Force of Execution is an off balance crime thriller starring funny runner Steven Seagal, Ving Rhames, my homie Danny Trejo and action newbie Bren Foster.
It’s off balance because, although clearly intended as a vehicle for the unknown but amazing spin kicker Bren Foster, it has been converted into a Seagal movie. Which makes little sense and results in a film that is little fun.
Seagal plays Thomas Douglas, a crime kingpin with an apparently shady military past (a fact I only learned after watching the ‘Making-of’). He’s an uninteresting character and apart from two brief fights, which are little more than some flurries of his hands, all he does is pull focus from our injured, alcoholic hit man protagonist, Roman (Foster).
Seagal orders contract killer Roman to whack a guy in prison for hoodlum Iceman (Rhames). For some reason, Iceman tells Roman to off the wrong guy then lies to Douglas about it – implying that Roman screwed up. Then, for some reason, Douglas orders Roman to have his hands smashed to a pulp and kicked out. Six months later, for some reason, Douglas then checks on Roman and is disappointed to find he is now a bum. A bum who has decided to buy himself an iPhone, even though he doesn’t have the use of his hands. He is also now so understandably frustrated that he toys with shooting himself. Again, a strange choice for someone who is metacarpally challenged.
If that all makes little sense: good. Not just me then. Thankfully, Danny Trejo shows up and is luckily a Mexican witch doctor who uses scorpion stings to magically fix Roman’s hands so he can fight again. Danny Trejo is, as usual in straight-to-video fare, the best thing in Force of Execution. He also survives for far longer than he usually does when he is billed as “and Danny Trejo”.
Extras
There’s a trailer and a ‘Making-of’ featurette which is offensively soundtracked with dub-step music. It does at least explain the story, though. And you get to see Ving Rhames disappear up his own arse while discussing playing a character with twelve lines. Four of which are: “That’s our neighbourhood, you feel me?” My boy Trejo again saves the day by talking about wrangling scorpions with chopsticks.
