One can always count on Steven Seagal to act as the repository of yesterday's action-film clichés, and Exit Wounds is yet another case in point. Seagal plays Detroit cop Orin Boyd, a lone wolf lawman who gets in the middle of his precinct's losing battle against police corruption. Taking on a powerful but crooked cop named Montini (David Vadim)--who is busy making deals with a rich gangster (DMX)--Boyd soon sends fists and feet flying while Tom Arnold provides the comic relief. Director Andrzej Bartkowiak surely had less fun guiding Seagal through slow-motion fight sequences than he did Jet Li in Romeo Must Die, but as compensation he gets to work with the mesmerizing DMX, who looks as though he has leading-man possibilities. Plenty of gratuitous gore, awful cop banter, and miles of cleavage courtesy of Jill Hennessy, who plays Boyd's tough-as-nails boss. --Tom Keogh
2.
Detroit cop Orin Byrd (Steven Seagal) plays by his own rules. He knows what's right and what's wrong, and like Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan, he doesn't mind leaving a little destruction in his wake as long as he gets the job done. But after saving the vice president from a militia group in a high-tech bridge battle that features the requisite car explosions and plenty of fancy weaponry, he gets busted down to a low-rent neighborhood where he is soon playing crossing guard. But he has a nose for trouble, so when he begins to suspect that some of the cops in his department are getting down and dirty with drug kingpin Latrell Walker (DMX), he is ready to take action--even if he has to go it alone, against the orders of his commander (Jill Hennessy).
Cinematographer-turned-director Andrzej Bartkowiak (ROMEO MUST DIE) shows off his keen eye in EXIT WOUNDS as Seagal and DMX battle it out on the Detroit streets. The pounding hip-hop soundtrack (featuring a number of contributions from DMX and Drag-On, who also appears in the film) and fabulous stunts, keep the excitement moving at a fast pace as the corruption--and the body count--continues to mount. But Anthony Anderson, playing Walker's right-hand man, T.K., nearly walks away with the film, supplying comic relief even through much of the closing credits.
3.
Off the record, Orin Boyd (Steven Seagal) is a first-rate, if completely unorthodox, detective. When he foils a terrorist kidnapping in his typical take-no-prisoners style, Boyd gets booted downtown to do time in the toughest and most uncompromising precinct in the city. After clashing with Annette Mulcahy (Jill Hennessy), the uncompromising commander of the 15th precinct, Boyd is paired with an overzealous new partner (Isaiah Washington) and forced to attend an anger-management class, where he reluctantly befriends Henry (Tom Arnold), a big-hearted morning anchor for a local Detroit talk show.
As Boyd uncovers a group of corrupt cops running a complex drug operation, he faces one of the toughest choices of his career: stay silent and keep his job, or break the rules yet again and risk not only his reputation, but his life.
But when Boyd learns the renegade cops are planning a huge heroin deal with the powerful and mysterious crime lord Latrell Walker (DMX), whose dicey connections and seemingly unlimited cash make him everyone's favorite target, Boyd finds the last thing he expected, an ally. Together the two mavericks take on the conspiracy and corruption, propelling them toward a fiery, action-packed showdown.
4.
They should name a street or building after Detroit detective Orin Boyd (Steven Seagal). Instead, days after single-handedly throttling an army of political assassins, he's busted to white-gloved traffic cop. Someone wants Boyd out of the way, someone who should follow this advice: call for backup.
Steven Seagal and DMX kick it up a notch in this searing action thriller from producer Joel Silver (The Matrix) that has them joining forces in a battle against police corruption. Andrzeg Bartkowiak (Romeo Must Die) directs, fusing starpower (including Isaiah Washington, Jill Hennessy and Tom Arnold), firepower and road-burning horsepower into scenes that push the action tachometer into the red zone.
Mooviees.com is not the official site for this film.
All editorial views and opinions expressed here are for entertainment purposes only.
<>
Movie Database
In Theaters
