Exit Wounds

For the first time since Under Siege Steven Seagal has managed to make a testosterone-fueled action flick that isn't mind-numbingly insipid--so I guess it would have been too much to hope that Exit Wounds might also make even the most remote amount of sense. Seagal stars as a tough cop who plays by his own rules (ooo, there's a shock!) and the plot is hole-riddled nonsense about crooked cops, stolen drugs and rapper DMX playing a dot-com millionaire on a private undercover mission to expose police corruption (yeah, riiiiggghht!). But director Andrzej Bartkowiak (Romeo Must Die) has a gift for super-tight editing, slick production values, creative violence and rousing, ante-upping, adrenaline-pumping action sequences making it easy to check your brain at the door, fasten your seatbelt and go along for the pedal-to-the-metal, cars-a-crashin', fists-a-flyin', guns-a-blazin' ride. Dumb as all get-out, but kicking some serious action flick butt, this is a strong optional purchase. (R. Blackwelder)