Exit Wounds is set in Detroit where an attempt is made on the Vice President's (Chris Lawford) life, tough city cop Orin Boyd (Steven Seagal) takes it upon himself to single handedly save the Vice President & start World War III in the process. Boyd's bosses aren't happy, the secret service aren't happy & the Vice President isn't happy so as punishment Boyd is sent to work in Precinct 15, the biggest s-hole in Detroit & undergo anger therapy. Boyd is partnered up with patrol cop George Clark (Isaiah Washington) who quickly stumble across a plot by a gang of corrupt cops to steal impounded heroin from the police lock up & sell it, unsure of who they can trust Boyd & Clark have to go it alone dodging bullets as they try to clean up Precinct 15...
This American Australian co-production was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak & one has to say that Exit Wounds is a pretty ordinary & routine action thriller about some one man army super cop bringing down some drug dealers. The script by Ed Horowitz & Richard D'Ovidio was based on the novel by John Westermann & feels like a mishmash of action film clichés cobbled together. There's the obligatory white cop black cop partnership which never actually goes anywhere, the lone maverick cop whose wife left him because of the job & has to go it alone to catch the bad guy's, the predictable plot twists, various fight & action scenes which have little relevance to the story, some awful comedy relief & a fairly routine Hollywood thriller plot about drugs. Nothing really gels that well in Exit Wounds, most of the events seem unconnected & somewhat random. To be fair to Exit Wounds though it passes 100 odd minutes harmlessly enough, it's certainly not the worst film out there & there's one or two memorably spectacular action set-pieces & there's a funny little nod towards the brutality of Seagal's earlier films in that his character is forced to go to anger management therapy in a fairly amusing scene which also pokes a little bit of fun at his weight & that he is getting fatter & fatter with each passing film he makes. Unfortunately to balance that amusing scene out the ending is truly dire with the two main comedy relief character's talking to each other & trying to be funny, a truly embarrassing scene. While there's nothing hugely wrong with Exit Wounds there's nothing that great about it either, basically it's fairly predictable Hollywood stuff saved by some impressive action scenes.
Director Bartkowiak does a decent job, the film looks nice with bright cinematography, some nice angles especially during the opening shoot-out on the bridge, there's plenty of clean lines, fast sports cars, hip music & it has a bit of style about it. The action scenes save Exit Wounds, from a huge shoot-out on a bridge to exploding cars to gunfights to martial arts fights to motorbike chases to car chases to all sorts of explosions, property damage & brutality. It actually looks like Seagal put some effort into the fight scenes in Exit Wounds, in fact Exit Wounds is probably the best film Seagal has made during the twenty first century & the last of his big budget Hollywood flicks with Warner Bros. While filming in Hamilton during the scene when the van rolls upside & skids along the street with everyone inside jumping out a stuntman died after the stunt went wrong, this scene was re-shot later which probably cost a lot since it's one of the more expensive looking action scenes in the film. Apparently filming was also delayed when actor David Vadim was arrested & charged with sexual assault by police on the set!
With a supposed budget of about $33,000,000 Exit Wounds did OK at the box-office taking about $20,000,000 during it's opening weekend. The film certainly has that big budget Hollywood polish about it & the production values are high & glossy. Set in Detroit but largely filmed in Canada. The acting is alright, Seagal is OK I suppose. When I first saw the credits & saw someone called DMX I thought isn't that a make of bike? But then I realised that's a BMX... Fine character actors such as Tom Arnold, Isaiah Washington, Bill Duke, Jill Henessey & Bruce McGill are all wasted in small roles but the films still definitely better for having them there.
Exit Wounds is a pretty routine action thriller that takes most of the Hollywood stereotype's & clichés & churns out a reasonable flick with which to pass 100 odd minutes. Exit Wounds is nothing amazing but it's not too bad & the action scenes provide plenty of bang for your money, neither the best action film out there or the worst.
This American Australian co-production was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak & one has to say that Exit Wounds is a pretty ordinary & routine action thriller about some one man army super cop bringing down some drug dealers. The script by Ed Horowitz & Richard D'Ovidio was based on the novel by John Westermann & feels like a mishmash of action film clichés cobbled together. There's the obligatory white cop black cop partnership which never actually goes anywhere, the lone maverick cop whose wife left him because of the job & has to go it alone to catch the bad guy's, the predictable plot twists, various fight & action scenes which have little relevance to the story, some awful comedy relief & a fairly routine Hollywood thriller plot about drugs. Nothing really gels that well in Exit Wounds, most of the events seem unconnected & somewhat random. To be fair to Exit Wounds though it passes 100 odd minutes harmlessly enough, it's certainly not the worst film out there & there's one or two memorably spectacular action set-pieces & there's a funny little nod towards the brutality of Seagal's earlier films in that his character is forced to go to anger management therapy in a fairly amusing scene which also pokes a little bit of fun at his weight & that he is getting fatter & fatter with each passing film he makes. Unfortunately to balance that amusing scene out the ending is truly dire with the two main comedy relief character's talking to each other & trying to be funny, a truly embarrassing scene. While there's nothing hugely wrong with Exit Wounds there's nothing that great about it either, basically it's fairly predictable Hollywood stuff saved by some impressive action scenes.
Director Bartkowiak does a decent job, the film looks nice with bright cinematography, some nice angles especially during the opening shoot-out on the bridge, there's plenty of clean lines, fast sports cars, hip music & it has a bit of style about it. The action scenes save Exit Wounds, from a huge shoot-out on a bridge to exploding cars to gunfights to martial arts fights to motorbike chases to car chases to all sorts of explosions, property damage & brutality. It actually looks like Seagal put some effort into the fight scenes in Exit Wounds, in fact Exit Wounds is probably the best film Seagal has made during the twenty first century & the last of his big budget Hollywood flicks with Warner Bros. While filming in Hamilton during the scene when the van rolls upside & skids along the street with everyone inside jumping out a stuntman died after the stunt went wrong, this scene was re-shot later which probably cost a lot since it's one of the more expensive looking action scenes in the film. Apparently filming was also delayed when actor David Vadim was arrested & charged with sexual assault by police on the set!
With a supposed budget of about $33,000,000 Exit Wounds did OK at the box-office taking about $20,000,000 during it's opening weekend. The film certainly has that big budget Hollywood polish about it & the production values are high & glossy. Set in Detroit but largely filmed in Canada. The acting is alright, Seagal is OK I suppose. When I first saw the credits & saw someone called DMX I thought isn't that a make of bike? But then I realised that's a BMX... Fine character actors such as Tom Arnold, Isaiah Washington, Bill Duke, Jill Henessey & Bruce McGill are all wasted in small roles but the films still definitely better for having them there.
Exit Wounds is a pretty routine action thriller that takes most of the Hollywood stereotype's & clichés & churns out a reasonable flick with which to pass 100 odd minutes. Exit Wounds is nothing amazing but it's not too bad & the action scenes provide plenty of bang for your money, neither the best action film out there or the worst.