Kill Switch

Plot synopsis:
A Memphis police detective, Jacob King (Steven Seagal), deals with the traumatic childhood memory of his brother's murder by devoting his life to hunting down serial killers. The story opens with King capturing and throwing from a fifth story window Billy Joel Hill (Mark Collie), a madman who had used timed explosive devices implanted in his victim's bodies. King and his partner Detective Storm Anderson (Chris Thomas King) then begin investigating another local serial killer, Lazereus (Michael Filipowich), known by the press as "The Grifter," a pervert with delusions of grandeur who murders prostitutes and leaves cryptographic clues involving zodiac signs on and in their bodies. During the investigation King and Storm get help from a sympathetic coroner (Isaac Hayes) and fend off interference from a by-the-book FBI agent, Frankie Miller (Holly Elissa Dignard). Miller is alarmed by King's ultra-violent police tactics and suspects the detective may be mentally unbalanced and more involved in the murders than anyone knows. King solves the Lazereus murders by researching cryptography and brutally beating information out of Memphis' lowest lowlifes, but has trouble actually nailing the elusive Lazereus. During a struggle, Lazereus scratches King and then places what he scratches off under the fingernail of his latest victim, in an effort to frame King for the murders. In the meantime, Billy Joel Hill is released on bail and continues his rampage, eventually kidnaping and murdering King's police officer girlfriend, Celine (Karyn Michelle Baltzer) throwing further suspicion on King. King finds and kills Hill in a brutal confrontation and is cleared of the murder suspicions by the written confession of the captured Lazereus. When Storm and Miller find HIll, they also find that King has disappeared, leaving a note for Storm thanking him for his friendship and telling him that he will not be seeing King again. The final scene shows King arriving at a house that looks exactly like the one we were shown in his childhood flashbacks. There King is greeted by people who appear to be his wife and children, all of whom speak to him in Russian. They greet him enthusiastically as though he was returning from a long trip. The woman who seems to be King's wife leads him to the bedroom and seductively strips for him. King smiles and looks happy to be home.

Tags: revenge, neo noir, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
I will say this, I am very upset he would make such a poor film after making 2 very good films: Pistol Whipped, and Urban Justice.HOWEVER with that aside even knowing there was the classic stunt double in most of the scenes there was still quite a bit of action and yes the editing and showing every punch a billion times got annoying, but for some reason I was able to sit through it and laugh and a lot of the scenes and actually found the stunt double to be very good at what he did....
And surprisingly the scenes where Seagal actually did fight (the end) he looked pretty good himself....Maybe some need to watch it again knowing what to expect this time haha....
If your looking for a classic Seagal movie like Our for Justice, or Hard to Kill this is not the one for you...
I've come to expect over-complex plot points in recent Seagal movies, but in KILL SWITCH it's not overly complex....it just doesn't make any sense.
The flashback to Seagal as a child (witnessing his brothers murder) serve little purpose to the storyline, but i guess they help pad out a few minutes of screen time.
In KILL SWITCH however, it once again feels like padding (and given that it runs throughout the movie, it feels like it's makers have only got 45 minutes of actual footage, and therefore NEED to show everything twice, thrice and even ten times) Seagal is chasing a suspect at one point, and he comes to a doorway.
Apparently, the makers of KILL SWITCH attempted to beef up (what would usually be a four second fight scene) with extra stuff involving stunt doubles.
It(in turn) makes Seagal look weak, as he'd usually demolish his opponents in 5 seconds (such is why we like the guy) but here, the 'padding'implies that Seagal can punch a guy 30 times (in the face) and STILL not put him down.
He rarely mumbles, and seems genuinely interested with the project (unlike say...FLIGHT OF FURY?)KILL SWITCH is a step back for Seagal (just as he was regaining some well needed credibility) after URBAN JUSTICE and PISTOL WHIPPED.
But as long as they don't start interfering and chopping up their filmed product, it won't need to be great to be better than this movie.
My theory on KILL SWITCH is that they've only had limited screen time with Seagal, and (hopefuly?) HAD to cut and paste this movie, to pad it out.
If they think that repeatedly showing a guy fall out of a window 12 times, or making pointless scenes last four times longer than needed to be....is cutting edge film-making then (to quote Seagal) "Lord have mercy")Big Lee gives this movie a 5 (only for Seagal's screen presence, and a OK final fight scene).
You'll see a fight scene about to start the real Segal, the camera then cuts to the back of the Segal double, his hair looks nothing like the real Segal!!!
When I started to watch this movie and saw that Seagal wrote it I got the feeling that this wasn't going to be a good movie.
The way this movie i cut in its action scenes is very annoying, every punch is seen 2-4 times and every so often you get a close-up at Seagal looking grim.
The gun fights are just as bad and you start to wonder how Seagals character ever made it into the police force, because he can't hit anything at all.
Steven Seagal's previous film, "Pistol Whipped", was a pretty solid little low-budget action thriller, and it looked as if Seagal was finally starting to learn from his mistakes and improve upon them.
Seagal adopts a ridiculous (I think it was meant to be Southern - "Y'all", "Lord Have Mercy", "Sho Nuff", etc.) accent, has a love interest at least 20 years younger than him, whom he completely ignores, because that's what all supercool detectives like him do, and is joined in his latest investigation by a rookie female FBI agent, whom he's a complete jerk to, because, again, that's what all supercool detectives like him do.
Consider an early scene where Billy Joe, one of Seagal's enemies, is kicked out of a window and the shot is repeated five times over.
The violence is extremely phony and the body double reveals, the abundance of cheap sound effects, and a misinterpreted use of the JUMP CUT technique only add to the delicious frenzy.Seagal with his trademark uninvolved voice (though the southern accent he adopts is hilarious) and his catchphrase "Lord Have Mercy" is on par with the screenplay's lack of emotional resonance, basic coherence and the senseless urge to kick the living __it out of generic antagonists.That urge is what makes Kill Switch his greatest film to date, that viewers affectionate of irony must absolutely see and see to believe.
It wouldn't be a post-millennium Seagal flick if the stunt doubles didn't do the fighting and the music didn't do the acting but in Kill Switch this phenomenon seems almost celebrated..
I have to give Steven Seagal the credit he deserves, he is an excellent Aikido master, and I am always keen to watch his films, not least because I also train in Aikido, His early films were a breath of fresh air, however of late the films he has made have had bad story line and limited action.
Seagal need to go back to his roots, and portray characters that are closer to his own personality.Kill Switch was a let down, poor editing and the use( or rather over use) of a fight double, inter cut with library footage of Seagal giving a mean face.....
Aikido action film with a good story line ( please don't continue with the eastern European locations doubling as US/UK locations.I hope the next film has more substance and Seagl at his fighting best ( think Under Siege/Nico etc.).
Steven Seagal, looking more like Wayne Newton each day, plays super detective Detective Jacob Stillwell who is desperately trying to track down an evil serial killer.
In this latest direct to video outing for Seagal we are treated with horribly choreographed fight scenes (with 90% of the action shot with the back of Seagal to the camera so as to hopefully fool us into thinking the hundred pound lighter stunt man is actually Seagal), and gun fights that are beyond belief as Seagal is apparently carrying a .45 automatic with a 150 bullet clip, but funnily enough he still can't manage to hit the bad guy.
If you want a accurate account of the flaws of this movie just read lee nicholson (dolemite72) review it really sums it all up It's a pity really as the film with better editing could have been quite decent the fights scenes in this movie are rubbish choppy and use a really unconvincing stunt double apart from the last fight which is all seagal and boy does the difference in quality prove it the earlier scenes seemed to have been put together by a five year old with a inserted image of a mean seagal intertwined with poor fighting from a stunt double just watching the last fight scene with seagal doing most of the fighting shows what could have been if he did the earlier stuff as for the character seagal plays they seem to over exaggerate the violence him been a cop and all the arrest of the serial killer is a prime example of this as he virtually breaks all his ribs with 2 cops watching then taking him away with no complaint of police brutality I know seagal is a maverick cop but that was just plain verging of stupidity if seagal had did more of the fighting apart from just the last one this would have been a half decent movie but he didn't and this isn't.
I know this review seems harsh, but if you watch the film, I think you will agree that Steven Seagal should retire.
does that make it a bad film??in my view seagal is slowly coming back to form, with pistol whipped and urban justice setting good markers..
The acting in this is actually really good and all of the actors do a killer performance but Steven Seagal's accent in this movie is pathetic I can't even tell what accent it is suppose to be.
So I am going to end off by saying it is not bad, not good, but simply OK and it is a take it or leave it movie.Overall Rating: ***** out of ************1/2 out of *****.
I had a very hard time following the story and the fight scenes were far less entertaining than I am used to from a Segal flick.I think my daughter could hit harder than Steve does in this movie.
Segal of old would have hit this clown once in the nose turned it to powder and then snapped one of the guys appendages just for a finishing touch.The best part of the movie for me was seeing "Southern Death Threat" playing in the bar.
Pretty much everything you can do wrong with fight scenes is captured within this movie: nonsensical jump cuts, wobbly choreographies (if any), painfully obvious stunt doubles, horrendous framing, just name anything and they've screwed it up.
There was no going back now, like one of Seagal's on screen sparring partners I was to be exposed to every sweaty punch and chop the big (big) man chose to throw in my direction.I can get back the precious 8% of available recording time KillSwitch occupied on my Sky box, and the 90 minutes I lost watching the film are, in the grand scheme of things, only a minimal fraction of my intended lifespan, but my faith in the movie-making business may never be the same after watching this unholy mess.The story is rubbish – that was to be expected after we learned who the screenwriter was – but the direction and editing in this film are surely something to be amazed by.
Another fight seems to go on forever, with all participants seeming to possess super-heroic stamina levels, and you end up watching in stupefaction, not quite able to believe that a movie fight scene is actually boring you.Seagal plays a Southern cop with issues.
In fact the incident just seems to have been added to fill out the running time, give the director (whoever he is – I really can't be bothered to check) a chance to show off all the flashy tricks he learned while balancing on top of a dustbin to peer through the window of the local film studies classroom, and to give Seagal the opportunity to come over all broody every now and then.Seagal was never sylph-like but, judging by the way we are treated to a lot of head-and-shoulder shots but hardly any full-lengths shots of him, his girth has expanded considerably since the 90s.
Steven Seagal used to be entertaining but in some of his recent direct to DVD movies he has been worse then awful.
OK, it has a story, he plays a pretty intuitive detective, but, the fight sequences typical to any Steven Seagal movie, which have always been his strong suit are to say the least in this movie, PATHETIC.
In this movie, and I think it's mostly poor filming and editing, he seems to hit the opponent like 100 times before they finally fall.
With plenty of action and fighting sequences of arresting brutality, Kill Switch keeps the viewer engaged but there is also plenty of distraction from it along the way.
You know what you want to get out of a Seagal film - just a Death Wish-like experience.
I was a devout Steven Seagal fan for years but his recent movies are major disappointments.To begin with, Seagal is looking increasingly like he's missed too many visits to the salad bar.
The fight scenes look very suspect and the supposedly clever camera angles fail miserably in convincing the audience that the much leaner and agile stunt man is in fact Seagal.
Instead, what I get is an over-sized action hero who looks out of breath even when he's talking on the phone - never mind fighting using a stunt man.His low-budget, straight to DVD films receive poor reviews and yet he continues to have a loyal following.
Its time he demonstrated his appreciation to his fans by shedding the pounds and giving them what they really want to see; Steven Seagal using his graceful Aikido moves to kick butt..
I remember Nico, Hard to Kill and Marked for Death, all of which were top of the notch Seagal-stuff but even so neither of his titles are quality products worth Oscars or emmies and there's not much to say about the plot because anyone can join at any given time of the film and still be able to figure out who the bad guy is and what's going on.
In his movies Seagal is either married or divorced and sometimes (most times) he even has children, all of which are exposed to danger from the second they're introduced until they either die or the bad guy dies.Kill Switch is no different from the description above and for 96 minutes you'll be exposed to heavy duty-assaults and forensic investigations, lots of fighting, lots of shooting and indeed lots of bodies but NO BLOOD!!!
The entire movie is like a deja-vu experience because every time Seagal throws the bad guy into a wall (or something similar, and it happens a lot) they show that scene repeatedly for 3 or 4 times.
8)Steven Seagals' movies shouldn't contains love-scenes with him in it, it looks stupid and not credible.
Kill Switch is probably the worst Seagal movie I've seen or he has made.
Kill Switch is not how I want to remember Steven Seagal..
They guy was a total freak and murdered innocent people and here Seagal is making another movie about it.
KILL SWITCH deserves one minor commendation for attempting to do something that many Steven Seagal films don't: feature a semi-original storyline.
At least there's none of that stupid inappropriate music from the last Seagal film I watched (DRIVEN TO KILL), but there are massive problems stemming from the ridiculous doubling in the fight sequences (and the voice double's back, to boot).
Seagal plays this cop that sees things that other don't, behaves like a professional even over focused on his job (and with a mumbled accent) - and on the other side he is the worst in action sequences ever seen (and he has an obvious unlimited supply of handgun clips).He not only hunts down one serial killer, but suddenly there is a side plot with a second one, which sometimes becomes the first one.
I also wonder where this city/place is where this movie is located: it looks and feels like a grim place without hope and every second guy is a sick madman; with a police force thats is clearly clueless and useless.Seagal gives his usual wooden performance and the others just drag by.
The plot (written by Steven Seagal himself) is hectic, with strange turns and flashbacks; fights and chases are too long and lopsided, acting leaves a lot to be desired (with the exception perhaps Isaac Hayes as coroner).
Well after 3 winners in a row i think this one is headed in the other direction,, i mean its not as bad as a lot of those other stinkers he did,, just i dunno, i'm trying to put my finger on it,, i guess guy flying through the window like 500 times in the same shot gets old,, there are some good fight scenes,, and a decent story line,, i think the ending was given away,, too early..
His accent in this one,, horrible, absolutely,, good shots of Memphis at night though,, i think with a different director this could have been so much better, but unfortunately it wasn't that too bad, because like i said it looked like Seagal had at least 3 good winners back to back to back till this one,,.
One of worst Steven Seagal movies.....
I have to admit that after Under Siege and Under Siege 2 I rarely watched Steven Seagal movies so I was not really ready for such a bad one.Everyone watched Under Siege knows what's the best area Steven Siege is good at.
Action scenes are the most important parts of a Steven Seagal movie but in this one (Kill Swtich), most action scenes were edited by a flashed execution.
We counted 26 re-uses of the same shot in one of the fights at the end which forced us to pause the film for fear of death by laughter.Im still having trouble working out who segal plays in this movie and the many flashbacks have no relevance on the film at all and are never explained, which just makes them better!
Seagal plays a hardboiled cop who really goes out of line a couple of times by beating and torturing the bad guys in some extreme ways.
Low Budget Glimmer Man. Most people are going to laugh, but I enjoyed this latest Seagal film "Kill Switch".
Maybe they wanted to waste no time, but on the otherside they had problems to fill 90 minutes: There is no really straight story: the took to stories in on, with a lot of flashback and at the end Segal is leaving to go to his family: this scene could be from another movie, your never heard about his family, maybe he is in heaven - I don't know, but the good thing is that, his blond wife is stripping at the end and he is smiling..
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).
I saw that Steven Seagal made a new movie, Kill Switch.