After two watchable projects ( Pistol Whipped and Urban Justice ), Steven Seagal has sunk back to the wallow of "Bleh!" with Kill Switch. Like so many of his direct-to-video films, this had plenty of ingredients to make a really great movie that could have been right down Seagal's alley as "tough guy cop". Unfortunately, like so many of his later movies, it was absolutely demolished with completely useless back stories, loose ends, the always-atrocious attempt on Seagal's part to play something he isn't (this time it was a detective for the Memphis, Tennessee police force…complete with an "accent/voice" that was a mixture of annoying, ridiculous, laughable, and not-even-close. There were no (as far as I could tell) annoying voice-overs doing Seagal's lines for him, but in this case, maybe he should have used someone who could at least pass to have a deep Southern drawl. (Robert Knepper, aka "T-Bag" of Prison Break comes to mind...) As it was, I could never tell whether Seagal was trying to pass off a deep-south accent or whether he was just mush-mouthing his usual attempts at street ebonics; whatever the case, he failed dismally all the way around. The story itself could have been really intriguing: a serial murderer that seems to stay one step ahead of the police force. It became muddied right out of the chute, however, when Seagal (who wrote the story, according to the opening credits) started off with a completely different villain…some child-murderer who wasn't even part of the main story, yet somehow stayed in here through all of it. How Seagal planned on tying these together is anyone's guess, but - like the horrid accent - this too was a dismal failure. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason and no way the two stories/murderers were even remotely connected...and it stayed that way through the end of the film. Which brings me to another scathing observation: What in the wide world of sports was THAT (ending) all about?!!!! Without giving away any spoilers… The conclusion muddled up the whole story even more than it already was, and was completely disjointed from ANY other part of the movie. I mean…seriously…that has to be the most disjointed, inexplicable closing that I've seen in any movie. Ever. The fight scenes…what (bad) can I say? They were nothing more than the same one or two slaps from Seagal that were spliced together and the film speed increased to make it look like it was a really amazing fight; in reality, it was a joke and Seagal should be embarrassed. There was at least one scene where it appeared to be a body double for Seagal, but it was difficult to tell simply because of the hyped-up film speed and the poor (or was it intentional?) choreography. I lost track of the "roll-your-eyes" moments throughout this movie, and - like several other things about Kill Switch , the female FBI agent made no sense. She added nothing to the story, and only served as an annoying distraction. Overall, like so many of his later D2V (Direct-to-Video) films, I couldn't recommend this even to die-hard Steven Seagal fans. If you want to see a Seagal flick with him fighting, go for Out for Justice ; that's probably the best film he's put out where his Aikido can actually be viewed and enjoyed. This one deserves a place deep in the burn pile…sadly with a long list of his other titles.
Review by ShubesBlockedParent2022-08-16T23:29:11Z
After two watchable projects ( Pistol Whipped and Urban Justice ), Steven Seagal has sunk back to the wallow of "Bleh!" with Kill Switch. Like so many of his direct-to-video films, this had plenty of ingredients to make a really great movie that could have been right down Seagal's alley as "tough guy cop". Unfortunately, like so many of his later movies, it was absolutely demolished with completely useless back stories, loose ends, the always-atrocious attempt on Seagal's part to play something he isn't (this time it was a detective for the Memphis, Tennessee police force…complete with an "accent/voice" that was a mixture of annoying, ridiculous, laughable, and not-even-close. There were no (as far as I could tell) annoying voice-overs doing Seagal's lines for him, but in this case, maybe he should have used someone who could at least pass to have a deep Southern drawl. (Robert Knepper, aka "T-Bag" of Prison Break comes to mind...) As it was, I could never tell whether Seagal was trying to pass off a deep-south accent or whether he was just mush-mouthing his usual attempts at street ebonics; whatever the case, he failed dismally all the way around. The story itself could have been really intriguing: a serial murderer that seems to stay one step ahead of the police force. It became muddied right out of the chute, however, when Seagal (who wrote the story, according to the opening credits) started off with a completely different villain…some child-murderer who wasn't even part of the main story, yet somehow stayed in here through all of it. How Seagal planned on tying these together is anyone's guess, but - like the horrid accent - this too was a dismal failure. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason and no way the two stories/murderers were even remotely connected...and it stayed that way through the end of the film. Which brings me to another scathing observation: What in the wide world of sports was THAT (ending) all about?!!!! Without giving away any spoilers… The conclusion muddled up the whole story even more than it already was, and was completely disjointed from ANY other part of the movie. I mean…seriously…that has to be the most disjointed, inexplicable closing that I've seen in any movie. Ever. The fight scenes…what (bad) can I say? They were nothing more than the same one or two slaps from Seagal that were spliced together and the film speed increased to make it look like it was a really amazing fight; in reality, it was a joke and Seagal should be embarrassed. There was at least one scene where it appeared to be a body double for Seagal, but it was difficult to tell simply because of the hyped-up film speed and the poor (or was it intentional?) choreography. I lost track of the "roll-your-eyes" moments throughout this movie, and - like several other things about Kill Switch , the female FBI agent made no sense. She added nothing to the story, and only served as an annoying distraction. Overall, like so many of his later D2V (Direct-to-Video) films, I couldn't recommend this even to die-hard Steven Seagal fans. If you want to see a Seagal flick with him fighting, go for Out for Justice ; that's probably the best film he's put out where his Aikido can actually be viewed and enjoyed. This one deserves a place deep in the burn pile…sadly with a long list of his other titles.