Extreme Justice

'Extreme Justice' is one of those action films that teethers on a great premise. Not original, but good ground for fun entertainment & some thought as well. Scott Glenn, Lou Diamond Phillips and a supporting cast of known faces directed by Mark L. Lester (Commando) carry out this dark trip, but the end product is merely average in most regards.

Det. Powers (Phillips) take it too far with a kidnapping suspect and it looks like IA is going to bounce him off the force after multiple brushes with him. That is until his former partner Det. Vaughn (Glenn) calls in some favors to get him reassigned to SIS (real life LAPD unit). Tired of seeing criminals go free or get joke sentences, this squad makes it their sole purpose to put repeat offenders away for good - in body bags.

This simple idea works on the surface because everyone knows in real life the justice system ain't perfect and Phillips character acts as our moral guide traversing this dangerous terrain. Everyone wants justice served, but where does the line get drawn? That sort of shtick however it isn't content with keeping things believable. This unit, these cops will allow suspects to commit their crimes under surveillance and only move in to waste 'em after their deeds are in progress or done which puts innocent victims at risk.

There's a lot of faces here which I'm a sucker for. You got b-movie reg Ed Lauter as the Captain of the unit. He's still doing hand jesters like he did in 'Raw Deal'. While Yaphet Kotto, William Lucking & Andrew Divoff make up fellow cops. Stephen Root a news agency boss while William McNamara plays one of the criminals. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this is the second film I've seen Chelsea Field play a integral reporter linked to a main hero too.

Things get contrived in 'Extreme Justice' and then just flat out dumb which ultimately what keeps it from being better. You can see where things are going a mile ahead and Glenn who starts off as a jaded, but believable presence is no more than a sociopath caricature with a badge by the end. The bum finale, ridiculous end title card too. The action is entertaining, but it only gets you so far.

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.

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."

Fans of good action films will find "Extreme Justice" to their liking. What elevates this police special squad film above the competition, is the interesting and effective cast. You rarely see Scott Glenn, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ed Lauter, and Yaphet Kotto all together in one exciting movie. Ethical questions aside, "Extreme Justice" delivers the death squad justice in massive doses. If you are a fan of any of the above actors, then seek this one out, because you will not be disappointed. My only objection is that the female lead, Chelsea Field, playing a snoopy reporter, is rather bland, cold, and ultimately forgettable. - MERK

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. (**)