Code of Honor

Ugh. It's a foregone conclusion that Seagal will never make anything again that lives up to his heyday in the 80's and 90's, but at least his DTV work up to this point had been quirkily interesting. As Seagal has aged and grown more portly, he's done less hand-to-hand combat and relied more on guns and knives, but the new trend seems to be that he barely appears in movies where he has the top billing. SNIPER: SPECIAL OPS was guilty of this, but at least that one had the good sense to be on the short and simple side. CODE OF HONOR is, quite frankly, one of the most cynical and shoddy pieces of work (and I use the term loosely) to ever have Seagal's name slapped onto it. Here, he plays Colonel Robert Sikes, a Punisher-like character who acts as a vigilante in his city to clean up crime. On his trail is a former protégé/friend who is trying to bring him in along with the help of the police. And, for some reason, there is a sleazy news team who follow them around trying to get a good story. So, you have elements of THE PUNISHER, SURVIVOR (the generic Pierce Brosnan movie from last year), and NIGHTCRAWLER, with none of the nuance or sophistication of each (at least the first and last ones). There are no characters with significant screen time to root for, as government, the police, and news media are all painted in such a bad way. Even Seagal who normally is likable, if stoic, is stuck playing a character who straight up murders people. Of course, I was with the movie for about two-thirds of it because it was kind of entertaining in a bad way. However, a third act plot twist completely ruined the film for me. It's like the filmmakers/screenwriter were like, "Just kidding!" It honestly angered me a little bit, making the last half hour or so a real chore to get through. As for the action, which is what most people will care about, there is a decent amount of it although it's mostly shootouts and some knife-fighting. Seagal gets very little to do, and I was disappointed here just like with SNIPER: SPECIAL OPS. The opening scene was probably the best, and there was a couple short fight scenes towards the end that partially made up for how dismal the rest of the film was. Seagal also gets one of his trademark speeches about halfway through, although the politics of it rubbed me the wrong way. Ultimately, I feel like I've been tested for the last time as a Seagal fan. These last two films were a whole new level of lazy, and I don't know if I can take it anymore. CODE OF HONOR is for Seagal fans only, and even then I'd still be cautious

This movie has a classic story about vigilante. You expect to see too much blood, knives and rude killing. For me I didn't like it much, it's much less perfect than old Segal's movies. Still you can watch it if you're bored in a cold night.

Horrible acting, editing, cgi and everything else. Trash

This is definitely a Punisher rip-off, as fatboy Seagal is referred throughout the film as the "super vigilante". However most of Seagal's scenes are him sitting in a chair while the majority of the action is carried by his co-star. It's a typical roll for Seagal...ex military, expert in everything, never gets touched, ect. There is a predictable plot twist toward the end, but most likely you won't care by that point. Oh, and the CGI blood and gun flashes were cringe worthy. The film started off with potential, but quickly faded into another forgettable Steven Seagal movie.

An American action thriller; A story about a former special-ops operative who turns vigilante after the drive-by killing of his wife and son. His former protege, an FBI agent, tries to find his vigilante friend before the police or a maniacal mobster are able to. This is an old-school styled action thriller set in Salt Lake City. The central theme is, what happens if a vigilante begins to destroy all the crime lords and murderers which plague a district. How far could he go before a people's champion becomes too grey for the general public'? Gratuitous for its violence, nudity and sleaze scenes, the film is also poorly acted in parts with ham-fisted exposition dialogue which is delivered by the supporting players. Clearly, it is meant as a Seagal vehicle so it's a pity he doesn't speak for 47 mins. Some scenes look fake with poor exection of CGI too. There's just nothing compelling about the story and it ends up with a diabolical twist at the end. Nevertheless, the film features a terrific explosion in one scene and there is plenty of action and aikido skills on show, as you might expect. All in all, there are no characters with significant screen time to root for, as government, police, and news media are all painted in a bad light.