The film open with a prologue telling us that what we are about to see is inspired by a true story, and the next credit tells us that the following film does not resemble any living human being, or any dead ones either. The first scene has half a dozen members of the Special Investigation Section (or whatever), under the leadership of Scott Glenn, shooting a hold-up guy to pieces. We get the impression that these are some tough fellas.
Then there is a cut to Lou Diamond Phillips, enraged, behind the wheel of his car in a high-speed pursuit of a child-molesting perp. Phillips repeatedly bumps his car against the other -- a requirement in movies like this -- until he forces the fugitive through a plate glass window in slow motion. Then Phillips leaps from his car, pulls the bleeding perp from his wreck, and beats the unholy hell out of him before being restrained by his partner and the other newly arrived cops. A loose cannon alright, and a prime recruit for the SIS.
What the SIS does, with the complicity of the higher authorities, is follow the suspects, wait until after the crime is committed, then walk in and kill the perpetrators. It's a death squad.
When Phillips' girl friend, Chelsea Fields, a crime reporter, discovers her lover's involvement, they have an argument and he leaves their love nest. As you can see, not a lot of imagination has gone into this production, beginning with the title -- "Extreme Justice." You can, after all, have justice, but if it becomes somehow "extreme" it's no longer justice.
The conflict between Phillips and his girl friend echoes the opposing values of lovers in previous police movies -- "Bullett," "Heat," "Serpico." And it belongs to a more inclusive genre -- career vs. marriage. See reporter Kurt Russell wrestle with Mariel Hemingway in "Mean Season." Watch John Wayne try to balance his love life in military films like "Wings of Eagles" or "In Harm's Way" or "Rio Grande." Now a member of the elite SIS, Phillips is happy as a clam, but when he finally grasps what's up, he turns to his girl friend and spills the beans. She prints it. There is a final brutal fight between Glenn and Phillips. The politically correct person winds up decked.
The two leads turn in professional performances and Chelsea Fields is sexy. Yaphet Koto stands out among the squad members. The weakest performance is by an SIS member who kills a young girl by mistake and later blows his brains out. The direction is what you'd expect from a police movie built around several episodes of violence.
Then there is a cut to Lou Diamond Phillips, enraged, behind the wheel of his car in a high-speed pursuit of a child-molesting perp. Phillips repeatedly bumps his car against the other -- a requirement in movies like this -- until he forces the fugitive through a plate glass window in slow motion. Then Phillips leaps from his car, pulls the bleeding perp from his wreck, and beats the unholy hell out of him before being restrained by his partner and the other newly arrived cops. A loose cannon alright, and a prime recruit for the SIS.
What the SIS does, with the complicity of the higher authorities, is follow the suspects, wait until after the crime is committed, then walk in and kill the perpetrators. It's a death squad.
When Phillips' girl friend, Chelsea Fields, a crime reporter, discovers her lover's involvement, they have an argument and he leaves their love nest. As you can see, not a lot of imagination has gone into this production, beginning with the title -- "Extreme Justice." You can, after all, have justice, but if it becomes somehow "extreme" it's no longer justice.
The conflict between Phillips and his girl friend echoes the opposing values of lovers in previous police movies -- "Bullett," "Heat," "Serpico." And it belongs to a more inclusive genre -- career vs. marriage. See reporter Kurt Russell wrestle with Mariel Hemingway in "Mean Season." Watch John Wayne try to balance his love life in military films like "Wings of Eagles" or "In Harm's Way" or "Rio Grande." Now a member of the elite SIS, Phillips is happy as a clam, but when he finally grasps what's up, he turns to his girl friend and spills the beans. She prints it. There is a final brutal fight between Glenn and Phillips. The politically correct person winds up decked.
The two leads turn in professional performances and Chelsea Fields is sexy. Yaphet Koto stands out among the squad members. The weakest performance is by an SIS member who kills a young girl by mistake and later blows his brains out. The direction is what you'd expect from a police movie built around several episodes of violence.