Review: Out For Justice Proves That Due Process Is Purely Subjective.
- Apr 8, 2017
- 2 min read
In the continuing adventures of Steven Seagal's ponytail, we have Out For Justice, a violent, mindless, wonderful movie with a villain so frightening that he puts most others to shame. It's basically a less cerebral Dirty Harry, a film in which Steven Seagal might as well be renamed Judge Dredd which, come to think of it, isn't an awful idea.
In his ongoing campaign to represent as many nationalities as possible, Seagal is Gino Felino, yes really, a Brooklyn detective. and family man, though having seen what happens to Seagal's families in the past, he's going through a divorce. When mobster Richie Madano (William Forsythe) violently executes Felino's best friend and goes on an unstoppable killing spree it's up to the cop with a pony tail and the puppy he rescued after it was literally thrown from a moving vehicle, to stop Madano and restore order to the city, no matter how many bodies get in the way.
Let's get one thing straight, Steven Seagal will never be remembered for his acting, at least not the quality of it. The man's a plank, a two foot tall expressionless piece of timber and, much like a lump of wood, he cannot be harmed by simple things like fists and knives and guns and okay so maybe he's more like a steel beam, blank and almost motionless all the same. But, much like planks of wood and steel beams hold up structures, Steven Seagal holds up his career, regardless of how far it has fallen. His "emotion" is, well, not very emotional. People only cry near him when he hits them with a pool ball wrapped in a tea towel, which happens more than once.
But enough about the worst part of Out For Justice, let's talk about the good stuff. William Forsythe for one, is gloriously nasty, wreaking havoc and leaving bodies wherever he goes. The action, though there's less of it than expected, is still pretty good. The final confrontation is brutal and involves one of the more creatives uses of a corkscrew I've ever seen. Seagal has no problem blowing his foes legs off or simply breaking them with his bare hands.
Out For Justice is a mixed bag to say the least. On hand hand, its got some solid action and a really great villain. On the other, the plot is non-existent, Seagal can't act his way out of a wet paper bag and the whole thing is relatively forgettable. Watch it or don't, the choice is yours, just don't expect to be blown away.
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