Kill Switch Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Kill Switch Blu-ray Movie Review

Save your time and your money.

Reviewed by Dustin Somner July 23, 2010

Father time hasn't been kind to Steven Seagal. Once revered as a leading action superstar of the early nineties, Hollywood’s toughest dude with a ponytail gradually lost his luster thanks to dramatic weight gain, a propensity for questionable roles in lackluster films, and an overall downturn in a once-popular action genre. Regardless of the cards stacked against him, Seagal managed to push through the rumblings and rumors about his washed up career, continuing to crank out countless late night cable productions, unworthy of bulb-time on the projectors of your local cinema. We’ve witnessed this trend in the careers of countless other action stars (Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Jean Claude Van Damme, etc.), but at least those other actors put in the effort to stay on top of their game. Seagal essentially owns the category of laziest action star, often appearing much closer to a parody of his former self than a true martial arts master. If you’re interested in what I’m referring to, look no further than Kill Switch, a lame stab at the serial killer genre with a story written by none other than Mr. Seagal. Oh how the mighty have fallen…

"Lord have mercy!"

Following the childhood murder of his twin brother, detective Jacob King (Steven Seagal) devoted his life to the capture of sadistic killers prowling the streets of his Memphis stomping grounds. Most recently, he’s set his sights on a serial killer known as “The Grifter” (Michael Filipowich), a particularly nasty young man with a penchant for torturing and murdering anyone who crosses his path. Once dead, the victims are marked with symbols that offer a trail of breadcrumbs for Detective King to follow, leading to a perpetual game of cat and mouse. Compounding matters, King is introduced to a young female detective named Frankie Miller (Holly Dignard), who’s been assigned as a background observer in the investigation following the release of a prior serial killer King arrested. As we learn early on, the veteran detective’s brand of justice is extremely violent, often leading to the death of a murder suspect, or a lengthy uphill battle for the district attorney assigned to clean up his mess. In this particular case, the killer he ruffed up during a prior case is allowed to go free and begin a second murderous killing spree. Splitting time between both cases, Detective King wrestles with demons from his past and real-life demons in the present, coming face to face with two of the deadliest serial killers he’s ever faced.

I know what you’re thinking. What could possibly go wrong in a serial killer film starring Steven Seagal? Just toss in a couple of torture scenes, a too-cool-for words detective, and a healthy dose of judo throws—sit back with a grin on your face, and soak up the pure genius of it all. Seems easy enough, right? Unfortunately, the end result is far from simple, thanks entirely to the awful execution of almost every element in the film. The storyline lacks consistency or logic, the fight choreography is laughable, the cinematography annoying, and Steven Seagal’s Memphis accent is about as bad as Keanu Reeves trying to sound Irish. I’ll dissect some of these problems in more detail as we move forward, but felt compelled to mention several issues for those that choose to pass on the rest of the review.

Beginning with the storyline, we essentially have a tough-as-nails detective who’s so dedicated to his work he ignores his lingerie-wearing girlfriend on a nightly basis. By day, he struts around tossing out lines like “Oh, he at the back of the line”, “Sho nuff”, and my personal favorite “Lord Have Mercy”. Keep in mind, this all emerges in a broken Memphis accent that comes and goes like the wind (since that’s what tough guys sound like). Occasionally, this man we’ll refer to as “Joe Cool” is presented with the opportunity to beat a random thug within an inch of his life for looking at him wrong, though he requires a stunt double to do the majority of the actual physical work. Don’t get me wrong, Joe still gives us a convincing cut-away grimace in between the metal pipe beat-down he supposedly dishes out, but one can’t help noticing the fake wig prominently displayed on the back of his stand-in’s head. Moving on, eventually this detective’s aggressive tactics go far enough that someone decides to send in a rookie cop to sort out this mysterious man of action. Joe Cool takes one look at this newbie assigned to look after him, and tells her to stick it where the sun don’t shine. This (like so many other things he does) earns him immediate respect, allowing him the opportunity to settle back into his old method of handling everything with his stunt double’s fists. In between his reliance on the man with a bad wig to do his dirty work, Joe dedicates his spare time to cracking a preposterous code left by his arch-enemy The Grifter, in a scene that makes National Treasure 2 look like Oscar-worthy material. This winds down to an inevitable conclusion that most will see coming a mile away, bringing this fairy tale to a mind-numbing conclusion (for the record, I’m convinced the final scene of the film was actually shot for a completely different Steven Seagal production, but it was intentionally added in by an editing intern with a wicked sense of humor).

In case the storyline wasn’t bad enough, Kill Switch contains some of the silliest choreography and film editing I’ve witnessed in a long time. Between multiple angles of Steven Seagal walking through a doorway, to an odd instant replay of a fourth story fall (shown five times in a row), you’ll begin to wonder if the director actually watched the final edit, or sloppily defined this as “good enough”. Either way, fans of action cinema deserve better than quick cut editing and piecemeal choreography.

Kill Switch Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 21Mbps), Kill Switch looks decent enough for a low-budget action film of this type. As mentioned earlier, the biggest problems you'll run into are a byproduct of the weak cinematography, which left a lot to be desired. Fine object detail is marginal at best, wavering inconsistently between hazy medium-distance shots, and more precise close-up footage. Facial textures often appear a bit waxy, suggesting overuse of DNR to wipe grain from the image, but the result isn't nearly as bad as I've witnessed on other scrubbed transfers. From a color standpoint, we're given a palette that demonstrates a push toward yellows and reds, creating a hot spectrum that rarely feels natural. This was likely another byproduct of the cinematography rather than a transfer-related flaw, but it still serves as another diminishing factor in the overall visual presentation. Furthermore, contrast differentiation is merely adequate at revealing shadow detail within the darker scenes, often leaving Seagal's black suit and dark shirt without much variance.

As a side note, I detected a slight image shift/warp at precisely the 1:08:01 mark. It's not an extreme flaw, but after replaying the moment three times I was positive it wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me.

Kill Switch Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Can anyone tell me why Seagal assumes mumbling and whispering should be a part of his tough guy persona? After all, it's bad enough witnessing him completely botch a southern drawl, but trying to understand his lines when he mutters under his breath is an exercise in futility. I'm sure the audio engineers responsible for the lossless mix couldn't have done much to rectify the situation, but the end results lead to frustration from time to time. Moving on, the level of clarity and precision in the mix is more than reasonable, the action scenes generate a decent level of immersion, and the LFE portion of the track is given enough of a workout to remind you it's still there. In the end, I can't complain too much about the audio experience when it emerges as the leading strength of the entire production, but convincing anyone that this is something special is like telling them SPAM is delicious. Needless to say, it's a tough sell.

Kill Switch Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only special features included on the disc are standard definition trailers for Kill Switch, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams, Assassin Next Door, and Thirst.

Kill Switch Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're not a Steven Seagal fan, you already know the verdict on this abysmal affair. The only possible way I could recommend a rental of a production this bad would be if you're planning to get together with a bunch of your friends and use the film purely as comedy entertainment. Perhaps you could design a drinking game out of the number of times you can identify Seagal's stunt double (plan to get REALLY intoxicated), or spend an hour and a half writing down your favorite Seagal lines for comparison with your friends at the conclusion of the story. Either way, don't go into Kill Switch hoping for any shred of legitimate entertainment value, since there's honestly nothing to be found.