THE STORY:  Many people who run web review sites have said it, and I thought it was all in jest, but I'm beginning to think it may be true....there is some kind of "Template for (fill in the genre)" movies. There has got to be. Oh, well, I knew what I was getting into when I rented this. I just wanted to watch a DVD movie and I picked one that looked like it might be okay. I don't watch a lot of flicks on DVD, because the DVD player is in the living room where my wife usually watches TV. But she's away visiting relatives in Minnesota and Canada so I commandeered it. (I was going to buy a DVD drive for my computer, but I spent waaaay too much money already this month at the (hic) Oktoberfest!)

Lets examine the template for this flick. Well, we have the good, tough cop...Morell (Van Peebles) and the killer he's been after for some odd amount of years, Whitman. (James Remar) Whitman, as the psycho killer guy has to of course, have some crazy fetish in his killings...I'm sure the writers wanted to make it the seven deadly sins, but dammit, that's been done already! So instead, Whitman kills people and then sets the bodies up mimicking the deaths of saints. Hey, it does sound kind of interesting, I'll give ya that. But the template requires that Morell captures Whitman and that Whitman is executed. Then we have to find a way to bring him back from the dead. Well, seeing how the "killer that makes a pact with Satan and returns to wreak bloody vengeance" thing has been used about 4000 times, the writers instead ripped of Point of No Return. But they did it in a way that, at least in the Movie Universe, is plausible. (Meaning they didn't rip it off verbatim)

Some Government spook guy named Norwood (I think his name was something else but he uses Norwood later in the movie) has the execution faked and brainwashes Whitman so they can use him in an assassination. Norwood works for one of those secret government agencies that kill people all of the time...I don't think the specific agency was named, but its surely something like Dark Company or Apocalypse Section. The big problem is Whitman was never brainwashed. He faked the whole thing so he could get free...and he does. Whitman then breaks into the courthouse, gets the secret files of the jury members at his trial and starts killing them. Oh, and he does the matryed saints thing with his victims so Morell goes back on the case, with a new partner, Ricci, in order to stop him. At first Morell and Ricci think its a copycat killer, but Morell begins to realize that Whitman may actually be alive.

Norwood shows up as an FBI agent that's supposed to help the police in this case, but his real motive is to find Whitman first and kill him before the cops find out that Whitman in fact never died. Here's where I started to seriously question everything that happened....if Morell figures out that Whitman is still alive...and he does so relatively easily...why doesn't anyone believe him? The Captain thinks he's off his rocker, but Morell doesn't act obsessed or anything. He just reaches a semi-logical conclusion after a little investigating. Morell was supposedly cremated so there's no body to exhume, the killer follows Whitman's exact MO, the killer handwriting and Morell's matches completely and Norwood is obviously hiding something. (and didn't Sherlock Holmes say something about once you remove all of the possible conclusions, the only answer left is the impossible? I'm paraphrasing, but Morell does have a point.) The Captain follows the template rules by taking Morell off of the case.

Oh, did I mention that Morell has a beautiful ex-wife and things look like they're going to get back together...or that Ricci, his partner is female? Well, you know one of them is going to be captured by Whitman since the movie is so cookie cutter. It ain't Ricci. I figured that from the go, because it would have to entail a romance of some sort to have impact. Besides, Whitman throws Ricci off of a roof. Once Morell reaches the conclusion that Whitman is killing people involved in his case in alphabetical order (and they can't catch this guy?) he deduces that his ex-wife is NEXT on the list. (She's a lawyer or something...go figure...his marriage breaks up because he was obsessed with this case and his wife is involved in it too? Um..okayyy...) Then Norwood tries to kill him, because Morell has begun to suspect what really happened to Whitman, and being the hero and all, Morell beats Norwood's brains out and forces him to tell him the truth. Then he kills him. Damn...I'm going to have to explain this part....because it came with extra cheese.

Morell confronted Whitman after one of his murders. He almost caught him but Whitman gets the drop on Ricci and tells Morell to drop his weapon or he'll "Kill the bitch". Morell does it and Whitman throws Ricci off of the roof anyway and shoots Morell in the shoulder. (why is it the bad guys always hit the heroes in the shoulder or the leg?) Now, we see that Morell has a sling on after that. Heck, they even went to a little trouble to show him only using his uninjured arm...until Norwood attacks him. (Which couldn't have been more than a DAY later) All of a sudden Morell can use his injured arm to beat the living daylights out of Norwood. I don't want to hear "it was only a flesh wound". He was shot in the freaking shoulder! I injured my left shoulder once by falling off of a deuce and half once...which I'm sure is less painful than being shot...and I couldn't use that arm effectively for a week! (which sucked because I'm left handed)

I'm sure you can figure out that Whitman captures Morell's ex-wife and prepares to kill her when Morell shows up and they have the fight to the finish. It wasn't all that exciting seeing how I knew Morell would win. I suppose it shows how tough Morell really is, since his injured arm should have hurt like the blazes and Whitman shoots him in the leg! The only cool part is when Morell kills the beaten Whitman in pretty much cold blood. He uses a crossbow (!)  to fire a crucifix dagger (!) at the serial killer. Morell slumps to the ground, and if the wound wasn't instantly fatal (which I doubt) Morell in effect executes him on the spot. He pulls out his gun and unloads it on the beaten psycho!

As a time waster this movie wasn't that bad. It did hold my interest for awhile, but it kept losing it when the movie diverted into the same old thang we always see in these movies. I really had high hopes for awhile too. The government angle was interesting. If Morell had actually shown any feelings for Ricci besides the partner thing her death might have had some pathos. The ex-wife thing was pointless, except for a little sex scene. Mario Van Peebles has been in several flicks that I've actually liked... Heartbreak Ridge, New Jack City, the Posse...he's also been in some super crapfests...Highlander: The Final Dimension, Solo. My wife can't stand him. I don't know why. I don't hate the guy or run away from his movies. But this flick certainly will make me get choosier when I see his name on the box.

Best Lines: "Emergency? Yeah, I'm going to need an ambulance...(turns and sees Norwood get up, fires one round into his head) ...don't sweat the ambulance."- Morell begins to call an ambulance after he kicks Norwood's ass.

"This time you ain't comin' back!"- Morell pumps about five bullets into the beaten Whitman.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?:

1.) So the government takes criminals who are supposed to have been executed, brainwashes them with a new identity and uses them as assassins? How much does this f***ing cost? I mean, it can't be cheap and hiring a real assassin has to be undeniably cheaper. Heck, I know some guys that would whack someone for a lot less than you'd think. (Of course they're all in jail, because they whacked someone, but you get my point.)

2.) When Whitman goes to kill ex-juror Henry Dang we see that Dang is a martial arts instructor. I thought to myself "Whitman's going to get his head bashed in!" but no, he instead whoops Dang's ass! Now, Morell said Whitman was a biblical scholar....I guess he studied under Father MacGruder from Dead Alive! ("I kick ass for the lord!") I can't think of another way to explain it, since Dang, a black belt, should have been able to beat Whitman.

3.) The captain wants to take Morell off of the case (yeah, that's original) because he thinks the case is cracking him up. Why? To be honest Morell seems completely sane to me. He doesn't even seem disturbed.

4.) The DVD case said Whitman makes Hannibal Lecter look tame. I was wary when I first read that, and now I can honestly tell you its a lie. Hannibal Lecter was an interesting character. In Silence of the Lambs he was intelligent, articulate and witty. He also killed and ATE his victims! (With fava beans and a nice Chianti!) Whitman kills people and then sets the bodies up in some weirdo martyred saint thing. Kevin Spacey already did that kind of crap in Se7en.

NUDITY AND SEX:  Several boobs are seen during this movie. Morell has sex with his ex-wife.

HUH?:  I'll have to research this to be sure, but when Morell comments on Noah's drug making lab he calls him the "Nino Brown" of the Trailer park. Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) was the drug dealer in New Jack City, another Mario Van Peebles movie. I guess Mario wanted to see if anyone would catch the reference. Well, Mario, I did.

Once the cops realize that the killer must have somehow gotten the jury list from Whitman's trial  Morell deduces which juror should be next and stakes her out. Uh, why haven't the cops already done this with all of the jurors? That only seems logical to me, since they know now the murderer is killing a juror pretty much every day.

FAKE! When Whitman kills Judge Gant you can see the knife is merely rubbing red paint on his neck!

Morell and his ex-wife make love and discuss the case he's on while doing it! I have NEVER in my life had a conversation while doing the nasty! Have you? Do two doctors having sex discuss the patients they have? Call me crude, but if you can hold a coherent conversation while making the beast with two backs you're not doing it right.

THE FINAL JUDGEMENT: If you're not looking for something terribly original and with no suprises this movie is a good one for you. But if you actually expect to see something new or have a shock or an adrenaline rush, run! Run far and run fast!