Out for Justice [HD DVD]

Out for Justice [HD DVD] Review

As far as showing what a tough guy Steven Seagal can be, "Out for Justice" is without a doubt our hero's most intense and violent offering to date. You want Seagal to impress you? - let him put on his beret and start blowing peoples' limbs off with a shotgun. To simplify it, "Justice" is the more vulgar version of Above the Law, with Seagal forgetting about family and friends in favor of some of his meanest action ever. If nothing, this film reminds us why Seagal is an adult's action hero, and thus effectively puts the actor's overweight, Zen-spouting personas to shame with his most no-nonsense show yet.

When policeman Bobby Lupo is gunned down in broad daylight on a shopping street by drug dealer Richie Madano (William Forsythe, The Waterdance), Det. Gino Felino (Seagal) convinces the authorities to let him hunt down Madano on his own, on account of having known both the killer and the victim since childhood. So begins the hunt of a lifetime, with Gino taking on anybody who gets in his way as he attempts to murder Madano, who's killing impartially in a drug-induced rage.

As said before, the action is a bloody success - quite literally: Seagal nails an opponent's hand to the wall with a meat cleaver, knocks a guy's teeth out with a cue ball in a sling, and scores a kill with a wine opener to the head. Not enough? - well, bank on the scene where he blows off a man's leg with a shotgun to raise your eyebrows. Without flaunting it, nobody but hardened gore hounds will remain unfazed by the film's amount of violence. With that being said, the film is Seagal's first departure from using strictly aikido in his non-gun fights: there's a flip here and there, but mostly punch-kick. This doesn't mean that the hand-to-hand encounters are bad, but it's a bit disappointing for folks who were fascinated by the martial art. Still, there's a cool stick fight with Bruce Lee-protege Dan Inosanto to keep us wide-eyed.

This is probably Seagal's best attempt at acting - as in, creating a believable character and expressing emotion convincingly: Casey Ryback may be Seagal's most well-known character, but Gino Felino is the most expressive. True, it's mostly rage that's on display, but in no other film is Seagal quite as intimidating as when he sees red at the murder of his friend. Even before the following brawl, his scene in Vinnie Madano's bar (Anthony DeSando, "Ciao America") is Seagal at his most menacing.
Without wanting to make them out as any less stars than Seagal, the supporting cast does a fine job, as well: William Forsythe is the most hateable villain of any of Seagal's films, Jo Champa (The Mesmerist) is realistically feisty, Julianna Marguiles ("ER") makes the very most of her limited screen time, and Jerry Orbach ("Law & Order") is simply Jerry Orbach.

However, if there is one thing to criticize, it's the story: since the film's tone and setting is so similar to the smart "Above the Law", it would have been nice to see a bit more brains behind the violence, rather than the simple motive behind the initial murder. Also, this is the film where Seagal begins the trend of pandering to his own character too much: aside from being an unstoppable killing machine (though he gets struck and shot once apiece - a record for Invincible Steven?), he enjoys espressos in the company of old-school dons and even has the heart to rescue an abandoned puppy. While the self-worshipping isn't nearly as bad as what fans would have to put up with on a movie-to-movie basis in the future, it keeps the picture from achieving greatness.

In all, this is one fiery feather in the cap of underrated genre-director John Flynn (Rolling Thunder [VHS], Brainscan) and one of Seagal's very best flicks. I have no doubt that with a bigger-name cast, this would've preceded Under Siege as Seagal's most famous outing. Fans mustn't wait to purchase this; use it to introduce your blood-loving buddies to our hero.

Out for Justice [HD DVD] Feature

Out for Justice [HD DVD] Overview

Steven Seagal has always been an awkward action hero. Initially, he had a certain amount of credibility thanks to his nebulous association with secret government agencies and mastery of aikido, which helped to excuse his bad acting. But as a self-righteous action hero in the vein of Schwarzenegger and Stallone (which helps to explain his bad acting), Seagal fell into unintentional self-parody faster and more dramatically than either of his two predecessors. In Out for Justice, Seagal plays Gino Felino, a Brooklyn-born cop known and respected by everyone--both good and bad--in his neighborhood. The worst of the neighborhood baddies is Richie Madano (William Forsythe), a crack-smoking killer who murders his partner and terrorizes the neighborhood. Technically, Felino is a terrible cop--touching evidence at murder scenes, stealing evidence, intimidating witnesses--but only by breaking those rules can he bring in this horrible criminal. As his soon-to-be-ex-wife discovers, he does everything because he cares too much. Julianna Margulies (ER) has a small but thankless role as Richie's hooker girlfriend, and Gina Gershon (Face/Off, Bound) has an equally thankless role as Richie's foul-mouthed, bar-owning sister. The movie plays like a vanity piece for Seagal, and in that vein, it is fascinating to watch. --Andy Spletzer

Out for Justice [HD DVD] Specifications

A Brooklyn police officer tracks down a boyhood adversary turned druglord who's responsible for the death of the cop's friend and fellow officer.

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