Lethal Force (2001)

Your standard smooth criminal Jack finds that his wife and son have been abducted by the Dr. Strangelove-esque Mal Locke. After killing Jack's wife to show his sincerety, Locke orders Jack to aid his goons in setting up Jack's partner, the uber-competent badass Savitch. Unfortunately, as things start to go awry for Jack and as a couple of other agendas come into play, the blood starts a-flowin'...

Unfortunately, I had left this film on the shelf after it was sent to me by writer/director Alvin Ecarma. I meant to get to it soon, but other films came first on my list and then life came barging in with a sledgehammer (as it often does). Finally, though, I got a chance to sit down with a couple of friends to this film, and, honestly, it was the best time any of us had sober for a long time.

This film is a homage/spoof of the action genre (but mostly homage). It is somewhat to action films what Scream was supposed to be to slasher flicks, except Ecarma does a more admirable job of putting straight action/suspence, comedy, and genre referncing together into an enjoyable package than Scream ever did. Despite the low budget, Ecarma does put together some damn fine action scenes. There's a few scenes made memorable just by their sheer outlandishness, but the ones that come right off my mind are where Savitch takes out a would-be assailant in another room by shooting through a wall, and where he manages to load a gun by kicking the clip up into the gun from the ground. As far as comedy goes, there's a few surreal, slapstick moments (such as the scene where the helpless son of Jack tries to shoot his father's would-be murderer but only succeeds in shooting down a Canadian goose) and some heaps of black comedy, which, for the most part, works out well and doesn't distract from the genuine action and suspense the film offers. Finally, for your ref fans, there's plenty of them here; everything from blaxploitation flicks to Fallen Angels-esque Hong Kong action films to The Matrix. Still, for me, the best part of the film was the relentless soundtrack by Jim Williamson. It goes along perfectly with the film, and in fact helps keep the viewer interested and excited, but it's quite great in itself too. I only have one complaint, all in all: why did Rita have to die before she got a chance to kick enough ass?


Choice Quotes:

"You should have died when he killed you."
-Jack to Locke

Choice Scenes:

-Any scene with the fez-wearing lesbian
-The conversation between Savitch and Jesus Christ (seriously)
--Killer strippers