The story tells about an undercover L.A.P.D. anti-crime squad Special Investigative Service (SIS) headed by Detective Vaughn (Scott Glenn) whose 'take-no-prisoner' technique in crime control is being investigated by a crime reporter. Enter Detective Powers (Lou Diamond Phillips) a 'loose cannon' into his death squad. Powers, an old friend of Vaughn's whom he recommended to join the squad, deals with criminals the same way Vaughn does, so Vaughn's violent approach to dealing with target criminals gets his full support. But when one of their men broke down during a bloody stakeout, Powers begins to question his own involvement in the clandestine squad and his teammates' trigger- happy ways in dealing with the lowlifes.
The name Mark L. Lester should be quite familiar to those who grew up watching action films in the 80's. His name stuck on my mind right after watching Commando (1985). Extreme Justice is another typical example of his 'brutal' approach to depicting hardcore action sequences onto the screen. That's his trademark. Just see Class of 1984, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Class of 1999, and Night of the Running Man. This is what makes action film aficionados like me excited when seeing his work.
Besides the above average story line, another thing that lifts this film a notch is the score by David Michael Frank, which creates a brooding atmosphere throughout the film. Frank's other commendable works include Code of Silence and Above the Law.
What gives this film a slight edge over other films in the genre is that the plot provides a food for thought – about how crime in big cities should actually be dealt with by the law: through violence or what other possible ways?, and what are our responsibilities as citizens to help alleviate this increasingly unsolvable social problem?
If you like thinking-man's police thriller, peppered with violent action scenes, this may satisfy you.
The name Mark L. Lester should be quite familiar to those who grew up watching action films in the 80's. His name stuck on my mind right after watching Commando (1985). Extreme Justice is another typical example of his 'brutal' approach to depicting hardcore action sequences onto the screen. That's his trademark. Just see Class of 1984, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Class of 1999, and Night of the Running Man. This is what makes action film aficionados like me excited when seeing his work.
Besides the above average story line, another thing that lifts this film a notch is the score by David Michael Frank, which creates a brooding atmosphere throughout the film. Frank's other commendable works include Code of Silence and Above the Law.
What gives this film a slight edge over other films in the genre is that the plot provides a food for thought – about how crime in big cities should actually be dealt with by the law: through violence or what other possible ways?, and what are our responsibilities as citizens to help alleviate this increasingly unsolvable social problem?
If you like thinking-man's police thriller, peppered with violent action scenes, this may satisfy you.