True Justice

The premise isn't bad - though nothing new: well respected, kick ass cop, leads a detective/strike team against the scum and villainy of Seattle.

Seagal - though I'm a fan, I get incredibly frustrated at his mumblings, dubs and can't be bothered style of acting - is OK in this.

What let's it down is it's lack of detail, the rushed script and the one dimensional and somewhat stereotypical characters.

But the fights are excellent, the cast - though a little weak (and of course they're hardly stretched) - do an alright job.

As 45 minutes of action/drama, made for TV - it'll do. Does it have much of future? I can't imagine it - but it keeps me entertained for a little while on a Weds eve. CSI:NY it ain't, but with the right producers, and a better cast, it could be along those lines...

Is that his real hair? Is his fighting skill really so bad the director has to hide it by flashy fast camera work that is unintelligible? Several of the reviews don't hide the fact that this is utter rubbish. Well reviewed. This movie is full of protagonist macho bravado egotism (and lazy acting) but low on any form of skill and storytelling art-form. Some flashback scenes of a troubled ex-soldier, a superhero boss that clearly doesn't need backup (but yells for it anyway after taking out the end bad guy who was made to look middle-eastern by the way for what storytelling reason only Steven Seagal would maybe somehow know...if someone were to explain it to him) does not make a movie. After watching this on free to air ask yourself; 'Would I buy this for my collection?' then sit down with your mates to watch it... Buhahahah..!! This movie is certainly a waste of ones time.

True Justice in my opinion as it is in most people's view, is probably regarded as second to maybe The Wire as one of the greatest shows on television.

True Justice is not just a cop show either, just like The Wire. In True Justice you see politics, family issues, sexuality, and many other hard hitting topics that The Wire covers.

I was lucky enough to watch True Justice on a 40" HDTV and slowly made my way through the vice and darkness that surrounds the show and its characters.

All I can really say is The Wire has only barely just topped True Justice in my opinion as a hard hitting gritty show. Both are almost fully fair in greatness, if not for The Wire beating the other by an inch. Through True Justice, you are tagging along on a journey with Steven Seagal and his team, through some harrowing and disturbing stories to the finale of this amazing show. Just as the The Wire is considered to be an analysis of society, I believe True Justice is too more so through the police but you still see both sides of the same argument from the political and criminal side too.

As each season passes and new ones open, we are left with many questions, awaiting answers. We await retribution, vengeance, and just deserves but we keep watching as it it so addictive. True Justice barely scrapes the top of the world of policing, especially in a city like Seattle, but it does a good job and comes close to the scale The Wire takes on. Tear jerking acting, top-notch plots and directing. True Justice to me and many others is right up there next to The Wire.

Steven Seagal is solely responsible for this. Only Steven Seagal could come up with something this terrible. Only Steven Seagal could write, produce, direct and star in something this horrible. Plots are unintelligible. Dialogue is down there with the worst of Bollywood. The acting however, does hold up to my fifth grader's Christmas play. There is absolutely no redeeming quality to this no good, very bad collection of garbage. Not even Steven Seagal's hair transplant can save it.

1 - If you like watching Seagal beat up bad guys with little effort, grab your snacks and beverages to watch a bunch of those scenes per episode. If you want to see him speak clearly or show any emotional range, fuggeddaboutit.

2 - The plots are almost comically convoluted, with more double-crosses and hidden agendas than one should have to endure.

3 - Be prepared for a whole lotta stupid. Characters regularly fire far more shots without reloading than their weapons could hold. Outgunned protagonists routinely waste ammo by firing multiple shots when conserving bullets is vital. Good guys with pistols are constantly facing machine guns, and rarely bringing the weapons needed to level the playing field. After downing a foe, they frequently fail to finish obviously necessary kills, or check the fallen bodies to be sure they're no longer a threat. Or pick up their weapons for much-needed firepower.

3 - More stupidity - When time is short and thugs are all over the place, Seagal wastes time and effort by beating guys up slowly rather than dispatching them efficiently to help the rest of his team with the rest of the minions.

4 - Several members of his team, including some who are actually enjoyable to watch, die along the way. The overall story doesn't really require that - and some occur off-camera, so they don't even get the poignant death scene they deserve. That raises questions as to the reason. Availability of cheaper replacements? Fed up with Seagal's ego running everything to his tastes? Better offers for other productions? Seagal creating turnover so viewers will stay more bonded with him than with the better actors around him?

5 - This one's a biggie. Season One sets up a huge cabal of bad guys with a nuclear threat, plus a personal revenge quest up their food chain of evil for Season Two. Even with the subsequent 2012 movie/extended episode, they don't finish the tasks!!!! The thing ends as if they were planning another installment that no one was interesting in funding. Or filming. Or committing air time for. If you crave closure, spend your time on another product.