Beyond the Law

• Directed by James Cullen Bressack
• December 6, 2019 (Limited Theatrical Release) / January 14, 2020 (DVD)

A former detective vows to avenge his estranged son’s death and takes on the local mob.

Calling this Beyond the Law (several unrelated films use those words as a title) a Steven Seagal movie might be a bit of a stretch. He is in it but very limited and in a way that makes it appear as if his scenes were filmed separately from the rest of the production. Reminiscent of a few Bruce Willis and Nick Cage movies that I have previously watched.

In the narrative there is a push to make this a country versus city story, but the hero of the film was once a city cop who now lives in the country. Frank Wilson (Johnny Messner) stepped away from law enforcement to live a very rustic lifestyle with son Chance (Chester) after mommy died offscreen from movie illness.

Our hero Frank is only the hero because he’s not as corrupt as his friend Detective Ray Munce (DMX). You see Wilson killed people that he knew was guilty and took bribes and things like that, but there were some things he just wouldn’t do. What those are I don’t know. If you’re dirty you are dirty and I don’t think the criminals who pay the dirty cops allow you to have limits. I could be wrong. 

While the actual star Johnny Messner is no great actor, he does the tasks of threatening and intimidating and driven just fine. I’m just bothered by his reasons for leaving the force. He’s a corrupt cop, but everyone else is too corrupt for him. Huh? That’s what it sounded like it came to. My mind just will not let that go.

The cast is very small. I don’t think we even get some token extras to act as bodyguards for the crime lord Augustino ‘Finn’ Adair (Steven Seagal). Yes, Seagal is the villain of this though the dialogue they give him appears to be aimed at painting him as an antihero. He doesn’t do too much here. In the story when Frank’s son gets killed by Finn’s son he seeks revenge. Not just against Finn’s son, but against Finn. That’s pretty much it.

Director James Cullen Bressack did a nice job of covering that lack of a cast. Other than no noticeable henchmen for Seagal, you really don’t think about how you never see to many other cops or bar patrons or whatever. I think they even have a limited number of sets that are just reused. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two country residences that appear in this are actually the same house with the interior shot from different angles to help hide that. Credit to the filmmakers for doing that. This wouldn’t be the first Seagal-connected film that I washed were such a thing as occurred but this is a rare instance where it’s not noticeable until after the film.

Seagal put on some weird mumbling accent that would be acceptable if this were maybe set in Louisiana. His ramblings are even a bit, well, improvised. Seagal aside I can’t complain about the acting of the rest of the cast. This is one of many movies connected to Seagal where he’s inserted for name recognition that would be stronger without him.

Finn should have been removed to not only streamline the story but allow other characters to grow. Desmond Packard (Zack Ward), Finn’s illegitimate son, was enough of a threat and should have been the main threat since he killed the boy against poppa’s wishes thus starting everything. Ward is not a performer without skill and in this by-the-numbers thriller I think he could have been enough if given a bit more to do.

Bill Cobbs plays Frank’s friend Swilley. Cobbs was an immensely talented character actor and just wasted in Beyond the Law. He adds weight to his dialogue, but his character provides little of anything. Saxon Sharbino as Charlotte Bayles gives Frank some info that shrinks the runtime but not much else.

This is your basic revenge thriller with a dad posthumously trying to make amends with his son. The dialogue nor the plot is particularly original, but the finale does get points for creativity though I think that was because of a limited budget. It manages to hide its shortcomings during viewing and be mostly entertaining even with some weak camera work.

Beyond the Law isn’t bad. It would be stronger without Seagal, but he’s not a significant part. Enjoyable if it may be a touch of a derivative thriller.