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The film is the story of a Chicago detective Nico Toscani (Seagal) that dates back to the early 70’s when he started studying Aikido, a type of martial arts style, and then into his experience in Vietnam, as an undercover CIA agent. It’s here where we meet baddie Kurt Zagon (Henry Silva), and Nico’s “friend” Nelson Fox (Chelcie Ross). Zagon tries to torture a Vietnamese to talk using some gruesome tactics, but Nico beats the shit out of him, calls him a barbarian and quits the CIA. Now a cop as we shift to present times, and thanks to a snitch, he busts a drug lord Bautista Salvano (Daniel Faraldo) and finds in his stash a shipment of C4 explosive. So now he must investigate where did he get the explosives and what is Salvano really up to, despite the setbacks and the serious involvement of the CIA and the FBI on this matter as well as the constant threats to his family. All of this of course, leads to a murder plot in which Salvano and his CIA buddies are a part of. Helping him is his partner Delores Jackson (Pam Grier) and Lukich (Ron Dean)

The film’s upside: Some parts of the plot, which I found pretty clever, and interesting, and I guess it must be since the only professional there is Andrew Davis, and his skill can be seen here. The action scenes were all right, and the fight scenes were pretty cool, which is the sole reason why I used to love Seagal back then when I was just a brat. Interestingly enough, Seagal is the only martial artist that I’ve seen (and I’ve seen lots of martial arts movies) where he uses his surroundings as a weapon to throw his opponents at, like walls, windows, pop machines, stands, etc. Not that I have a problem with it (I think it kicks ass), but just to note that Seagal is a quite beast when he fights.

The downside: Though the action scenes were all right, in some parts they were pretty dull and poorly made for most of the time that looks like they filmmakers forgot to hire a production designer. This is also evident in most parts of the film. The scene where Nico is on the roof of Salvano’s runaway car is laughably uninteresting since it feels more like a tour in the streets of Chicago. And for the look of it, they didn’t use any stationary cameras for additional exterior shots since for most of the time the fucking camera is just inside the car and nothing more. It was annoying to watch during most of the time. That technical flaw particularly hampers many key action scenes, especially the one in that parking lot, where the car chase (once more), drags and is never exciting, even though it should. The rest of the production design is equally cheap; the settings look pretty crappy, and the ID card from that Senator aide looks so fake its funny. You can tell that this film was made with a tight budget, and it’s probable that although some people will nod and move on (like I did), others will laugh at it. The ending part was unfortunately predictable the moment that you take into account that Nico is a martial artist and the other guys aren’t.

And of course, Steven Seagal can’t act, though he tries a lot, especially since this film is kind of based on his real life. But he still can’t act. Pam Grier is all right as Jax, and this movie actually help revive her flagging career somewhat, and Ron Dean as Lukich isn’t also bad. Henry Silva as Zagon is pretty memorable, especially with that Army knife that he terrorizes his victims with.

In the end, the entire credit as to why this film works (somewhat) goes to Andrew Davis, since he’s the one that’s making the effort to try and make Steven Seagal act, to make his actors act, and try to make this film work. Had another director made this movie (or by Seagal himself, which I thank God that didn’t happen after seeing the shitful On Deadly Ground) I seriously doubt it would’ve been the film that I’m seeing here. All in all, a good movie to waste the time away; I know it’s formula but hey, at least you’ll be entertained in some way, especially thanks to Seagal’s martial antics. (3.5–5)

link directly to this review at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=1365&reviewer=235
originally posted: 07/04/02 22:04:39
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