Justiça Extrema

The low user rating on here is quite dichotomous to the actual quality of the film itself.

Not to be confused with Walter Hill's timeless action-Westerner, Extreme Prejudice, Extreme Justice is a fairly straight-to-the-point action flick that wasn't made to horde awards. It's no high-brow art piece, not by any stretch of the definition, but it is highly entertaining and moves at a rapid clip from start to finish.

I'm not going to rehash the description of the film, but I will say that story-wise it's interesting for what it is but the execution is 100% cliché. You can see the ending coming a mile away, but how it gets there is what makes it such a fun watch.

There are shootouts sprinkled all throughout the film from start to finish. There's hardly ever a dull moment. The one leading female character even manages to strip down early in the film for some not-too-gratuitous fan-service. Something that we rarely see in action movies today.

What's interesting about this film, though, is that it feels more like it came out of the late 1980s rather than the early 1990s.

There's like a checklist of typical 1980s bad-action movie tropes that the film fulfills, but it's all done in a great and entertaining way. For instance, each of the shootouts are chock-full of unconventional street weaponry, especially used by the S.I.S., squad. The results from these shootouts are always bloody and borderline gory.

In this way, Extreme Justice taps into the short-lived 1980's ultra-violence run that took Hollywood by storm before Conservative bench-warmers on the church pews and concerned Liberal Democrats took to the congressional halls to bemoan Hollywood and television's obsession with gun violence.

If you're a fan of top-notch squibbing the likes of which would make Paul Verhoeven nod in approval, and a shoot-first, ask-later style approach to the action sequences (many of which may as well have come straight out of the Death Wish series) then you're definitely going to find Extreme Justice enjoyable.

In a plot strikingly similar to that of Eastwood's "Magnum Force", "Extreme Justice" deals with cops that take the law into their own hands and execute criminals in cold blood. The blurring of the line between law and justice, and between vigilantism and paranoia, is done here more efficiently than it was in "Magnum Force", so the movie holds your interest, despite the routine on all other accounts script and Mark Lester's unimaginative direction. The entire male cast is solid, but Chelsea Field is unconvincing as the hotshot reporter. (**)

Supposedly this film when it came out caused a bit of a stir and controversy by claiming that the idea behind the premise (an elite group of LAPD cops operating outside normal police guidelines that target high-profile criminals) was inspired by facts. The idea is scary (bystanders sometimes considered necessary sacrifices), but not particularly new as it did remind me of the Dirty Harry sequel; "Magnum Force". Although this death squad were not rogues operating outside the law as in that film; well that's what they like to think in what is an official unit. "Extreme Justice" might be audacious, but what occurs is by-the-book and formulaic.

Director Mark L. Lester's mechanically brazen handling balances the tough action with the not-so black-and-white context. Some set-pieces are frenetic and raw, chucking in foot-chases, car-chases, bloody shootouts and Mark Irwin's sweeping photography. Sure it can be somewhat heavy-handed and morally bounded, but Lester keeps it reality bounded and it's the lead performance of Scott Glenn that sells it. He plays the leader of the S.I.S (Special Investigation Section) unit. Glenn's outstanding performance is lean, but also ballsy and cynical as you can see it beginning to affect him. Lou Diamond Phillips suitably plays the brash, but idealistically rough newcomer to the squad who actually begins to question the methods in how they go about getting the job done. Watching the two go at it fuelled some tension in between the set- ups after set-ups. There's good support from the likes of Yaphet Kotto, Chelsea Field, Richard Grove, William Lucking, L. Scott Caldwall and Ed Lauter as the police captain. Daniel Quinn and Andrew Divoff play some criminals. While also look for action stuntman Larry Holt and stuntman / actor Bob Minor.

"Trust me amigo. You're made for this work."

Here's a film that was a warm welcomed surprise. If you want to be entertained, get Mark Lester to do it. And when you have great actors like Glenn and Phillips as the leads, you know you're in for surefire entertainment. Here, it's more explosive entertainment, in a well polished and slick actioner about loose vigilante justice, only the justice here is wearing a badge. SIS is Special Investigation Section, a secret division of cops, who are out to take out the worst high profile offenders, ready at the assigned locale, for when they strike, only we have more murders than arrests. Losing his cool with a scummy piece of s..t, undercover cop, Jeff Powers (Phillips) is the latest to join Glenn's warm posse of cops, but being a witness to long time friend, Glenn's reckless actions, puts a strain on the work relationship, where soon at first hand, Jeff begins to see the real truth about this organization. The films has great shootouts and action, brilliantly staged, with no dull moment to spare. Chelsea Field, a really good actress, plays Phillip's older girlfriend, an avid reporter, out to bust this squad. The last scene, a stand off between Glenn and Phillips, where all out war is declared, is my favorite. Have to viddy this surprisingly well made film again. To bag this film, you'd have to be a bit off. Great, exciting entertainment, based on real incidents. Watch.

Unlike what one reviewer said this is NOT a ripoff of Magnum Force. In that one Lieutenant Hal Holbrook put together his own little squad from Academy rookies to dispatch repeat offenders. In Extreme Justice this operation has the sanction from the higher ups of the LAPD. Just how far they sanction the exact methods used is open to question.

This Special Investigations Squad seems to be quite the haven for the misfits of the LAPD, those that have forgotten their first duty is protection and service. Which is why Scott Glenn thinks Lou Diamond Phillips, a detective with more than his share of beefs with Internal Affairs for excessive use of force, is perfect for the squad.

What should have sent him running from Phillips is the fact he's got a nice live-in relationship with a reporter, Chelsea Field. That one certainly threw me in this film, you'd think that Lou would be the last guy he'd try to recruit for his team.

And what his team is, is a death squad. They target perpetrators follow them and wait to catch them in the act. Then it's open season.

Extreme Justice went very overboard in trying to make a point. There sure would have been no harm in waiting for a gang of bank robbers to finish the robbery and taking them down outside. No civilians got hurt when the citizens of Coffeyville did that to the Daltons. Or waiting until three rapists finish the job before moving in. That's what were asked to believe here.

And frankly I couldn't buy it. A lot of good players get really wasted in this one.