Out For A Kill (2003)

Remember Steven Seagal back when he was Out For Justice? Remember that time he was Hard To Kill? Well, you may not ever want to remember when he goes Out For A Kill (is that like going out for a packet of cigarettes?? Who the hell named this movie??).

I am just going to blurt out the plot of this film in one go because, trust me, if I stop then I may collapse in fits of laughter and nobody will believe me when I get to the end of the paragraph. Seagal this time plays an archaeology professor by the name of Robert Burns who gets caught up in a drug smuggling operation, is wrongfully accused of being involved with the big baddies and then gets out to track people down and kick ass thanks to the skills he had earlier in life before he was a professor of archaeology and was, in fact, a fantastic thief and actually earned his archaeology degree while in prison. So he can handle himself too, when he's not busy winning awards for his work in the field of archaeology. Most of this is information supplied throughout the movie, I'm not making any of it up. With the lives of those around him endangered, Seagal must go, ummmmm, out for a kill. Or two.

There are moments throughout this movie that aren't that bad. Some of the action sequences are okay and the film is never boring. But then director Michael Oblowitz (who also helmed The Foreigner) tries to put in some fancy touches and makes some stylistic choices that just don't work. Be it computer effects clearly at the edge of the FX budget boundary or a bit of unbelievable, gravity-defying wire-fu, the flourishes that detract from straightforward, solid action prove to be distracting mis-steps.

The screenplay, mostly written by Dennis Dimster, is generally awful and there's just nobody good enough to cover over the material with any decent acting. If anything, Seagal seems to get progressively worse with each movie while the likes of Michelle Goh, Corey Johnson (though he's almost not too bad), Tom Wu and Kata Dobo all show a lack of any talent. Perhaps that's the fault of the material, maybe it was too weak to overcome, but the performances certainly don't help.

However, there is more effort made to actually display the fighting moves of Seagal in this movie as opposed to the gun-heavy antics of The Foreigner so die-hard fans will find enough here to keep them entertained.
4/10.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Kill-DVD-Steven-Seagal/dp/B0000A1M51/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1319836172&sr=1-1