything that is great...and awful...about Steven Seagal.
I will concur with Vern though that the opening for OUT FOR JUSTICE is awesome in an absurd, cheesy but charming sort of way, where NYPD cop Seagal on stake-out sees some lowlife pipe smack around one of his hookers, and he decides to intervene. You gotta love how that last shot was framed through smash windshield to capture Seagal's mug, cuing his marquee and movie title.
The story (or lack thereof) goes that Seagal's partner gets murdered in front of his wife and kids at broad daylight by Brooklyn mobster William Forsythe (Seagal's childhood friend), and in the classic violent American tradition goes OUT FOR JUSTICE, cut to the Beastie Boys' "No Sleep till Brooklyn." Why did I put that music video up? Why not? This is my review, not yours.
Now Forstyhe is one of my personal favorites, a tremendously underrated actor who somehow makes everything out of nothing. Unlike most baddies in such tripe, he's just a whacked-out cocaine junkie who's lost his marbles. No mastermind scheme of domination for Seagal the hero to defeat, Forsythe really truely doesn't give a shit if he lives or dies, or who gets in his way. One touch I really loved was when Forstyhe and his gang get stuck in traffic and a driver heckles him away, and Forstyhe displays the worst kind of road rage by blowing her brains out in public. Yeah, he's not the guy to go piss off.
With Seagal the policeman from a family of criminals, this is crime melodrama drivel redressed into basic action matinee trash. Segal the Jew even sports a lousy phoney Italian accent. But people who go rent a Steven Seagal movie doesn't give a shit about the story, all they care about the action, namely the beatdowns. And they're brutally delicious with the Seagal-obligatory broken wrists, thugs thrown through the plate glass window, and OUT OF JUSTICE follows a genre staple: Whenever a scene features a pool table, a fight will inevitably occur around it. Seagal's painful addition is putting a billards ball into a sock, and slamming it into some guy's jaw, teeth go flying. Also note that the guy with the broken cue sticks is former Bruce Lee protegee Dan Inosanto. Irrelevant I suppose, but damn cool none the less.
BTW, is it me or anyone else notice how Seagal isn't a victim here at all, never once in doubt or in danger. Then again, Seagal is almost never outmatched/outgunned/outmanned hero in his movies (his massive ego wouldn't allow it), but in that scene above he sure did his best to provoke everyone so he could legally beat the snot out of them. I know the guy wants his vengeance and all, but he still acts like a complete dick here.
Remember my past review where I discussed the "stupid quota"? You know, where we the audience can buy a certain amount of bullshit but if pushed too far we revolt? If violating the quota was a crime, Michael Bay would get the rope. Anyway, you accept the usual silly in OUT with bad guys fighting Seagal one at a time, the useless convoluted meandering subplot about a mafia tribe squabbling for power (who cares?), Seagal's domestic problems, all that.
But I yell ya, OUT jumps off the cliff for me with the basic narrative premise: That despite Forstyhe driving around all night without ever bothering to hide himself, the combined search & destroy efforts of the cops and mob can't find him. Look I accept that Brooklyn might be sorta big, but this is fucking stupid. Even for me. For better or for worse, OUT FOR JUSTICE is what it is without faux-pretenses, but TAKEN and OUTLAND were pretty good for what they were. OUT FOR JUSTICE isn't. That is, isn't as a whole.
Consider this: To be honest I was kinda surprised when some folks, even somenon-action fans, wrote back that they enjoy AIR FORCE ONE, and watch it whenever it's on television. I'm floored, but I maybe figured out why. OUT FOR JUSTICE overall is weaksauce B-action exploitation arched only by the brawls and Forstyhe, and they aint enough. But with the fragmented visceral experience of TV with the constant commercial interruptions, OUT plays wonderful. So this might be possibly the most positive **1/2 review I'll ever pen.
Take the finale where Seagal storms into the house of Juliana Marguiles (her acting debut), where Forstyhe's crew is holed up. Bullets fly, people get thrown around, and my favorite bit, Seagal with shotgun blows out a hood's leg from under the knee...yet is still standing, bleeding. I've always wondered, did that guy hop away to the hospital? Oh and Seagal using the corkscrew for other than its intended purpose.
See? Watch OUT FOR JUSTICE like film is supposed to be, it doesn't work. But on TV? It's pleasurable, and yes when I do catch it on the tube, I tend to stay on OUT for a few minutes at least. Does any of this make any sense to you? Perhaps not, but it's worth a thought, and I would love to yours about this premise. Sure I wished the filmatics and other precious stuff were more polished, with a dash of common sense, since this was from the same director of ROLLING THUNDER and THE OUTFIT, both still not on DVD.
Of course that whole epilogue with Seagal catching up to the douchebag who earlier threw an adorable cute puppy out the window of his car, is the essence of OUT FOR JUSTICE. You know what happens, and you grin as a scumbag gets a mighty kick to the crotch, screams "My balls, my balls!" in agony as same dog gets payback by pissing on his face. Yeah take that animal-abuser.
NOTE - Vern has a new book out in the spring, YIPEE KI-YAY MOVIEGOER, which I'll be buying. Apparently it's his long-awaited new treatise on action cinema, namely James Bond and DIE HARD, which I remember him calling the greatest American action movie ever produced. Anyone care to diverge?