Directed by: Jeff King
Starring: Steven Seagal, Chris Thomas King, Michael Filipowich, Mark Collie, Nicolas Harrison, Dian Hristov, and Isaac Hayes
Set in Memphis, Tennessee, Kill Switch is the story of one Jacob (Seagal) a cop who will use any means necessary to get the information he wants. Plaguing the city is a serial killer named Lazarus (Filipowich), who leaves clues which must be deciphered at the scenes of his crimes, which means Jacob must go to the library to try and figure them out. Meanwhile, another scumbag, Billy Joe Hill (Collie) is causing mayhem on the streets as well. Jacob is also busy fighting the traumatic memories in his head, but he has his partner, Storm (King) and his pal The Coroner (Hayes) to help him out. With the pressure mounting and the body count rising (mainly because of Jacob) who will finally flip the KILL SWITCH?
Another year, another Nu-Image Seagal. Frankly, we feel that Kill Switch is one of the worst latter-day Seagals. It’s filled with stupid quick cuts and herky-jerky camera moves that are likely to give you whiplash. The “fight scenes”, such as they are, are repetitive, overlong and poorly executed (but to be fair, they can be unintentionally funny, more on that later), and the plot is nothing you wouldn’t see on any TV procedural. Seeing as Seagal’s name is Jacob in the movie, perhaps the closest parallel is Jake and the Fat Man. But in a wild twist, Jake IS the fat man. What a mind-blower.
It’s important to remember that this movie came out around the time that Seagal’s reality show Lawman was hitting the airwaves. So we get more police work from a guy with an absurd “Southern” accent.
And seeing as Seagal managed to write the script, other characters call him “a genius” among other compliments, although evidence of genius, or even mild intelligence, are not really on display. Seagal could have written anything for himself, but he chose to make Jacob a horrible torturer, just like the character he plays in Driven To Kill (2009). There’s no possible way an audience can like this character as he’s brutally, mercilessly, amorally, unnecessarily torturing his victims. Adding a miscast Isaac Hayes as The Coroner (Seagal didn’t even bother to give him a proper name) and a partner that looks like a bloated Philip Michael Thomas (interestingly enough, he’s played by another 3-named guy with the name “Thomas” somewhere in there - maybe Seagal thought it WAS PMT and got confused) don’t help matters.
And as for the fight scenes, oh dear...what appears to be happening is Seagal just stands there, while stunt doubles Nicholas Harrison and Dian Hristov (we feel their names should be known to the world, as they are the ones doing all the work) don oversized leather jackets and ridiculous wigs and pretend to be Jacob. The way this is all edited together is laughable. It’s so blindingly obvious it’s not Seagal, a child could see it. Who do they think they’re fooling? And the real crime is that the scenes, especially the first major one in the bar, go on for a ridiculously long time, leaving the viewer ample opportunity to see Harrison and Hristov. If the fight scene had just been “quick and dirty”, as they say, not to mention edited properly, there’s a strong chance we wouldn’t notice the stunt doubles. But no, it’s almost like Seagal wanted us to see them.
If you always wanted to see Zodiac (2007) but with ridiculous hair, here’s your movie. It would be interesting for Seagal to try and play a character that is even a little bit likable. But no, it’s just editing a guy jumping out a window 17 times and tacking on a completely nonsensical ending. Do not engage this Kill Switch.
Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty
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