True Justice Season 2: Vengeance is Mine
Say what you will about Steven Seagal’s
unconvincing hairpiece, sausage-like fingers, ancient lizard squint and
monochromatic characterisations: the man is completely tireless and that
deserves respect, even if the only thing expanding faster than his
sizable body of work is his waistline.
It’s interesting to note, for instance,
that since his transition to the realm of straight-to-DVD in 2001 Seagal
has made more movies than Warren Beatty did in his entire five-decade
career. I like to think of myself as displaying equally
connoisseur-like familiarity with both his early filmic output and
lesser-known later efforts such as Submerged and Attack Force,
but must admit that True Justice slipped under my radar.
A collection of (thus far) 23 movie-length
‘episodes,’ the made-for-TV series sees Stevie starring as Elijah Kane,
a former special forces operative who is drafted in to work for the feds
in a variety of exciting and mostly unlikely scenarios. The first
episode of the second season, Vengeance is Mine essentially
comprises a fairly shortish, extremely low budget action flick with many
of the Seagal trappings on show. This means lots of high collars to
hide his double chin, ensuring Stevie is standing in shadow at all times
(preferably shot from the forehead down to disguise whatever that thing
is on top of his head) and awkwardly cutting in slightly more slender
stunt doubles any time a roundhouse kick or the like is required. He
kicks and slaps at the odd bad guy, in between dispensing unconvincing
lines in that curious New Orleans wanna-be-black-man street twang he
frequently affects. In short, True Justice bears all the Stevie
hallmarks fans have come to know and love, albeit presented in a
somewhat more rushed and faintly haphazard fashion than is usual.
Also somewhat surprising is the fact that
for once the lumbering Seagal isn’t the worst actor in one of his own
films. The assembled cast is hugely low-rent, and although Stevie looks
quite sleepy throughout as though he’s just finished an enormous meal
(which I presume he had) he still musters up marginally more enthusiasm
than the rag-tag assortment of nobodies that pass for his co-stars. His
fight scenes are, as has become standard, cursory in the extreme.
Whereas early films such as
On Deadly Ground
featured protracted action sequences in which Seagal sermonised as he
slapped, kicked and chopped his opponents into submission, these days he
favours the more direct approach of a metal pipe or boot applied
vigorously to an enemy's face. Needless to say this engenders such
scenes with a certain savagery, but you know what you're signing up for
when you take a Seagal movie off the shelf – broken bones and lots of
them.
Vengeance is Mine is a bit of fun,
with bad acting and broken bones aplenty. Even the Seagal diehards have
evidently had a hard time finding much to recommend True Justice,
and this particular stand-alone episode comes across a little sub-par in
comparison to some of his better films of late such as Driven to Kill,
but if you like your action flicks cheesy, silly and super low budget
then look no further. Seagalrific.
Bonus Features
None.
