Hard To Kill
The Legend Of Steven Seagal is one that bears reminding even after his endless slew of recent direct to video action movies. Raised in the Far East and trained from childhood in the martial arts, he came to Hollywood with a shadowy past and a specialized mastery of both the Aikido and Kempo styles of fighting. Opening a highly regarded dojo in L.A., he became an instructor to the rich and famous, soon garnering enough attention from movie industry types (including Michael Ovitz) that the old stand by phrase âYou look like you should be in the moviesâ was uttered one time too many, leading to a career that kicked off in 1988 with the major production Above The Law, which utilized what some say were reportedly autobiographical elements of his life to tell the story of a former CIA operative turned tough cop who ran up against some of his old running buddies. The success and positive buzz off that debut meant that Seagal was here to stay as an action movie star, leading into this follow up effort from 1990, a taut, crisply paced, tightly scripted action effort that remains his best film to date out of all his starring roles (not a knock on his other works whatsoever which also were finely made action films as well that always seemed to have quality actors playing the main villains). Unlike Norris, Lee, and many of the other martial artists turned action stars, Seagal employed in Aikido his own unique methods for dealing with bad guys in fight scenes, as since Aikido was NOT actually a striking fighting style but rather a way of using your opponentâs own inertia and balance to throw them off guard and then use one of their limbs to do some major damage, what that meant was that even though Seagalâs characters did not always necessarily go into killing combat against the bad guys he faced (though he usually did against someone that could actually match up with him or one that he had a particularly strong motivation to kill), but rather that he was not above beating a bad guy so severely and leaving him with a possibly permanent injury before throwing him on the ground (or in a dumpster), usually leaving him screaming in agonizing pain before most likely the goon would be arrested, which was a most fitting and humiliating way to deal with the scum of the Earth and thus make them pay and suffer for their sins. This film takes on the concept (later copied by Tarantino for his Kill Bill opus) of an unstoppable badass cop waking up from a seven year coma after being blasted into oblivion by shotgun wielding killers. The reason? Apparently earlier that night (noted as being the same night as the 83 Oscars) Seagalâs Mason Storm had secretly filmed and recorded a back alley meeting between some Mafia hoods and a rapidly rising political candidate (William Sadler) in order to plan and give the order for the murder of a United States Senator whose job Sadler covets and for which he knows himself to be a shoo-in once the man is dead. Suddenly Seagal realizes that his run of the mill mob investigation has now turned into the political scandal of all time, with findings that are so scathing that he manages to hide the footage before Sadler sends hired killers at his disposal (who almost all happen to be corrupt cops in Seagalâs department) who do manage to succeed in blasting his beloved wife to pieces but even after two full shotgun rounds at close range on Seagal himself, only render him seemingly dead with the final touches on the subterfuge to keep his true condition unknown being handled by his trusted best friend in internal affairs (Frederick Coffin), who also manages to âadoptâ Seagalâs son (whom the killers just barely missed while he was getting away) and making the boyâs supposed death part of the cover story too. Seagal awakes to the winsome smile of the gorgeous coma nurse (his real life wife at the time Kelly LeBrock) who had always harbored a crush on what she considered to be her âcutestâ patient, but when she goes to call in with the contact number on this âJohn Doeâ, not only does it turn out that his old friend is no longer a cop (but apparently in hiding), it also sets off the same killers once again (with Sadler himself now a popular Senator already being groomed for a VP spot) who waste little time coming to the hospital armed for bear and even knock off a couple of unlucky employees before the still weakened Seagal convinces LeBrock to get him out of there so that they can go into hiding just long enough for him to recover his strength and seek his revenge. Again, this is a movie that plotwise definitely doesnât mess around, although rumor has it that Seagal had conceived it to be a bit of a longer, more drawn out story with added character development and exploration of themes (and apparently was cut down from that in post production) but the saving grace is obviously Seagalâs own presence along with enough smaller bits to develop the other characters enough without bogging the entire enterprise down (Coffin for example as the older, more heavyset best friend does such a good job with what little he has to do that he succeeds in making the viewer root for him as much as Seagal), and LeBrock was still in the major hotness phase of her career even a few years removed from her landmark role in Weird Science. Even the bad guys (including Branscombe Richmond) are suitably hatable enough that we rightfully feel no sympathy when El Steven gives them what they got coming to them, and count that times ten for the group of thugs in an early (and random) action scene where they walk into a liquor store and cold bloodedly execute the owner before they try turning the gun on Seagal and pay dearly for it. As for Sadler, he smartly plays the scumbag Senator as your consummate politician (albeit corrupt), always playing his role and âin characterâ so to speak when addressing either the people or the press as the dashing, well groomed, crusading voice of the people that he makes himself out to be, but yet still showing that someone who was reared in (dirty) politics is really in essence just a little weasel who is always pointing fingers and giving orders in order to protect his little mantle while yet possessing no actual weapons or combat training of his own which means that he had better hope that Seagal really does NOT get directly to him, regardless of whether or not he has a virtual army of dirty cops on his side (which seems to be like half the department). However, the major plot point of having this politico use a particular catchphrase that he is quite fond of using (âYou can take THAT to the bank!â) which becomes sort of like an identifying feature to him (almost like a birthmark or a tattoo) and which he spouts so often (even on the incriminating footage!) that it enables Seagal to more easily identify him comes off as being a bit contrite, even corny, as it makes him seem more like a preprogrammed robot who is guaranteed to say that line at least once per every conversation including privately even if it spells his own downfall. The revenge factor is still as strong as any other part of the story, particularly with one inordinately determined hitman / cop (Charles Boswell) who was the guy that actually pulled the trigger on Seagalâs wife, with their big showdown being a thing of such simplistic beauty just because of the fact that it literally is so short and sweet, PLUS it gives Seagal the chance to deliver one of the best and most hardass one liners in the history of action cinema once the cocky, evil fucker has been brought to his knees. And of course, there is the final confrontation with Sadler himself, wrongly thinking that he is untouchable (and having to be pulled away from a hot tub session with a beautiful, naked babe), and since Seagal has already surmised that he poses no physical threat to him, awesomely works him over psychologically instead, thus leaving him a near nervous wreck before he meets his fate. And finally, there is the proper, respectful injection of Far East mysticism into the story and how the use of it shows Seagalâs character both recovering and preparing for his revenge, which along with his dynamic and kinetic martial arts skills, turns what is to some people a B level action movie into one of the best its genre has ever seenâŚ
9/10