Excessive Force 1993, Rated R

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Starring Thomas Ian Griffith, et al.

Unfortunately, Excessive Force falls under the heading of the films in the third category.

The plot is almost offensively typical action fodder; the police, lead by Thomas Ian Griffith, break up a three million dollar drug deal that is going down and, when all is said and done, the money is missing and the Mafia wants it back. Naturally, they assume that Griffith has the money, so they harass his friends and him before, ultimately, after lots of fighting and gun shots, Griffith kills everybody and clears his name.

Griffith's presence in the lead was rather weak, but in the long run, that was negligible. The main problem with Excessive Force came with the near constant reminders of the cheap production costs. The actors involved in this films were, with the exception of James Earl Jones, recycled material, but it was the grade 'Z' sound effects and poor scene blocking that truly stood out in Excessive Force.

I'm not sure what the Foley artists were paid for their work on this film, but they didn't deserve a cent of it. Having watched an action film or two in my life, I have come to expect certain sounds when fist meets with face. Since the actors aren't actually beating the hell out of each other, these sounds emanate from the people in the recording studio (Foley artists) who are slapping their own legs or pieces of uncooked meat in time to the celluloid action. I have no idea what these Foley artists were using to create their sounds in Excessive Force, but it reminded me of someone dropping a baggy of sugar onto a linoleum floor. In a word: 'piff'.

The blocking of the scenes was similarly unoriginal and static. The person who was being punched or kicked would stand directly in front of the person doing the punching or kicking, between the aggressor and the camera, so as to disguise the fact that no one was actually being hit, without the need for quick edits and, thusly, more camera set-ups. Both of these qualities might be deemed 'passable' in a direct-to-video release, but Excessive Force had an albeit limited nationwide theatrical release.

The use of Chicago settings is quite poor, and Jon Hess' style of direction passionless. There are any number of other low-budget action films, generally those starring Brian Bosworth or Jeff Speakman, that will be more entertaining than Excessive Force. This was an exercise in cheap filmmaking.