Killing Point

An American action thriller; A story about a homicide detective with a reputation for violent street-justice methods who partners with another detective and a coroner to track a psychopathic killer leaving cryptic clues. Murders are being perpetrated by a serial killer who leaves cryptic clues. King goes on a brutal rampage with the assistance of his partner. Next stop Memphis for Steven Seagal. With plenty of action and fighting sequences of arresting brutality, the film keeps the viewer diverted but there is also plenty of distraction from its poor production values. Looped action replays of key pieces of action are used for emphasis, jump editing and fast intercutting gives it a jittery feel. Also, Seagal is often body-doubled without much effort for disguise. All in all, it's a well=paced procedural but it's hard to recommend for the overwrought storyline, poor acting performances, poor editing and direction.

This could possibly be the worst Seagal flick ever. Where do I begin? The fight scenes are laughably phony and are a throwback to the "Dolemite" movies of the 70's. Yes, that bad and then some. Seagal's face is shown close up while a stuntman does all the work. It's comical to see the ill-fitting wig on the back of the stuntman. The fight sequences constantly use instant replay and this adds to the hilarity.

Seagal himself looks like he is literally dying from some undisclosed illness. His skin is red as raw meat and just as slimy. His face is full of weird pockmarks and it shines from the sweat. The man looks like he should be on some sort of life support. It's funny to see the actresses in the film have to pretend they want to jump his bones every time they look at him. Seagal once again uses his fake southern drawl as he's done in the last three films.

The gunfight was awful - he kept punching in clip after clip and must have shot off 40 rounds without hitting anything. Ditto the three bad guys. After that, my brain disengaged and I fell asleep.

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)

The name 'Steven Seagal' may not put the fear of God into many people these days, but when it is preceded by the two little words 'written by' it is something to strike fear in the hearts of stronger men than me. Summoning that peculiar kind of bravery possessed by a masochist equipped with a dozen clothes pegs and a wet shoelace I girded my loins and pressed the 'forward' button on my remote. There was no going back now, like one of Seagal's on screen sparring partners I was to be exposed to every sweaty punch and chop the big (big) man chose to throw in my direction.

I can get back the precious 8% of available recording time KillSwitch occupied on my Sky box, and the 90 minutes I lost watching the film are, in the grand scheme of things, only a minimal fraction of my intended lifespan, but my faith in the movie-making business may never be the same after watching this unholy mess.

The story is rubbish – that was to be expected after we learned who the screenwriter was – but the direction and editing in this film are surely something to be amazed by. The direction varies from pedestrian to excruciatingly bad – we see one bad guy crashing through a window half-a-dozen times, another bad guy collapse onto a table three times, etc. The editor keeps cutting away from the fights to the same headshot of Seagal in which he looks like a mildly interested bystander. In one fight scene, his opponent's bloody scars keeping appearing and disappearing. Another fight seems to go on forever, with all participants seeming to possess super-heroic stamina levels, and you end up watching in stupefaction, not quite able to believe that a movie fight scene is actually boring you.

Seagal plays a Southern cop with issues. It seems he witnessed the murder of his brother when he was a kid. What bearing this has on his present-day pursuit of a serial killer is never really explained. Neither is the identity or motive of the murderer. In fact the incident just seems to have been added to fill out the running time, give the director (whoever he is – I really can't be bothered to check) a chance to show off all the flashy tricks he learned while balancing on top of a dustbin to peer through the window of the local film studies classroom, and to give Seagal the opportunity to come over all broody every now and then.

Seagal was never sylph-like but, judging by the way we are treated to a lot of head-and-shoulder shots but hardly any full-lengths shots of him, his girth has expanded considerably since the 90s. In fact, he doesn't even move when he fights: he just parries his opponents' blow and waits for them to stray close enough for him to fell them with his meaty paw.

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.