With the success of Steven Seagal in the late 1980s. Thomas Ian Griffith was touted as the next action star. He had been in Karate Kid 3, knew his martial arts and had fair amount of acting experience.
To stroke his ego, Excessive Force was written by him as well. He plays McCain a maverick Chicago cop obsessed with taking down mobster Sal DiMarco (Burt Young) but he always outwits the cops with smart lawyers and the police using excessive force when taking him down.
However DiMarco's guys lose a case with three million dollars in an incident with the police and DiMarco thinks McCain and his team stole it and he sends his goons.
McCain and his girlfriend go on the run as bodies start to pile up including his partner and best friend. Police Chief Devlin (Lance Henriksen) never happy with McCain's methods has given him the wink to go after the baddies. However when DiMarco ends up dead he becomes the prime suspect and finds out a more complex web of police corruption.
The plus side is Griffith is a decent enough actor. Not only is his character a hot headed cop with martial arts skills, he can also play jazz piano. The film also has some good support actors with James Earl Jones, Young and Henriksen.
There is also some intense violent scenes at the beginning of the film and at least a little bit of plotting even if it is rather clichéd. I just thought it lacked something special and one of which was some good, exciting martial arts action. I thought the fight choreography was weak and it seems Griffith lacked a unique selling point in what was already a crowded martial arts action market.
To stroke his ego, Excessive Force was written by him as well. He plays McCain a maverick Chicago cop obsessed with taking down mobster Sal DiMarco (Burt Young) but he always outwits the cops with smart lawyers and the police using excessive force when taking him down.
However DiMarco's guys lose a case with three million dollars in an incident with the police and DiMarco thinks McCain and his team stole it and he sends his goons.
McCain and his girlfriend go on the run as bodies start to pile up including his partner and best friend. Police Chief Devlin (Lance Henriksen) never happy with McCain's methods has given him the wink to go after the baddies. However when DiMarco ends up dead he becomes the prime suspect and finds out a more complex web of police corruption.
The plus side is Griffith is a decent enough actor. Not only is his character a hot headed cop with martial arts skills, he can also play jazz piano. The film also has some good support actors with James Earl Jones, Young and Henriksen.
There is also some intense violent scenes at the beginning of the film and at least a little bit of plotting even if it is rather clichéd. I just thought it lacked something special and one of which was some good, exciting martial arts action. I thought the fight choreography was weak and it seems Griffith lacked a unique selling point in what was already a crowded martial arts action market.