Written by Thomas Ian Griffith. Doesn't that just say it all? Thomas Ian Griffith plays Terry McCain, a cop out to bring the local mob, run by Sal DiMarco (Burt Young), to it's knees! But Terry McCain uses EXCESSIVE FORCE to meet his needs, and in the beginning of the movie, we hear Terry lambasted for his use of EXCESSIVE FORCE. The chief of police, Devlin (the always-brilliant-in-not-so-brilliant-movies Lance Henriksen), tells McCain that he's out of line! He's a loose cannon! When the mob kills McCain's partner, he's out for JUSTICE! And he'll use EXCESSIVE FORCE! And KARATE KICKS!
I laughed pretty hard at a lot of the lines and scenarios. We learn early on that not only is McCain an ass-kicking martial arts master, but a jazz aficionado and an expert piano player! He's also good buddies with Jake (James Earl Jones), a jazz bar owner. Jake and McCain bring the voodoo! That's character development only the great Thomas Ian Griffith could come up with! Griffith plays McCain like you'd expect, with less acting and more stuntwork. Tony Todd is charismatic as Griffith's buddy Frankie, but his screen time is pretty limited. Both Burt Young and James Earl Jones look embarrassed, and the former phoning in his performance to the least of his ability. This leaves Henriksen, whose every line as the crooked police chief was taken out of the book of lines for the crooked police chief, but he delivers them in a completely untypical way. His first appearance is when he informs Griffith that he's a loose cannon, but he does it with such class you'll almost forget you're watching a movie called "Excessive Force". Then the camera pans over to Thomas Ian Griffith. Henriksen goes the extra mile in his performance by making Devlin truly an unlikeable bad guy in a movie with really lame good guys. If good acting in a bad movie is not enough for you, there's a point when he casually remarks, "Well boys, looks like we're going to have to kick some ass." That this line was written is bad, but the way Lance breezes through it, without a smirk or hint of embarrassment? Alone, it's worth your money. Give this man an honorary Oscar, already.
It shouldn't be any surprise that Henriksen carries a bad movie, and this is a bad movie, no doubt about it. Every line, plot twist, and character is taken right out of the book of Seagal. So is it entertaining? Of course it is! Henriksen gets a lot of screen time, the action sequences are in abundance, and the writing is terrible. It's not quite the unexpected masterpiece of Hard Target, but if you watched Hard to Kill and giggled like a school girl at the line "I'll take you to the bank... the blood bank", then this movie's worth your 90 minutes.
I laughed pretty hard at a lot of the lines and scenarios. We learn early on that not only is McCain an ass-kicking martial arts master, but a jazz aficionado and an expert piano player! He's also good buddies with Jake (James Earl Jones), a jazz bar owner. Jake and McCain bring the voodoo! That's character development only the great Thomas Ian Griffith could come up with! Griffith plays McCain like you'd expect, with less acting and more stuntwork. Tony Todd is charismatic as Griffith's buddy Frankie, but his screen time is pretty limited. Both Burt Young and James Earl Jones look embarrassed, and the former phoning in his performance to the least of his ability. This leaves Henriksen, whose every line as the crooked police chief was taken out of the book of lines for the crooked police chief, but he delivers them in a completely untypical way. His first appearance is when he informs Griffith that he's a loose cannon, but he does it with such class you'll almost forget you're watching a movie called "Excessive Force". Then the camera pans over to Thomas Ian Griffith. Henriksen goes the extra mile in his performance by making Devlin truly an unlikeable bad guy in a movie with really lame good guys. If good acting in a bad movie is not enough for you, there's a point when he casually remarks, "Well boys, looks like we're going to have to kick some ass." That this line was written is bad, but the way Lance breezes through it, without a smirk or hint of embarrassment? Alone, it's worth your money. Give this man an honorary Oscar, already.
It shouldn't be any surprise that Henriksen carries a bad movie, and this is a bad movie, no doubt about it. Every line, plot twist, and character is taken right out of the book of Seagal. So is it entertaining? Of course it is! Henriksen gets a lot of screen time, the action sequences are in abundance, and the writing is terrible. It's not quite the unexpected masterpiece of Hard Target, but if you watched Hard to Kill and giggled like a school girl at the line "I'll take you to the bank... the blood bank", then this movie's worth your 90 minutes.