Excessive Force DVD: Review By stevegibbs

A drug bust goes sour, and when $3 million in cash disappears in the middle of the chaos, the mob boss goes all-out to get his hard-earned money back. Susp*cious that it was seized by the three cops involved in the raid, boss DiMarco sends his goons out for some payback.

One of the cops is soon dead and his partner - a complete renegade who goes by the name of Terry McCain (Thomas Ian Griffith) - finds himself in the midst of a set up. On the run from angry mobsters and the police, McCain must find out who framed him, solve the mystery of the missing cash and kill as many bad guys as possible before the cops or the mob catch up with him.

You may never have heard of this movie, which is the reason the only extra feature offered is a theatrical trailer. That's it.

The movie is offered in both fullscreen and 1.85:1 widescreen formats, depending on how close you want to be to the action when the bullets, feet and fists start flying. This is a fairly clean transfer with good contrast and shadow density; a fairly impressive look for a small budget.

Presented in 5.1 surround sound or stereo surround. The 5.1 track adds a great deal to the movie, with a mix that puts you in the midst of the action. Once the bad guys start in with their Uzis and McCain begins flailing his kung fu extremities, you quickly find yourself caught in the crossfire. I wish I could say the same for the stereo track, but I found it a little underwhelming by comparison.

I must confess I had never heard of writer/producer/star Thomas Ian Griffith until this DVD arrived on the doorstep. After having endured my share of C-grade so-called 'action' flicks, I sat down to watch Excessive Force with more than a little skepticism. And although the movie's title is never likely to be used in the same sentence with the words "classic" or "must see", it wasn't as bad as I'd feared.

Griffith isn't the greatest of screenwriters. His script is terribly cliched, filled with one-dimensional stock characters: rugged loner cop; Italian gangsters straight from Mobs-R-Us; damsel in distress and so on. The story's saving grace is a nice little twist towards the end, which was doubly surprising since everything else had been so formulaic up to that point.

One thing that elevates this movie above others of its kind is the casting of Lance Henriksen as Griffith's police captain. His craggy features and gritty acting style fit the part perfectly. James Earl Jones carries his small 'buddy' role well, but doesn't really get too much opportunity to shine. As for the action: it's solid, but hardly memorable. The gunplay is intense, although I felt Griffith's martial arts skills fall rather short. After becoming accustomed to the amazing speed and fluidity of the Hong Kong masters, Griffith seems rather slow and lumbering. The moves are obviously choreographed and slightly unnatural, but he tries to make up for it with energy and force.

Overall, the DVD is just okay. Without any real extras to speak of, the disk comes up lacking. However, the movie is passable if you're hanging out with the guys and a large pizza late on a Friday night. You may accuse this movie of many shortcomings, but you certainly can't accuse it of false advertising. Excessive Force is exactly what you get!