Le droit de tuer

The Exterminator tells the story of John Eastland, a former Vietnam war veteran whom goes on a vigilante killing spree after his best friend is viciously attacked by a group of thugs. Meanwhile, a detective, James Dalton tries to stop him.

For the most part, this film is extremely dull. It draws itself out for far too long, and there is a subplot where the detective starts dating a nurse, which is completely unnecessary as it adds nothing to the plot. It's as if the director thought the film wasn't long enough so he tried to find excuses for it to be longer.

While this film does have it's share of exciting scenes from time to time, it really doesn't have much else going for it. The acting isn't bad; not top notch, but acceptable.

If you are after a good vigilante thriller, you could do worse than 'The Exterminator.' Then again, you could do a lot better too.

In New York John Eastland an Vietnam Veteran turns vigilante when his best friend/Vietnam buddy is attacked by a group of thugs and left paralysed. Since his buddy saved his life in Vietnam, he thought he should do him a favour. So John becomes a one-man show and goes out and gives some of his own justice to these lowlifes. After taking care of that gang, he sets his sights higher, by trying to bring down the city's seedy and dark underground. He calls himself the Exterminator, but police see him as nothing than a psychopathic killer, but the CIA and Government officials see him more as a threat because they believe he could undermine an entire government administration. The media and public, see him as a (anti) hero and these corrupt officials don't want that.

This is one of the many vigilante/exploitation films that flooded the screens within 70's and 80's period… thanks to "Death Wish", which were only meant to shock you with relentless violence and grit. Well, this supposedly DVD I watch claims to be the director's cut, but some sequences definitely feel like they were trimmed… unless that was the director's choice, but I doubt it because they felt odd and was mostly around the violence.

Anyway what we got here is a remotely entertaining low-budget vigilante piece, but really it's nothing we haven't seen before. If your expecting a whole lotta' graphic violence, you might be disappointed as it was rather tame in spots where it could have been grisly to watch. But saying that it does have a couple of shocking moments, but really not enough to make it stand out from the rest of its field. It was rather comic book style violence, with it being more nasty than bloody. What makes it a little tiresome is that a lot of time it skews away from our vigilante doing his work, in favour for a budding romance between a cop and doctor, it just didn't add anything, well not for me. It could have scrap that idea and delve more into the Exterminator's psyche, or please more gripping action. Yes action, the film just lacked something big… I was hoping for more. Especially when we are thrown right into the action when the film begins, but I was sorely disappointed and the exploitative nature was just uneven and what was the deal with the wrenching images. Sometimes the material tries too hard to be moving and have a softer side. It just didn't work for me. You just think, oh this going to be great, with some promising torture scenes and tussles, but honestly you feel short changed with the outcome of most, as there seems to be more of a focus on the aftermath. What didn't help was that some moments are actually unintentionally humorous. But on the other hand there are some nice ideas in the bunch, but it just could've been executed in a better fashion. The plot tries to cover some social discussions involving the Vietnam War, Cheap labour, street crime, media, child prostitution corrupt officials and plenty of wry humour mixed in. Although, there's nothing about these messages that are exceptional or haven't been handled better.

What blew me away was that director James Glickenhaus pulls you into the seedy and dirty streets of New York. He truly makes the raw environment an unpleasant experience to view, along with the scum who walk it. Camera work was potent with some well established shots, with plenty of close ups and fast moving shooting. Also the director loved his slow-mow! Soundtrack was very 70's. A sample of the decade indeed. But there are some odd song choices in certain parts of the film, but they were reasonably groovy and swinging in mood. Although, the editing was annoying at times, it was real choppy and because of that there's several incoherent sequences and stuff left up in the air. Just like the unthinkable ending (that took me by the blue), which is messily put together. Performances are fair, even if Robert Ginty is bland as the crusader and Christopher George makes the most of his character. Though, those people playing the CIA agents really hammed it up with inane dialogue and hilarious appearances.

Mediocre at best, with some heart pounding moments and clever touches, but I just thought it could've been far better. Maybe I was expecting too much? Nonetheless, it did its job by keeping me entertained for the odd 90 minutes or so. That's good enough for me.

Yes, THE EXTERMINATOR is a nasty picture and there is hardly any humour, but that's not to say it's bad. It's actually quite enjoyable.

Robert Ginty is good as the titular vigilante and Christopher George is also good as the cop who is on the case (but seems to be more interested in shagging an attractive doctor). All the bad guys who are the Exterminator's victims are all made as reprehensible as possible (a violent street gang, child molesters, gangsters). But I must say, the meat grinder bit was totally uncalled for.

Why do all the CIA guys talk with English accents, though? THE EXTERMINATOR may be grim, but it's worth a look. It's just a shame that the late Steve James, a great actor and martial artist, didn't have more to do.

I remember watching this movie as a young teenager and it was quite something. Gritty, gross, crappy mega violent.

Similar to a lot of movies at that time (although this was one of the first) the violence was more of the film than the actual plot.

If you are looking to watch a classic movie, this isn't it, enjoyable now for a bit of a trip down memory lane to revisit an era of movie making (like Bronx Warriors and Class of 84), like watching classic horror movies . Does have some memorable scenes and does have a sequel (which is not worth looking at).

When Vietnam veteran John Eastman's (Robert Ginty) best friend Michael Jefferson (Steve James) is brutally attacked by street gang the Ghetto Ghouls leaving Michael paralyzed, John takes it upon himself to clear the streets of crime under the alias The Exterminator. As NYPD Detective Dalton (Christopher George) tracks down The Exterminator, elements of the CIA take an interest in John's crusade against crime believing it threatens their interests.

The Exterminator is the second film of filmmaker James Glickenhaus and arguably the one that cements his style as a director. After the experience of making an releasing The Astrologer (aka The Suicide Cult), Glcikenhaus decided his next film would be written with as little dialogue as possible which lead to him developing and financing The Exterminator. While the movie was made with the intention of distributing it through the international market, the film proved a sizable hit within the United States making $6 million in the New York alone and would make both star Robert Ginty and writer/director James Glickenhaus staples of B-movies throughout the 80s. While The Exterminator doesn't break far from the tropes of the genre established by Death Wish and its contemporaries, it doesn't pretend to be anymore than it actually is and sidesteps the pseudo discussions and some of the crypto racism inherent to the genre.

Robert Ginty is really well cast as John Eastman and according to Glickenhaus he chose because not only did he find him a good actor, but also thought he brought an approachable everyman quality to the character Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson couldn't. Ginty and Steve James have terrific chemistry in the film and from the opening scene where Michael saves John's life in Vietnam you buy them as friends and do get invested in their relationship. But despite Ginty portraying a likable personality, he also brings a simmering intensity to the scenes where he's taking on the city's criminal elements from low level street thugs to mid-level gangsters with some scenes involving a meat grinder or a flamethrower being particularly memorable. The movie also gives us another fun turn in Christopher George as Detective Dalton who's investigating The Exterminator and while he does fill the requisite for the character type in a movie like this, he also adds a certain level of humor and humanity such as his love story with Samantha Eggar's Dr. Megan Stewart or some unique little quirks he has such as cooking a hot dog with two forks wired to his desk lamp. Now I'm not going to act like the movie is flawless because at the end of the day it is still a violent and slightly stupid wish fulfillment fantasy, but there's also some other issues at play such as the rather choppy feeling of the editing with some parts such as Michael Jefferson's family feeling really underdeveloped, or the soundtrack which features a lot of slow emotional acoustic guitar backed ballads that feels like it's trying to copy the San Anton song from Rolling Thunder. Pretty much any vigilante movie that tries to ape Paul Schrader is doomed to fail because only Paul Schrader can add that little extra something to a movie like this (Hardcore, Rolling Thunder, Taxi Driver, etc.). The movie didn't need to be Paul Schrader, we have one of those, just be The Exterminator and own it.

The Exterminator is unapologetically b-movie trash but it's fun b-movie trash especially in comparison to stuff like Death Wish II or Fighting Back. If you like this kind of movie there's plenty to appreciate here.