This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Motor City Mayhem
Plot Overview
When a Michigan militant
group orchestrates a hit on a VP motorcade, Detroit city cop Orin
Boyd (Steven Seagal) forcefully intervenes saving the
VP's life by throwing
him (“Sorry sir”) off the (“I gotta do
this”) Bell Isle Bridge (“I can't swim.”) For
Boyd's trouble the Vice President (Chris Lawford) didn't like
getting wet. The Secret Service resented the intrusion
(“We've got it under control”) into their territory.
The city police were already tired of his (“I saw a
problem”) maverick ways (“I fixed it just like
that.”) And there are three civilian complaints out on him
for using excessive force. His friend commander Frank Daniels
(Bruce McGill) reassigns him to the fifteenth precinct, the
bastion of black gangs. There he finds he's a veritable
“sh!t magnet,” not only from the bad
guys, but “a hazing thing, everybody goes through
it.” The plot plays out like “Jaws” as described
by author Sam Wasson:
An executive no longer needed a great, or even good, script; he no longer needed an actual story (was Jaws really about anything?), only the requisite thrills—set pieces in executive-speak—and the advance approval of the marketing department to assure the bosses he was choosing wisely. The tail would wag the dog. (282)The ensuing plot, such as it is, is but a foil for the wall-to-wall action showcasing Seagal in top form.
Ideology
An anticipated romance between two leads is given the kibosh by the lead-up. Think along the lines of, (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.” The writer of this Good Book's saying cannot track an eagle drifting on the air, a slithering serpent on a rock, or a ship tossed on the sea, much less “the way of a man with a maid.”
Here instead of an eagle up in the
sky we see a helicopter sporting a message Have a Nice Day
breaking up under fire from the VP's ad hoc protector.
“The way of a serpent upon a rock” corresponds to the
serpentine route of the motorcade ending up exposed on the
bridge.
“The way of a ship in the midst
of the sea” corresponds to the patrol boat under the bridge
picking up the “VP
all washed up.”
Lastly, there's “the way of a
man with a maid.” We see the 15th precinct's luscious captain
Annette Mulcahy (Jill Hennessy) on a dinner date in a fancy
restaurant with a smarmy guy. He makes a toast, “This is to
us finally getting together for dinner.” He requests there be
no shop talk, “No police talk, No mentioning the latest
homicide or gang shooting to come through the precinct tonight.
Just happy thoughts.” She agrees. Then Orin shows up to bend
her ear about tracking down this new means the gang has to
distribute heroin avoiding detection (“It's amazing what you
can do with the right chemicals these days.”)
We're just not being prepared for
romance. Orin asks his partner (Isaiah Washington), “You
married, George?” “Five years next month,” he
says. “Beautiful woman. She stuck by me through a lot of
sh!t. What about you?” Orin replies,
“Same old cliché. I guess she got tired of all those
sleepless nights.” Orin will later remark, “Women. You
can't trust 'em.” And finally, “I always said women are
bad drivers.” If I'm not reading too much into it, Orin's old
lady felt neglected, went out for some extracurricular
activity, and got busted when she wrecked the car.
Now in the present day, Orin is forced to attend some Rageaholics Anonymous meetings. We arrive just as volunteer Roy is giving his testimonial, that it was her fault for having bought the poodle after he'd told her not to, that he could never have thrown a german shepherd out the window. There is evidently a lot of drama associated with marriage. Linda (Jennifer Irwin) the anger management therapist has Roy sit down, and then she asks Orin to stand and, “tell us a bit about yourself.” Orin replies, “I don't have rage. I'm a happy guy. You see this face? This is a happy face. You'll be lucky to be as happy as I am.” He's happy because he's not married.
The apostle Paul is
sympathetic to a man remaining free and single. (1Cor. 7:32-33) “But I would have
you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things
that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is
married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may
please his wife.” He wants men to avoid such drama as
marriage brings. (1Cor. 7:29-31)
“But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth,
that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they
that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as
though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they
possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for
the fashion of this world passeth away.”
Topless
nightclub—Static—owner T.K. Johnson
(Anthony Anderson) co-hosts TV show “Detroit A.M.” with
talking head Henry Wayne (Tom Arnold.) They discuss big women. T.K.
says, “I love big women. Oh, if you want to feel the heat you
got to have the meat.” Paul says, (1Cor. 7:34) “There is difference
also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for
the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in
spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world,
how she may please her husband.” The married woman keeps her
husband warm and contented. Then there are the widows of whom Paul
says, (1Cor. 7:39) “if her
husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will;
only in the Lord.” She's already tasted sexual pleasure, but
she needs to hold off until married again. At a high end car
dealership, T.K seeing a dowager bent over a car encourages
her, “Miss Johnson got a fat ass!” If, say, she wanted
to get a new husband as well as a new car, to obey Paul she'd have
to marry “in the Lord,” being “holy both in body
and in spirit.”
Production Values
“” (2001) was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. The script was written by Ed Horowitz and Richard D'Ovidio, based on the novel by John Westermann. It stars Steven Seagal, DMX and Isaiah Washington. Jill Hennessy was some needed eye candy playing a transfer from IA now heading a “piece of sh!t precinct.” (Her character's driving was in fact impressive.) Support cast included Anthony Anderson, Michael Jai White, Bill Duke, Tom Arnold, Bruce McGill, David Vadim and Eva Mendes. They were good enough in a film featuring action more than acting.
MPA rated it R for strong violence, language and some sexuality/nudity. The de rigueur loud music is distracting, but some won't mind. The action sequences, however, are breathtaking, and redeem the thin story.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The portion of the VP's speech we heard had to do
with “illegal handguns ending up in the hands of our
children.” The statistics he gave were “that last year,
more preschoolers died from guns than police officers, that
gunshot wounds are the second leading cause of death for all
people in the U.S. ages
ten to thirty-four.” Although policing carries its risks, the
criminals mostly know enough not to shoot a cop, so in 2000 that
was not a high bar to top. The children example the VP gives is sixteen-year-old
Darren, but more representative of that latter demographic would be
18- and 19-year-old gangbangers. A comprehensive position
is not developed, only that guardian Orin didn't vote for him. Orin
later will lead a child to safety away from armed henchmen.
This was an action shoot-'em-up par excellence that didn't bother with nonessentials like story, tame humor, background story, camaraderie, or developing romance. For what it was, it did a good job.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Wasson, Sam. The Big Goodbye. Copyright © 2020 by Sam Wasson. New York: Flatiron Books, First edition 2020. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org