Kill Switch

Where do i start, pointing out the many problems, this movie has?

First off.....the plot. I've come to expect over-complex plot points in recent Seagal movies, but in KILL SWITCH it's not overly complex....it just doesn't make any sense. The flashback to Seagal as a child (witnessing his brothers murder) serve little purpose to the storyline, but i guess they help pad out a few minutes of screen time. And believe me, this movie felt padded. It doesn't even have the (so-bad-it's good) camp value of ATTACK FORCE.

Secondly....The editing. This was some throwback to the days of film-making in the 80's. Occasionly, Jackie Chan (or Tony Jaa) may employ this 'repeated' camera angle stuff, but it's usually to highlight an extremely choreographed fight move or stunt. In KILL SWITCH however, it once again feels like padding (and given that it runs throughout the movie, it feels like it's makers have only got 45 minutes of actual footage, and therefore NEED to show everything twice, thrice and even ten times) Seagal is chasing a suspect at one point, and he comes to a doorway. The viewer is treated to about 20 different shots/alternative angles of this 'monumental' moment.

Thirdly.....The fights. To me it seems that Seagal was not trying to make a martial arts movie at all. Apparently, the makers of KILL SWITCH attempted to beef up (what would usually be a four second fight scene) with extra stuff involving stunt doubles. This is all the more annoying, because Seagal's actual fighting is better than his stunt doubles. The final fight (against the serial killer) is all Seagal (and it shows) it's quick, brutal and efficient. Yet all fights before it, are heavily padded out with lazy punches, reversed shot of Seagal (sometimes wearing a different jacket, because it came from another scene) URBAN JUSTICE and PISTOL WHIPPED have proved that Sensei Seagal can still mix it up as a fighter. But these shoddy film-makers are tarnishing his rep, with these underhanded tactics. It(in turn) makes Seagal look weak, as he'd usually demolish his opponents in 5 seconds (such is why we like the guy) but here, the 'padding'implies that Seagal can punch a guy 30 times (in the face) and STILL not put him down. And i also want to see Seagal break an opponents arms and legs with HIS hands....not a hammer. Don't even get me started on the shoddy (couldn't hit a guy two feet in front of him) gunfights.

Finally...Steven Seagal. He actually puts in a good performance (once you get over the 'southern' drawl) and looks in good (allbeit heavy) shape. He rarely mumbles, and seems genuinely interested with the project (unlike say...FLIGHT OF FURY?)

KILL SWITCH is a step back for Seagal (just as he was regaining some well needed credibility) after URBAN JUSTICE and PISTOL WHIPPED. Although the movie is U.S lensed, is well lit, and crisp cinematography, the god-awful (quick cut, repeated shot) editing, and unnecessary doubling, betray whatever potential this movie may have had. The supporting cast is OK (Rest in peace Issac Hayes) and the music is quite good also. Now that (it seems) Seagal is regaining his passion for acting again, he needs to associate with better film-makers in the future. His next movie RUSLAN is also directed by Jeff King (director of this) so i won't be (honestly) expecting anything special of that one. But as long as they don't start interfering and chopping up their filmed product, it won't need to be great to be better than this movie. My theory on KILL SWITCH is that they've only had limited screen time with Seagal, and (hopefuly?) HAD to cut and paste this movie, to pad it out. If they think that repeatedly showing a guy fall out of a window 12 times, or making pointless scenes last four times longer than needed to be....is cutting edge film-making then (to quote Seagal) "Lord have mercy")

Big Lee gives this movie a 5 (only for Seagal's screen presence, and a OK final fight scene)

Well after reading all the reviews on here, I went out and rented it expecting a good laugh and a horrid film, and to my surprise I ended up finding it pretty entertaining. I will say this, I am very upset he would make such a poor film after making 2 very good films: Pistol Whipped, and Urban Justice.

HOWEVER with that aside even knowing there was the classic stunt double in most of the scenes there was still quite a bit of action and yes the editing and showing every punch a billion times got annoying, but for some reason I was able to sit through it and laugh and a lot of the scenes and actually found the stunt double to be very good at what he did.... And surprisingly the scenes where Seagal actually did fight (the end) he looked pretty good himself....

Maybe some need to watch it again knowing what to expect this time haha.... If your looking for a classic Seagal movie like Our for Justice, or Hard to Kill this is not the one for you... but if your like me and have seen his straight to video movies as of late I would say go out and rent it.... what do you have to lose.

By the way Black Dawn, Shadow Man, and Flight of Fury were all way worse in my opinion. So its not like its the absolute worst yet, but compared to Pistold Whipped, and Urban Justice I am very displeased.

Where do I start on how bad this movie is? Segal has always been proud to show off his fighting skills in each movie he has appeared in however this movie features a stunt double in every fighting scene – even the hand to hand scenes! You'll see a fight scene about to start the real Segal, the camera then cuts to the back of the Segal double, his hair looks nothing like the real Segal!!! Segal will pull a mean face the camera cuts to the stunt double who then throws a punch, back to the real Segal, pull another funny face….stunt double throws a kick – this is how every fight scene is cut! Oh and in case you missed anything each hit is shown again TWICE from a different angle. We see a guy get kicked out of window & the shot of him coming out the window is shown to us SIX times!

Segal punches a guy, guy falls to the floor, guy stands up once his 2 friends comes & help him & tells Segal "You're in trouble now". Segal batters his two friends, camera goes back to original who is now on the floor semi conscious????

I turned this movie off at exactly 19.54 it really is that bad

There, now that I've stated my favorite part of the film, let's talk about the rest. "Kill Switch" is a terrible film that tries to copy the ideas from the 2007 masterpiece "Zodiac", but fails miserably in a very laughable way. The editing is an absolute joke, the fight scenes make "Fatal Deviation" look Oscar-worthy, and Seagal speaks in a terrible accent that supposedly sounds Southern, but I'm really not sure. The only good thing is that it is riffable for its content, and that Isaac Hayes made his peniultimate cameo on the silver screen. Oh, and one more thing to note: ze clown joke is a no.

Steven Seagal's previous film, "Pistol Whipped", was a pretty solid little low-budget action thriller, and it looked as if Seagal was finally starting to learn from his mistakes and improve upon them. "Kill Switch" makes "Pistol Whipped" look like a fluke. Does he honestly expect people to like this movie? For starters, the fight scenes are a joke. They're hardly even fight scenes - mostly just Seagal beating up people. Or should I say, his frequently obvious stunt double beating up people. They are edited very annoyingly, with lots of dropped frames, repeated shots, and close-ups of frantically waving arms. Seagal adopts a ridiculous (I think it was meant to be Southern - "Y'all", "Lord Have Mercy", "Sho Nuff", etc.) accent, has a love interest at least 20 years younger than him, whom he completely ignores, because that's what all supercool detectives like him do, and is joined in his latest investigation by a rookie female FBI agent, whom he's a complete jerk to, because, again, that's what all supercool detectives like him do. Did I mention that "he's a genius" and that "he doesn't follow protocol"? And what's with the film's fascination with torture, sadism, close-ups of corpses....blergh. Is Seagal making a play for the "SAW" market? And let's not even mention the completely nonsensical ending. The only semi-redeeming features of "Kill Switch" are some unintentional laughs, and the presence of Holly Dingard and Isaac Hayes (in one of his last roles). *1/2 out of 4.