Year: 1991
Director: John Flynn
Star: Steven Seagal
“He’s a cop. It’s a dirty job…but somebody’s got to take out the garbage”
Anytime Seagal is rockin’ an accent, it’s a good day at the office. Know this.
Out For Justice starts out with Seagal, who’s playing Gino Felino, on a stakeout. A huge bust is about to go down so everyone is on the downlow. Gino however sees a pimp beating the shit out of a girl, and bust or no bust, he’s got some throwing-a-pimp-through-a-windshield to do.
After this, we get down to our bad-guy for the evening, Richie Madano, who’s played perfectly by William Forsythe. He’s greasy, fat, and absolutely psychotic. He’s one of the best bad guys I’ve ever seen portrayed, because the whole film I want to see the guy get the absolute shit beat out of him. Anyways, he tells his lackeys that if they stay with him through out the night, they get his secret stash of money, which looks to be about half a million. His first act for the evening is to shoot Gino’s best friend & cop partner, Bobby Lupo, in broad day light, in public, in front of his wife & kids. Then almost right after, he shoots a lady in her car because she called him an asshole. Once word gets out about Bobby, not only is Gino after him, but so is the mob that Richie was tied to, because this was a big no-no.
Gino goes all around town looking for Richie, hitting up mob bosses, old girlfriends, Richie’s parents, and eventually where Richie’s guys slang. He finally hits a jackpot as he sees Richie’s car, and gives chase. It ends up with Gino kicking the shit out of some dudes in rockin’ fashion, and Richie getting away. Later in the evening, Gino goes to visit Richie’s brother, who runs a bar downtown. This scene here is one of Seagal’s best, as he goes through the bar, beating the hell out of people with a cue-ball, pool cues, and of course his fists. No one’s giving up Richie, so that just means he has more ass to kick.
Mean while, Richie is hitting up hookers, smoking a ton of coke, and killing people. Gino finds out that his old partner was in fact dirty, and begins to wonder if that’s why he was killed. He then finds some photos of Richie’s girlfriend having pre-marital sex with Bobby, and assumes that even though Richie is very level & understanding, this may have pissed him off. Gino heads to Bobby’s house to speak to his widow, and after some grilling she says she knew that Bobby was dirty, and when she found the pics of him & Richie’s girl, Roxanne, she gave’em to him, never thinking that he’d kill Bobby over it. Meanwhile, Richie is getting sick of Gino, and decides to hit him at home. He sends a goon squad to his home, but like any real man, Gino senses it’s too quiet and gets the family into the bathtub before he starts popping slugs into the onslaught of baddies. I’m sure the fact that Gino’s family was home made him that much angrier, but Richie should count his lucky stars that Gino wasn’t about to beat-off or something. Because I’ll tell you, nothing is gonna bring the wrath of a thousand sons like a dude who has to put off jacking-off. Man, I’d kill the guy’s whole family if that shit happened.
Finally, Gino finds out where Richie is hiding, and doesn’t even bother with any backup bullshit. He walks in with a 12 gauge, and a full clip of nerd-busting. He immediately takes a bullet to the side just to even things up for these pussies, and then responds with a load of buckshot all around the kitchen. One guy gets the part of his leg below his knee blown the fuck right off, and like a bitch, screams the whole time. It finally comes down to the showdown we’ve been waiting for, as Richie tries time and time again to get one-up on Gino, only to get the ever loving hell kicked out of him. It’s extremely satisfying.
Man Movie Encyclopedia Tally:
1-Liners: None
Guys Beat Up: 21
Guys Killed: 18
Swear Words: 165
Boobs: 2
Explosions: None
Slow-Motion Scenes: 8
Car Chases: 1
Chases on Foot: None
Broken Bones: 1
Fight at a Motel? No
Guy Get Girl? Reconciliation with his wife, I’ll give it a partial yes
Guy Smoke Cigarettes? No
Man-Facts:
Seagal actually broke William Forsythe’s nose during their big showdown. I can only assume he handled it like a man.
Box-Office Business:
Created for $14 million, and distributed by Warners, it was released April 12th, 1991, opening at #1 with a weekend total of $10,673,161.
It brought in $59 million, making it another huge success for Seagal.
C’mon Bennet, Let’s Party:
This film is simple, and down right awesome. It’s got some nice, brutal violence that’s reminiscent of a Paul Verhoven film [Robocop, Total Recall]. We get a lot of scenes that involve Seagal rocking some awesome akido, and blowing people all to hell with a shotgun. Like I stated earlier, William Forsythe really brings it as the villain. With some films, the bad guy is really cool, and has some likeable ways about him. Richie, is not one of those bad guys. You’re just dying to see him get the hell beat out of him, and that craving is satisfied in a big way. Great film.
4 ½ Head-Butts out of 5
