My Pistol Whipped Review!!
Well it is yet another Seagal direct to video release, another time for anticipation, excitement, and the classic question... is this going to be a good film or not. You know when I first saw the pictures for Marker as it used to be called, I got so excited for this film. Flight Of Fury, and Attack Force came but I wasn't that excited for those. I watched them and was dissapointed, and thought there was no progress from Mercenary For Justice and Shadowman since those films I thought were good Seagal films. Then I started to get worried. But then we got Urban Justice, which I was really not excited about but due to my surprise loved that film, his best DTV release film in years and his best since Into The Sun, again in my opinion. But when Pistol Whipped was announced I had that excitement in my stomach again. Today You Die was the film that got me the most excited, the most anticpiated one, but then when I saw it I was dissapointed and thought it was not that great of a film, not bad, not good, yet not great either. So as I began to build up the excitement for this film I still had the thought in the back of my mind that it could be a downer... notice I said could. Well as I watched the film last night I was not disapointed at all. In my opinion I fell this is his BEST dtv release so far, one of my favorite Seagal dtv release, and here is why...
Plot:
I liked the plot, it was short and simple, not too complex, very straight forward which I think all Seagal films should be. When you look back to all of his blockbuster smashes that made him who he was and is today, if you take a look back at the plot they were all very simple. I am not talking about the complexity of Belly Of The Beast or Attack Force, I'm talking about the simple straight forward themes like Above The Law, Out For Justice, Hard To Kill, Marked For Death, a very straight forward theme that makes the film simple but able to fill the story with alot of action, suspense, and excitement. This movie was pretty much the assasination typed plot, a washed up cop, drunk, broke, looking for money by gambling, then is hired to kill people for money, very simple. Only in the end did it get to be a little more complex with the twist of his ex-wifes husband to end up being one of the bad guys. So I liked the simple theme, and I believe that is what brings out the best in a Seagal movie when the plot is simple and they rely on Seagal to work his magic with his great martial arts ability on screen prescence and that sheer bad ass attitude that made Seagal famous. To put it nice and simple this movie kind of reminded me of Mercenary For Justice and The Glimmer Man mixed into one. So in short I liked the plot, very simple and very easy to follow.
Acting:
For this being the cliche dtv release Seagal film we are all accustomed to, this had some great acting. Probably some of the best acting for a dtv release film since well... The Patriot. We had at least 3-4 well known A list Hollywood actors, and Seagal's acting was great. I think Seagal was finally being himself in the film for along time. In his previous films he sounded kind of lazy, tired, and had more of a slang/country kind of accent. In this film he sounded like the Nico days or the John Hatcher and defiant classic one line moments that we are used to seeing. Again we have another great film that Seagal gets to flaunt his charisma, and his persona that made him famous. I loved hearing the classic one liners we always love to hear from him. That confidence, that cockiness, that arrogant charm. We saw the classic Seagal again. So the acting in this movie I think was the best on a whole. From Seagal and from the cast, really was a pleasing site to see because there were some great legitimate actors as well as getting to see the classic Seagal as he is known for. So very pleased with the acting. I thought the Urban Justice acting was way too cliche because it was obvious that they had a bunch of white writers trying to write, think and talk like black people and more of the gangster and thug mentality when they simply were not accustomed with that culture, and as a result made the acting and dialouge in Urban Justice very corny. But with Pistol Whipped thought the acting was great, simple script, and back to the classic Seagal attitude with those memorable one liners.
Action:
Well here we get to the action part, the thing we look most in a Seagal film... or is it the doubles or voice over? You can decide on that one but for me it is the action. Let me say the action was great in this film, really enjoyed it, however I don't think it is anything new or special. With the hand to hand fight scenes, I was glad to see him use some classic aikido moves, he even performed a judo throw which I don't recall ever seeing in a Seagal movie. But other then that the fight scenes were very short, quick, and to fast to really comprehend and say wow that was an awesome fight scene. To this date I still feel Mercenary For Jusitce had the best fight scenes for a DTV release, because in those fight scenes in MFJ he performed movies and fight scenes we have not SEEN before. But in Pistol Whipped the fight scenes were great but it is stuff we have already seen. I bet most of you who watched the film thought the fight scenes were great but at the same time I doubt you had that wow I've never seen him do that before kind of reaction. The fight scenes were good but nothing we haven't seen before. I was actually expecting more hand to hand fight scenes, but I wasn't dissapointed but just wasn't satisifed for my taste. There probably were about 3-4 hand to hand fight scenes if I recall. A couple gun fight scenes, especially at the end in the cemetary, and one car chase scene. Again the gun fights and car chases is nothing new to us Seagal fans, we've seen it all before and the only thing I look forward to in the movie is his bread and butter, seeing some awesome display of realistic martial arts. So in short I thought the fight scenes were good, I thought the Urban Justice fight scenes were just a little better. It's like in this film for some reason everytime I saw the fight scene in the movie my reaction was like yea that was good but I've already seen you do that before. I feel if this film had those great fight scened that MFJ had, this film would be his best DTV release of all time, in my opinion. So in conclusion, I thought the action was decent, fight scenes were good, but in the end it was nothing we haven't seen before and was hoping for just a little more in terms of the hand to hand fights.
Appearence:
I loved his appearence in this film. I thought he looked a little thinner then Urban Justice and Attack Force. I loved his wardrobe, the diversity in his costumes with everything from the nice suites, the classic black leather jacket and blue jeans, and those fashionable dress shirts, I even saw him wear a turqoise polo shirt which I've never seen him wear before. I loved his outfits in the film and loved the fact he got rid of at least for this movie, the long overjackets that cover his whole body. I thought he looked really good and am glad to see a more diverse costume wardrobe rather then those long leather overcoats he always wears. So I thought Seagal looked great and looked a little lighter in terms of weight because of the clothing and wardrobe he was chosen to wear.
Dubbing:
Absolutely no voice dubbing in this film, not even one short scene. In Urban Justice I spotted one or two very short scenes which his voice was dubbed, but in this film not one time. Which is awesome and how it should be in every Seagal film.
Doubles:
Was there any doubles in this film? Yes there were! Were there any doubles for the fight scenes? No there wasn't? Were there any visiable doubles to the average audience... no not if you were looking for them. But yes a couple scenes where they used doubles and I'll tell you where. The rooftop scenese when he was at a far distance, all of those or most of those were body doubles, but no one could tell if you weren't looking for them. When he was sitting in the office talking to his ex wife's husband at the police station, a very quick body double, less then 1 second. Also in the car chase scene when he was shooting, again less then a second you could see. But the editing of the film was great because the scenes they did use doubles, you could barely see them and didn't hinder or affect the film at all. So again some short scenes with body doubles, but not visiable to notice if you weren't trying to look for them. But was great that we don't see these obvious body doubles of that in Belly Of The Beast, Attack Force, and alot of others. So this was a good step that now in his recent DTV releases even though when we know he uses doubles for some parts of the films, they edit them where you can't notice that it is someone else.
Production:
Not bad for a $10 million dollar budget. This actually looked very professional, I think some of the best work for a DTV release film. Much better then Urban Justice and Flight Of Fury. I think the production was pretty good, great locations, more then just one location, different spots to make the film more exciting and energetic. So I was pleased with the production, great locations. Just thought it looked very professional and not too cheap for a dtv release Seagal film.
Conclusion:
Overall I feel this is one of his best DTV releases. I think it was better then Urban Justice, Flight Of Fury, Shadowman and Mercenary For Justice. Along with Into The Sun I feel this is his best dtv release work. I loved the film, great short simple plot, pretty good action scenes, wished for more diverse hand to hand combat fight scenes, great actors, nice production and a variety of locations. No visible doubles or dubbing. I loved and enjoyed this film. It was classic Seagal with his one liners and bad ass attitude, he looked great and in good shape then from his other films. He didn't look tired or old aged, he looked great. I thought the film was really good. Was it a little longer then it should have been, I think so. There were some bloopers like when he was in the cemetary confronting his ex wife's husband, when he took of his sun glasses they cut to a frame where his glasses were still on even after he took then off. Another scene I didn't understand was when he set the matches in the warehouse and started shooting them. But overall I loved this film, it was a great film and in my opinion his best dtv release yet. I feel Into The Sun and Pistol Whipped are his best dtv releases of all time, that is in my opinion. I was wishing to see a little more hand to hand fight scenes but again I loved this movie and very pleased. I feel we are on a good streak with Urban Justice and Pistol Whipped being great movies. I also loved Mercenary For Justice and Shadowman but then we got the mediocre Flight Of Fury and the horrible Attack Force. So I am hoping his next movie A Higher Form Of Learning is just as good or even better then Pistol Whipped. Great movie, enjoyable, good acting, average fights, and classic Seagal. So overall I give it a very very strong
3.5 out of 5 stars.
**
Also I made this 5 minute video clip of Pistol Whipped on YouTube, so check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=z3MAIePU5iE