PISTOL WHIPPED
US, 2008, 92 minutes, Colour.
Steven Segal, Paul Calderon, Lance Henricksen, Renee Elise Goldsbery, Bernie Mc Inerney.
Directed by Roel Reine.
Steven Segal was making at least one action film a year (generally straight to video and DVD) in the first decade of the 21st century. He had come to prominence in the 1980s, continued with action shows of a rather bone-crunching variety during the 1990s. He made some films which achieved some kind of respectability including Exit Wounds. However, as he grew older (and heavier) he did less action and became involved in crime stories or rescue stories.
This film is average for him, some of his fans thinking it above average. The film opens with him confiding his life to a priest, a sympathetic performance by Bernie Mc Inerney. It is so sympathetic that eventually he is murdered.
Segal plays an ex-policeman who was accused of corruption but was not guilty. His life was saved by the man who married his ex-wife. However, it is revealed, as might be expected, that this policeman was corrupt and it is he who kills the priest.
Segal is hired by a character called The Old Man (played by Lance Henricksen who appeared in a number of the director’s films). His assistant is effectively played by Paul Calderon. Segal is hired to do some assassinations of crime bosses – which he does. There are complications with another agent, played by Renee Elise Goldsbery. Another further complication is the role of Segal’s daughter, who is devoted to him, but whom he continues missing out on seeing because of the complications of his assassinations and other work.
The film continues with further confrontation of gangs, especially Korean drug dealers.
Segal is a one-note player, looking severe – and burdened by his being almost sixty and because of his weight. However, he still acts with assurance.
This is a film for Segal’s fans – and for those interested in the development of the genre and Segal’s long contribution to it. (The director was born in the Netherlands, moved to the United States and made a series of action films, again straight to video and DVD.)
