Exit Wounds is a 2001 action film based on the book of the same name by John Westermann. The film, aside from the title and some of the character's names has no resemblance to the novel[original research?]. For instance, the book takes place on Long Island, while the film is set in Detroit. The film was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, and stars Steven Seagal as an urban detective notorious for pushing the limits of the law in his quest for justice. The story is set in Detroit, although many goofs in production make it apparent that most of the movie was filmed in Toronto, Ontario; Hamilton, Ontario[2] and Calgary, Alberta.
Plot
Orin Boyd (Steven Seagal) is a cop who works in Detroit's 21st precinct, and his attitude and rough means of enforcing the law always end up annoying the precinct captain, Frank Daniels (Bruce McGill). When a Michigan militant group try to kill the Vice President (Christopher Lawford) of the United States, Orin kills the militants. Even though Orin saved the Vice President's life, Frank doesn't like the way Orin did it, so Frank transfers Orin to the 15th precinct—Detroit's worst precinct.
Orin's new captain, former internal affairs officer Annette Mulcahy (Jill Hennessy), knows of his reputation, and she tells him that she won't tolerate it. Annette sends Orin to an anger management class where he meets Henry Wayne (Tom Arnold), the high-strung host of a local talk show called "Detroit AM." Despite this measure, Orin doesn't change his ways of doing his job. It's not long before he comes across local drug dealer Latrell Walker (Earl "DMX" Simmons) and his fast-talking sidekick T.K. Johnson (Anthony Anderson) doing a shady deal with a man named Matt Montini (David Vadim). After a brief fight, Orin discovers that Montini has been working undercover trying to nail Walker and Orin messed it up, and that doesn't sit well with Montini's musclebound partner Useldinger (Matthew G. Taylor).
Not all of the cops of the 15th precinct give Orin a hard time. Sergeant Lewis Strutt (Michael Jai White) steps in to cool things down when Orin gets in a fight with Useldinger, and George Clark (Isaiah Washington) is assigned to be Orin's partner. After Orin stumbles upon the theft of $5,000,000 worth of heroin from Piper Tech, a place where evidence is stored, Orin and George begin focusing their efforts on Latrell and T.K., and also Shaun Rollins (Mel Jason "Drag-On" Smalls), a man that Latrell has been visiting at the local jail. Orin asks Henry to do some digging on Latrell's background. What Henry discovers is that Latrell is not a drug dealer. Latrell is a computer expert and billionaire whose real name is Leon Rollins—he's the brother of Shaun Rollins. Orin confronts Leon, who explains that a group of corrupt cops were in danger of losing one of their drug dealers, so the corrupt cops planted heroin on Shaun, setting Shaun up to take the rap so they wouldn't lose their dealer. Leon shows a videotape that shows that Strutt is the leader of the group of corrupt cops, who also include Montini and Useldinger, and Strutt and his gang are the ones who stole the heroin from Piper Tech. Leon and his friend Trish (Eva Mendes) have been videotaping some of the activities of Strutt's gang, hoping that it might help prove Shaun's innocence and get him out of jail.
Orin meets with Annette at a parking lot and he gets in Annette's truck and tells Annette what's going on. And then Montini and Useldinger and some other men show up and try to kill Orin and Annette. Annette screeches out of the parking lot with Orin still in her truck. Orin and Annette are chased, and Annette is killed in the chase when her truck slams into the back of a bigger vehicle, sending her into her truck's windshield. Orin calls Frank and tells Frank that Strutt will be having a meeting at a warehouse in about an hour, to sell the heroin that was stolen from Piper Tech. Strutt plans to try to sell it to Leon and T. K., not knowing that Leon is working against him. Frank promises that he'll be there with some backup. Orin goes to George's house and tells George what's going on. George agrees to help Orin.
It's Midnight at the warehouse, as Strutt is trying to sell the heroin to Leon, Strutt realizes who Leon is and why Leon is working against him. Orin and Frank show up, and Strutt tells Frank to keep Orin under control. Frank aims a gun at Orin. Orin realizes that it's Frank who's behind everything. Frank complains that his $40,000-a-year salary is not enough money for putting his life on the line every day. That's why Frank has been heading the drug running operation, as a way to make a lot of money. Just as Frank is about to shoot Orin, George blows open the door and barges in with backup, including police chief Hinges (Bill Duke). Gunfire erupts, and T. K. gets shot in the leg. Useldinger shoots Orin when he sneaks behind him, and as he's about to shoot him again, George shoots Useldinger dead. Orin is fine because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. Chief Hinges kills Frank by shooting him 4 times with a shotgun, the last bullet hitting his neck and yells out "You're fired". Orin gets into a fight against Strutt, and Leon gets into a fight against Montini. After a swordfight, Strutt grabs a case full of money and runs up to the roof, where a helicopter is waiting for him, and there is a rope ladder hanging from the helicopter. Strutt starts climbing up the ladder, and Orin grabs the ladder too. Montini gets the upper hand in his fight with Leon after he damages Leon's vision with cement powder. However, Leon manages to stab Montini in the leg with a piece of broken glass. As the helicopter ladder is dragging Orin across the roof while Strutt is hanging on to the ladder, Orin snags the ladder on one of the metal pipes that's sticking up out of the roof. This makes the ladder snap off of the helicopter with Strutt still on the ladder. Strutt and the ladder fall to the roof, and Strutt is killed when he lands on a metal pipe that pierces him from his back and causes the Exit Wound to come through his chest. Leon beats Montini up, and when Montini tries to push Leon toward a metal spike that's sticking out of the wall, Leon grabs Montini, and forces Montini to the wall. Montini dies when the spike goes through his throat and causes an Exit Wound through the back of his neck.
At dawn, Leon gives Hinges a videotape that has a lot of the corruption on it, hoping that the tape will help prove Shaun's innocence. Hinges thinks the courts won't care about the tape, so Hinges had Shaun pulled from county about an hour ago so Shaun will have a better chance of being released. Orin decides to stay with the 15th precinct with George as his partner, and T. K. becomes Henry's co-host.
Cast
Reception
Exit Wounds was considered a surprise hit movie as it grossed over $50 million dollars in America and almost $80 million worldwide being Seagals last hit movie to date. At the time was hailed as Seagal's big "comeback". However his next film Half Past Dead was a commercial failure and was his last film released theatrically in the US.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on March 20, 2001 by Virgin Records. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 and #5 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
References
External links
