Review of Out for Justice (1991) by Hamato Y — 06 May 2010

An Aikido Master wearing a beret has never looked so tough.

Out for Justice is a classic in every sense of the word. Steven Seagal plays Gino, an Italian cop fighting against the deterioration of his community. You can instantly tell that Steven Seagal's character means business as in the first scene of the movie, he comes to the aid of a street walker who was being abused by her pimp, by snapping his wrist and throwing him through the windshield of an automobile. Steven Seagals fake Italian accent is actually somewhat decent, and allows you to believe that he is an actor, for a brief moment in time.

The plot centre's around Gino searching for an out of control drugged up sociopath, Richie (played by William Forsythe) with a deathwish. Richie's first murder is of Gino's partner, Bobby Lupo. Richie is such a jerk, that even the mob wants him dead because they did not consent to his actions, which include shooting a helpless man in a wheelchair.

Even though Gino has some former ties to the mob, he must walk the fine line between upholding the law and maintaining the mobs respect. In one scene he even tells Don Vitorio that he doesn't like him much, and Vitorio just takes it! Only a man of Gino's societal stature could endure and survive such an undertaking.

Throughout the film you will see many important themes touched upon such as community, animal abuse, and pure carnal vengeance.

You will hear a couple of lines repeatedly throughout the film, which encapsulate the main motivation of Gino. "Anybody seen Richie?" and "Anybody know why Richie did Bobby Lupo?" These classic lines are mostly heard throughout the infamous pool hall scene, which should be inducted into the action film hall of fame, if there is one (which there really should be). This scene includes some butt kicking with a pool cue wrapped inside of a bar towel, which leads to many teeth being lost. Especially by this great character named "Tattoo", who is one of the few people in the movie who isn't supposed to be Italian. He's a biker that hangs around in an Italian bar, for some reason which is never really divulged to the infinitely interested viewer.

Another staple in this scene of absolute brilliance is an Asian character (that's the second non-Italian character in the movie) who's appropriately named "Sticks". As you can imagine, Sticks likes to fight with, sticks, well, pool cues to be exact. Gino and him duke it out, and you never really know who wins the fight, until the end of the particular fight... when you see that Gino wins.

The cinematography and lighting are incredibly adequate as they manage to make the film comprehensible.

The final boss battle is a bit of a letdown, though. As Richie is just a fat drugged out loser with a deathwish, it's easy for a master of all things to take him out. If anything it shows that Gino is a bit of a sadist as he enjoys prolonging Richie's well deserved pain.

Out for Justice is by far my favourite of the Seagal films. Just hearing him ask about Richie's location is enough to make me pay attention to the movie until the end.