Kill Switch

Another recent entry in the Steven Seagal DTV catalogue. Not sure why I chose to go with this next, especially after hearing it was considered one of the worst from the era. The plot sounded like something different for Seagal, since he was hunting serial killers in this one, so I decided to give it a shot. In the end, it turned out to be strangely entertaining, but not always because it was a quality movie.

The first issue that has to be addressed is of course Seagal himself. I will give him credit because he apparently wrote this screenplay and the script manages to tell a generic, but competent story. Many of Seagal's recent movies just don't make any sense so it's nice to see one that is pretty simple and straight forward. 

So although he managed to pull together a decent enough script, he just can't do the same with his performance. For some baffling reason he attempts this sort of souther accent the whole time and no surprise, he can't pull it off. He uses a lot of terms such "lahd have mercy" and it's laughable. The whole tone of the movie is so dark and gritty that Seagal's cartoonish performance sticks out like a sore thumb. However it does end up being one of the most enjoyable parts of the entire movie.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the editing in this movie is beyond fucking annoying. I have no idea how anyone thought this was a good route to go with the editing for this thing. It's so quick and fucking stupid. You can never tell what is going on in the fights, or often during scenes where people are just standing around and talking. The movie also has this strange tendency to keep showing shit three times. Sometimes it's something maybe sort of cool like a man being thrown out of a window. But then there are other times where it's something pointless like Seagal looking to the left. Has his career really hit such a rock bottom level that we should be fucking impressed that he moved his head to one direction? So impressed we had to see it multiple times even?

The fights in this movie are a mess, and not just because of the fast-paced, terrible editing either. There aren't that many fights and the ones we do get, last for fucking ever. The final fight is just 7 minutes of Seagal slamming this guy around and kicking the shit out of him. Also by Seagal, I mean a stunt double who really looks nothing like him, a fact the movie barely even tries to hide. I don't think Seagal gets hit even once, but then that's another problem I have with many of his movies...he never gets hurt.

Despite all of the above problems, there is something about this movie that makes it strangely watchable. It's certainly not the bland story or the god awful editing. A lot of is Seagal's bizarre performance, but I don't know. I was never bored and the inept nature of the movie did hold my interest, as did the fucking random ending.

5.5/10