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Exit Wounds (2001)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 10/25

ExitWo
10/25: How about something from Steven Seagal?

This time, it's called Exit Wounds. While watching the film, I thought, "Steven Seagal sure hit the shitter in ten year's time." In spite of cracking a couple of decent jokes, he, wearing a toupee, looks fat, lazy, uninterested, and incapable of being crushed or killed by anything. The Aikido stuff isn't there, either, opting for street fighting in The Matrix style.

The first half is replete with the most horrendous editing, but to my surprise, the action is quite good in the next half with a bit of homage to Sidney Lumet when police corruption is uncovered. That's because director Andrzej Bartkowiak used to be his cinematographer for a long time, eleven films to be exact from 1981 to 1993.

As for the secondary cast, I like the inclusion of DMX, Isaiah Washington, Michael Jai White, Bill Duke, and Bruce McGill. But no thanks to Tom Arnold and Anthony Anderson. When I felt Exit Wounds finished well, these two went on to have a perverted conversation at the end. In hindsight, they should've been completely cut out from the film.

Here's a funny piece of trivia: Eva Mendes went to the premiere with her family but didn't recognize herself on screen because of the way she sounded. It was later revealed that she had been 100% dubbed by a different actress. After being informed by a producer the reason why, Eva Mendes complained on a talk show, "A Steven Seagal film, and I didn't sound intelligent enough?!?" Yep, it's truly a low point of her career.

All in all, it would be nice if Exit Wounds could go back to basics with calm editing.