Anthony Anderson – Action Hero Movies

Barely 10 minutes in and it’s clear this is a high level of Steven Seagal movie compared to his usual standard. Instead of diving straight in as a mysteriously highly qualified operative working in a comparatively humble law enforcement role, this time we kick off with an action-packed yet concise backstory showing Seagal working for one police force and performing outstandingly but irritating someone and getting sent away to work for a different force, all within the first 10 minutes. Then we get a nice dose of humour to introduce his new role, and it’s clear this movie has mostly all departments covered and is well set to be comfortably one of his best movies if not the very best of them. Unfortunately, the energy dies off a bit, and it turns into a bit of a muddled action comedy mashup with some high level action scenes here & there still.

While it may be an upgrade from Under Siege in terms of giving the exact style Seagal prefers, and may be an upgrade in plot, cast and music from The Glimmer Man, there is a downside in how it’s a bit too “matter of fact” – less of a delicate atmosphere being built like we had with The Glimmer Man. The grace of execution is lacking somewhat – kind of like what happens when you ask a bunch of kids to produce a show, they all want to act cool but they entirely overlook the fine art aspect that high calibre mature actors tend to aspire for. For this reason, with its unique set of pros & cons putting it better in some ways than Seagal’s best movies, and worse in other ways, overall I rate Exit Wounds (2001) as a high OK, just a tad shy of Under Siege and The Glimmer Man, about equal to Under Siege 2 in terms of general entertainment value. I rate this movie as belonging in his top 5 of all time, just about.

Due to its light-hearted vibe and comedy value, it may be his best movie for people who are looking for a genre like this, a bit like Romeo Must Die (2000) starring Jet Li which also features some of the same supporting cast members as we see here (DMX and Anthony Anderson), or Cradle 2 The Grave which is another Jet Li movie featuring DMX and Anthony Anderson but also features Tom Arnold – all three of these supporting actors are also in Exit Wounds. But for people who’re looking for a slick action hero vibe, everyone seems to be a bit too jovial and Seagal appears to be having a bit too much fun – he smiles a lot in this movie – it’s like he’s not the boss this time round, he’s just being paid well and is enjoying the ride, making a break from producing his own flops like his last movie (The Patriot, 1998) which caused him to take a few years off before coming back with this one where he’s working better with others now.

As expected, Steven Seagal is by far the main character in this movie. DMX and Anthony Anderson play major supporting roles. Tom Arnold and Michael Jai White also play significant roles, but not so ever-present. Eva Mendes also plays a minor role in this movie. They all do a decent job, so far as lighthearted action movies go with a bit of humour.

This is one of Jet Li’s best movies in terms of having good supporting actors, great backing music and a seemingly decent production budget.

Although the plot is a bit thin, it’s ok – the action is frequent and the vibe is cool – intermittently exciting with good humour. A few slower scenes and the final fight scene drags on a bit, but otherwise it’s pretty fluid entertainment value.

Jet Li plays a Chinese kung fu expert called Han, who breaks out of jail upon hearing his brother is dead, to attend the funeral and find his killer.

It should be no surprise that the music is good, seeing how this movie has stars like DMX who plays a club owner called Silk, and Aaliyah who plays the lead female role called Trish. Both do a pretty good job in their respective roles here, and both of their music is played throughout, at very relevant times. Whoever selected the tunes and mixed them into the movie the way they did deserves some kind of award for it, especially the “Got Him” transition into the motorbike scene (can’t find the name of that tune anywhere) where Hilary Yip plays the Chinese woman who Jet Li’s character Han doesn’t want to hit.

Other decent performances include Russell Wong who plays the Chinese boss’s right hand man; Delroy Lindo who plays Isaak, Trish’s father, the head of the black people’s gang; Isaiah Washington who plays Mac, Isaak’s right hand man; and Anthony Anderson who nearly steals the show with his charismatic comedic touch as a low-level shot-caller working for Mac to help protect Trish.