Exit Wounds is an action disaster built almost entirely as a showcase for Steven Seagal. And the worst thing is not only that it is bad, but that it has that kind of industrial badness that is almost impressive: the film seems convinced that putting Seagal on screen walking seriously, hitting people without breaking a sweat and delivering tough-guy lines is enough to make everything work. It does not. Not as a police thriller, not as a corruption story, and not as a minimally decent action film. The story follows Orin Boyd, a Detroit cop who does not follow the rules, gets involved where he should not and ends up uncovering a corruption plot inside the police department itself. It is the most worn-out setup imaginable: rebellious cop, bosses punishing him, suspicious partners, drug trafficking, betrayals, chases, shootouts and a protagonist who is always right even when the script has to twist itself into knots to justify it. Everything feels like a standard action movie written on autopilot. The main problem is Steven Seagal. He does not have enough charisma to carry the film, he does not create tension, he does not feel genuinely dangerous, and his action scenes are edited so he can appear invincible without having to do too much. Everything revolves around him, but the center is empty. Watching him here, it is hard to understand how he managed to occupy such a visible place in action cinema for so many years. Having physical presence is one thing; being a star capable of giving life to a film is something else entirely. The most frustrating thing is that Exit Wounds is not even fun in a bad-movie way. There are absurd action films that at least have rhythm, exaggeration, trashy charm or shameless energy. Here, almost everything feels mechanical, ugly, clumsy and lazy. The plot is simplistic and confusing at the same time, the dialogue seems written just to fill gaps between punches, and police corruption works more as an excuse to connect violent scenes than as a real conflict. DMX brings more presence than Seagal, although he cannot perform miracles either. Anthony Anderson tries to bring humor, Tom Arnold appears as comic relief, and Michael Jai White has a physical presence that honestly deserved a much better film. There are actors around Seagal who could have given the movie more life, but everything is subordinated to the Seagal machine, and that machine already feels very rusty. Andrzej Bartkowiak, who came from cinematography and knew how to move the camera better than many directors of disposable action films, manages to give a few scenes a minimal sense of polish. But that does not save the whole thing. A couple of acceptable shootouts or a halfway decent chase do not make this a good film. If anything, they make it even clearer that there were resources, a theatrical release and some commercial ambition, yet the result is still extremely poor. It is incredible to think that this was released in cinemas as a major action vehicle. Today it makes more sense as a relic from a time when studios were still trying to sell Seagal as a tough, unstoppable, cool action hero, even though the screen was already saying something else. The film wants to be hard, urban and muscular, but it ends up as a chain of lifeless clichés, violence without impact and tough lines without any real toughness. Exit Wounds is bad, almost impressively so. A stale, mechanical and soulless action thriller made to let Steven Seagal look important for more than an hour and a half. Its box-office success at the time does not make it any better. Sometimes a film fills seats because it sells a promise, not because it delivers. This one promises action, corruption and toughness, but gives us one of those personal showcase vehicles that mainly reminds you how badly some action cinema can age.

I was a huge fan of Steven Seagal's earliest movies but lost all interest in his later stuff; this one falls sort of right there in the middle but after watching it again, I have to say it's one of the more entertaining Seagal movies out there. SS is his usual stoic, strutting self but the rest of the cast makes for a great movie. DMX was surprisingly good, and I don't think I've _ever_ seen Anthony Anderson in a movie where he didn't crack me up...including this one. The guy is just naturally hilarious. As far as the martial arts goes, there are some watch-worthy scenes in here and Seagal didn't have to wear oversized clothes to hide his ever-increasing bulk (that came later). Overall - as a story - this, IMO, is one of the better Steven Seagal movies...but again, I have to give the nod to his supporting cast. Anderson, DMX, Tom Arnold (another hilarious addition to the story), Bruce McGill and Bill Duke all added enough depth to make this one very interesting. Not really a big fan of Michael Jai White, but he does make an appearance here and gives it an interesting twist.

A surprisingly good action movie with Stephen Seagal and Tom Arnold. No, really. I'm as surprised as you are.