Pistol Whipped (2008) (V)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Roel Reiné

Writer (WGA):

J.D. Zeik (written by)

Release Date:

4 March 2008 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

They came to collect a debt. He paid in full.

Plot:

Matt is an elite ex-cop whose life has gone down hill since he was kicked off the Force. After a rough encounter with a mysterious henchman...

Plot Keywords:

Graveyard | Gunfight | Prison | Zoo | Murder

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Oct. 15	2:00 AM	USA
Wed. Oct. 15	10:00 AM	USA

Cast

Steven Seagal	...	Matt
Bernie McInerney	...	Father Joe
Ashley Greenfield	...	Card Player #1
John P. Gulino	...	Card Player #2
Antoni Corone	...	Sharp
Matt Salinger	...	Dealer
Paul Calderon	...	Blue
Lance Henriksen	...	The Old Man
Lydia Jordan	...	Becky (as Lydia Grace Jordan)
Mark Elliot Wilson	...	Steve
Arthur J. Nascarella	...	Bruno (as Arthur Nascarella)
Toru Ohno	...	Johnny
Renee Goldsberry	...	Drea (as Renée Elise Goldsberry)
Rue DeBona	...	Emily
Lee Wong	...	Mr. Ling

Also Known As:

Marker (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

96 min | Australia:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA | Australia:MA (2008) | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-18 (self applied) | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Company:

Junction Films

Trivia:

When Matt (Seagal) receives his last assignment, the picture of the target is actually an image of director Roel Reiné.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the cemetery shootout, the sniper rifle falls off the mausoleum roof but then reappears briefly before the scene change.

Quotes:

Drea: And after, like, a bunch of years I finally realized what I really needed to do was grow a dick.
Matt: Well, probably I would like you a lot less if you had a dick.
Matt: Especially if it was bigger than mine, you know what I mean?
Drea: I don't think that's possible.

Movie Connections:

References Above the Law (1988)

Not great by any means but keep this up and Seagal will slowly but surely get his fan base back

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Matt (Steven Seagal) was once a great cop who was kicked off the force after falsely taking the rap for some drug money going missing. Since then, his life has been on a downward spiral, with drinking problems and gambling debts mounting. But one day he is brought to a meeting with a mysterious man who offers to clear all his debts if he'll agree to act for his agency and assassinate leading mob figures across the city. Matt agrees, and goes to work. All is dandy, until he is asked to kill the step-father of his daughter- who is also the man who he owes his life to.

Interesting to note it's now twenty years since Seagal made his debut feature with Above the Law, the film that set him on his path to super-stardom. Twenty years later, and he's gone from the dizzying heights of big screen adventures to smaller direct to DVD films like this and it's interesting to note how his career has gone in all this time.

But this is a change of role for Seagal from the indestructible hero role that he has kept up through out his career (right down to only knowing his first name for once, instead of giving him some cool sounding surname.) Here he plays a flawed character, a man with weaknesses and vices that make him corruptible like anyone else, which is a great step away from the same old character that he's used to get him along since he made his first film and shows a maturity in age that maybe he's not as believable as he once was playing that role. Aside from this, though, he does manage some neat martial arts scenes, with some great fight scenes in the film that show he's still fairly nimble when he wants to be. And, it's a role he manages blissfully free of any dubbing, stunt doubles or use of stock footage. Director Roel Reine (he does get some funny sounding guys directing his films nowadays) manages a surprisingly intelligent, twisty turny story that heads in directions we don't quite expect it to.

On the downside, Seagal does appear to be in need of The Atkins Diet once again, as he does appear to have piled the pounds on again, and the dim lighting that marred Renegade Justice is back through-out the whole film. That's all the bad stuff out the way though.

After the embarrassing debacles of Flight of Fury and Attack Force, Seagal needed to get his act together in order to keep the remaining fanbase he had. Films like this and Renegade Justice will ensure that slowly but surely he becomes the king of action once again. ***