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SYNOPSIS:
The only man who has Matt's back is married to his ex-wife
and has legal custody of his daughter. Even worse, Matt's
heavy drinking and excessive gambling continually ruin his
attempts to be a decent father. Matt gets a chance at a fresh
start when a mysterious old man buys up all of his outstanding
gambling debts. However, in return he must pledge his absolute
loyalty and use his talents to kill the city's most notorious
criminals. Matt must learn the politics of the underworld
and grapple with his role as hired muscle. He soon realizes
that there is more going on than meets the eye.
MOVIE
REVIEW
The
title sounds like a cheap porno flick and the heavily photoshopped
cover of the DVD has the leading man holding what else other
than a pistol. You see, Steven Seagal is not a man who is
known for his subtlety and it shows even before you pop the
disc into the player.
Seagal
plays Matt Connor, an ex-cop who incurred mountain high gambling
debts and is being approached by “the old man”
to dispatch off the city’s notorious criminals, handing
out justice in their own way. Matt has no way to turn “the
old man” down as he’s the only one who can help
clear Matt’s debts and mend his relationship with his
daughter.
Similar
to one of his many straight-to-video productions, Seagal displays
his one-man killing machine’s ability to the fullest.
If you are looking for a decent plotting, “Pistol Whipped”
does have a proper setup. There are some half-baked characters
development so don’t expect anything from say “The
Departed”, the story is simply setup for Seagal to karate
chops his way through and shoots his targets with immerse
accuracy.
Unlike
his previous efforts which have dubious voice dubbing and
unconvincing body doubles, this is considerable a better Seagal’s
headed production. At least we can still recognize Seagal
during the fights sequences. Director Roel Reine is no John
Woo and his direction for the shoot out in the finale is best
rated as “John Woo inspired”.
Steven
Seagal won’t be making much of a comeback with movies
such as “Pistol Whipped” although he was once
huge (I’m not referring to his current weight per se)
in the nineties. But it’s substantial enough to fill
in the gaps for the next action blockbuster at the video stores.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The DVD comes with a deleted scene (a dialogue exchange
between Seagal and Renee Goldsbury) and an alternate ending.
There are some obligatory trailers on Sony titles and a promo
Blu-ray reel as well.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
transfer on the whole is gritty and soft. It could be intentional
from the filmmakers but can be hard on the eyes to figure
out during the darker sequences. For instance, it might be
hard to see Lance Henriksen as “the old man” as
he appears frequently in shadows.
The
5.1 audio is decent enough especially during the shootouts,
car chase which didn’t disappoint.
MOVIE
RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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