Exit Wounds

Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, Exit Wounds follows loose-cannon police officer Orin Boyd (Steven Seagal) as he uncovers a web of corruption and dirty cops – with the narrative also detailing the exploits of a wealthy drug dealer named Latrell Walker (DMX). It’s familiar territory that is, at the outset, employed to mindless yet entertaining effect by Bartkowiak, as the filmmaker, armed with Ed Horowitz and Richard D’Ovidio’s script, kicks the proceedings off with a promisingly (and appreciatively) over-the-top action sequence that seems to set the stage for a briskly-paced thriller – with the compelling atmosphere heightened by Seagal’s expectedly no-nonsense work as the violent central character. (And it doesn’t hurt, either, that the movie boasts an impressively eclectic supporting cast that includes Bill Duke, Bruce McGill, Isaiah Washington, and Tom Arnold.) There’s little doubt, then, that Exit Wounds‘ impact is dulled significantly by a meandering midsection that’s rife with questionable elements, including an ongoing emphasis on needlessly broad instances of comedy, although Bartkowiak, at the very least, punctuates the proceedings with a handful of exciting interludes that alleviate the increasingly tedious vibe – which, when coupled with an agreeably larger-than-life climactic stretch, cements the picture’s place as a just-good-enough Seagal vehicle that could’ve been much, much worse.

**1/2 out of ****