3.4 KiB
+++ title = "Kill Switch (2008)" date = 2021-03-28
[taxonomies] tags = ["movies", "reviews", "steven seagal", "movies:2021", "stars:2"] +++
IMDB Summary: A troubled detective travels to Memphis in order to track down a pair of serial killers.
{{ stars(stars=1) }}
A movie for and by Steven Seagal. That should say a lot about it.
The script is, basically, a mess. It shouldn't be, if it focused on a single story, but it actually tries to follow up to three different plots: There is a serial killer that uses zodiac signs on women; there is a murdered that, for some reason, falls from a 3 store tall building, survives and gets out of jail (completely healed and with no scars) 3 weeks or so later; and there is this FBI agent that wants to figure out the real killer.
All that in 1h and half.
But... is it bad? The problem is the lack of focus: Now you're following the zodiac killer, now you're seeing the murderer, now you're following the FBI agent and some procedural content, now back to the zodiac killer, now to the FBI, now some intermission, now the zodiac, now the FBI, now the murdered... And there is some serious lack of connection between them -- except the detective (the protagonist, Seagal himself), which was the responsible for the murderer to fall that 3 store high building and it is going after the zodiac killer while dismissing the FBI agent.
The plots "join" in the very end, by pure force of script, but while the story makes all the moves to frame the protagonist, miraculously the serial killer is captured -- after being both arms and legs broken by the protagonist, with no reprimand -- and admits he was trying to frame the detective. But no worries, he managed to disappear completely after killing the murderer, just after beating the serial killer, so it is all good.
Also, it seems he's living with a female cop -- who, for some reason, likes to run around the house in silk robes and that's it -- but, when he disappear, he goes back to his family -- wife and two kids -- which is never mentioned everywhere. This last scene seems really forced, not only 'cause there was no mention of said wife and kids while living with another woman, but as soon as he gets home, the kids are dismissed and the wife leads him to the bedroom, where we can see boobies. I mean, why?
There are also some dubbing by Seagal over the fights, in a "loud whisper" type of talk, like he's beating someone with no effort at all. Speaking of the beatings, there is one scene when Seagal is beating a thug and punches over and over the thug chest area, but you hear something like someone smashing a bag of nuts. "Holy cow, he's breaking all the guy ribs!", you think; but no, 2 seconds of no beating and the guy is up and throwing -- missing, actually -- punches at the detective again. Also, it seems some of those beatings they though "Let's put some cameras around the scene, so we can pick different angles and later pick the best one", but decided that all the angles were the best ones, so you get free three-punches-on-different-angles for the price of one.
(That angle thing went so far that, when Seagal throws the murderer out of the window, you see the throw 4 times, all in the different angles, all in succession.)
None of the plots are new, the plots seem put together just to fill movie time, there is some bad editing and, well, Seagal acting. Make your own conclusion.