Échec et mort

Mason Storm is a tough cop who uncovers the beginnings of something big when spying on gangsters on a deserted pier. He uncovers a conspiracy involving a politician – a discovery that gets his wife and his partner killed and him and his son thought dead. After being hidden by a friend in a coma hospital under an alias for seven years, Mason wakes up to find that his wife's killers are still after him and that the politician has become a very big target indeed.

After seeing a podgy Seagal in rapper `banger' movies in the past few years, it is almost a relief to see him in a film where he is slim, agile and a bit less `up his own ar*e' with all that new age stuff! That's not to say that `Hard to Kill' is a good film, for it certainly isn't, but it's basic nature is almost refreshing in how lacking in pretension it is – want a revenge thriller which is of video standard, then this is for you.

The plot is laughable at times. The whole thing lacks cohesion and logic, often making huge leaps with no real explanation. However it does just about enough to provide reasons for Seagal to fight with groups of people at the same time. Some of the dialogue is hilarious and reminded me of the character in the Simpsons who apes Arnie and delivers cr*p kiss-off lines. Seagal's funniest is `I'll take you to the bank – the blood bank!' Dialogue like that reminded me that this was a video movie and not a blockbuster! The action is basic, although it is nice to see Seagal in fights where his movies are fully visible and are fluent, the only thing that put me off here was just how cruel the whole thing was.

Seagal is a rubbish actor if you expect anything more than his whisper-voice-of-menace acting style and his one facial expression where he looks like his piles are giving him mild discomfort. However for fans this will be accepted and I was OK with it as par for the course for his films. LeBrock has no real excuse for being as bad as she is – a rubbish English accent, awful dialogue and really poor delivery. Sadler is OK but has very little screentime – playing the least subtle corrupt politician in the world! I mean, sitting and talking with thugs and hoods in front of all the cameras and never using middlemen!?

Overall this film is OK at what you expect from it – fight scenes with Seagal's skills on good show. However almost everything else (characters, logic, plot, humour, acting) is either really basic or so poor it's funny. In some ways this is better than his recent movies simply because the recent ones raise expectations with their budget and effects – here I had no illusions about what I was getting into!

"Hard to Kill" is bar-none the best Steven Seagal film by a cosmic mile. That is not saying that this is a masterpiece, but it works pretty well due to some really evil bad guys (led by William Sadler) and the fact that Seagal's character is legitimately out for revenge. Seagal is a cop who has just learned that Sadler, an ambitious lawyer with political aspirations, is involved with shady cops and high-class crime syndicates. This information will lead to an attempt on Seagal's life which will kill his wife, cause their young son to just barely escape death and cause Seagal to go into a coma himself. Of course he awakes some eight years later and his only motivation is to bring all those involved to justice. Works well due to Seagal's performance more than anything else. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

A police officer staking out drug-lords, videotapes an ambitious senator to be's dirty dealings with the mob and suffice to say gunmen come a gunning for him and his family a few hours later, this puts our cop in a coma and when he awakens seven years later, it's time for revenge. Hard To Kill is one of Seagal's better action flicks, it contains all the akidio and mean spirited breaking of arms but also the story is stronger and Seagal is in excellent form. The one liners are somewhat cheesy but Hard To Kill works on a visceral level and one doesn't go in expecting more.

* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good)

Steven Seagal is a hard man to kill. Especially when he's out to stop corruption. Watch out thugs and government officials (oh we know how corrupt they are). As Seagal hands out plenty of broken arms, but before getting warmed up (although he does encounter some thugs in a shop outlet) he's gunned down in his home with his family murdered. After being comatose for 7 years he awakes and now he's out to settle a score. All the best moments come when Seagal is laying flat in bed doing nothing and everything after that is a bonus. Where can you get a comatose Seagal with long stringy hair, a fuzzy beard, Kelly Labrock asking if he wants a little pussy and then putting a little kitten by his head. Oh there are some priceless dialogues… also Seagal's usual philosophical banter. Before exacting revenge… He's targeted but escapes from the hospital while still lying in his bed. On the run he recovers with Labrock in a secluded house that she's house-sitting. Now we go through the motions… Seagal's motions. Healing physically and mentally… the Buddha way. Being stoically humorous, running up hills, breaking wooden planks and thinking of the past. Then he gets a little bored (decked back in black leather jacket, tight jeans and sporting the slick ponytail); but he doesn't have to go to them as they come to him. His almighty senses come to light (you know that sixth sense) and formulaic taut action erupts. Simple-minded revenge - brutal, scorching and explosive. Don't think about it (ridiculously plotted), just enjoy it. It's a tough, unpleasant barrage of set-pieces and we know how Seagal enjoys playing fair. The bad guys are your typical smarmy lot and cop a beating, a painful beating. "I'm gonna take you to the bank… . The blood bank".

Wow. The Seagal movies just keep on coming. Right after I commented on 'Out For Justice', I caught the horrible 'Out for a Kill' on pay TV, and then 'Hard to Kill' came on after that on free-to-air. With any luck, the most awesome of all Seagal's movies - 'Under Siege' - will be on sometime soon, but for now, 'Hard to Kill' was rather awesome.

Seagal plays Mason Storm, a cop investigating links between some mobsters, crooked cops, and crooked politician, and suddenly everything turns into a 'Kill Bill' prototype: The bad guys kill Storm's family, and leave him for dead. After waking up from a seven-year coma, Storm sets out for vengeance.

'Hard to Kill' is an entertaining action movie. The amount of limb-snapping may be lower than usual for a Seagal movie, but the fight scenes are good. An added bonus is the fact that 'Hard to Kill' features some of Seagal's best lines and moments ("I'm gonna take you to the bank, Senator Trent. To the blood bank!"). The hide and seek scene has got to be the best scene Seagal has ever filmed.

'Hard to Kill' rates as one of my favourite Seagal movies, and certainly much better than anything he's done lately. Seagal fans should get a kick out of this - 7/10