Malevolent (2002) User Reviews

Action/Thriller of average quality

[Enchorde · 5/10 · 11 November 2006]

Recap: Jack Lucas, a detective, is with no apparent reason suddenly the target of a set up meant to disgrace him, and finally to kill him. His gun stolen, which he didn't report, used to kill his superior officer. Lucas is now forced to stall that investigation and at the same time find out whom and why is trying to destroy him.

Comments: A decent action/thriller movie that won't go to the history as one of the great ones, but good enough to watch a night. Some good shooting, some car chases and a mystery to solve. It is maybe the mystery that is the weakest point in the story. We are early given the answer to whom, but not until the end given the reason why. So the bad guys plot to destroy Lucas almost feel random and unmotivated all the time, instead of creating a feeling of suspense. And not to mention that the entire story hinges on the stupid decision not to report the theft of his gun. Combined it made it difficult for me to really engage in and believe the story. Had it cleared those two obstacles it would have been much better.

5/10

Too Many Illogicalities

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 13 June 2009]

Although Lou Diamond Phillips is the star the Malevolent one in Malevolent is Edoardo Ballerini, a most diabolical serial killer who not only is good at his work, but pretty good at making cop Lou Diamond Phillips look like the guilty party.

It's a rather far-fetched yarn that Malevolent is spinning. Some of the premises of the story and the motivations of Ballerini are quite illogical as Mr. Spock would put it, even from the evil mind of a serial killer who doesn't think like the rest of us.

Kari Wuhrer who has done a couple of other films with Lou plays a topless dancer and someone that Ballerini is fixated on. She could provide the clues necessary to Lou to stop the freak.

While all this is going on, Phillips is under suspicion due to a shooting incident where his former partner was found to be dirty. His new partner, Gwen McGee isn't quite sure she can trust him and she's cutting him quite a bit of slack to get the job done.

Too many illogicalities keep Malevolent from being a top rate police drama thriller though the cast does its best.

Time Worthy?

[myreviewss · 5/10 · 2 January 2019]

Would I watch again? On my own, probably not. If someone put it on, sure why not. It was entertaining, but nothing I'd really go back to. With exception to Jack's partner & Dexter, the actors were chosen well. Good action scenes & a great car chase. The Car Chase was my favorite part of the whole movie. Plot twist? Definitely. Story had holes in it, which made it a little hard to follow and not as enjoyable when you sat and looked back. Not good, not bad, but I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. With so many great movies out, why waste your time?

Disappointing lack of editing finesse!

[mwagrp · 3/10 · 12 March 2006]

It always amuses me when bad editing results in cars magically having regrown hubcaps that clearly flew off in an earlier scene - just seconds earlier.

It struck me that the final car chase scene was very familiar, from the way the blue BMW zigzagged across the park and jumped the wall, followed closely by a beige Dodge Ram. I thought it was remarkably similar to a scene I remembered from a Steven Seagal movie, probably "Marked for Death" which I saw in the early Nineties. Then I noticed that the mag wheels had miraculously changed from alloy spokes to gold BBS honeycomb style wheels... and the shade of blue wasn't right, either. If you're observant, you can clearly see both Seagal and his co-star companion in the truck (supposedly now driven by Phillips, who elsewhere is shown to be alone in the vehicle) at various times, but most noticeably when it spins round and enters the sidewalk, and again as it gets back on the street.

If you watch closely, you can even see those nasty Jamaican drug dealers from the 1990 movie in the BMW... in one scene there is a black hand hanging out of the passenger side window (when there's supposed to be no passenger at all in either car)

You sort of feel cheated when they pull this kind of stunt on the audience. Did they manage to save so much money after paying royalties to the owners of the Seagal movie? Or did budget constraints prevent them from staging their own car chase and doing their own stunts..? I'm told that the opening car chase was similarly taken from another movie which I haven't yet seen.

Recycling in general may be sensible and politically correct - but this is taking the concept too far. Moviegoers should be entitled to a partial refund - or free copies of the movies from which these scenes were lifted.

Lou Diamond Phillips has done better work for decades. It does him no favors to be associated with a production which relies so heavily on disingeniously regurgitated material.

Unsatisfying thriller

[Wizard-8 · 22 December 2011]

If you are a person who likes to check out made-for-DVD movies, there is one film company you should be aware of - and not for positive reasons. That company is Cinetel Films. More often than not in their movies, they use footage from big budget major studio films, and in "Malevolent" they do this twice. I didn't recognize the footage from "The Corrupter", but I certainly recognized the climatic vehicle chase as being taken from "Marked For Death". As for how the rest of the movie appears, it's low budget but has some decent production values like good photography. The script, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The hero makes some pretty dumb decisions along the way that prolong things - if he had been smarter, things would have been wrapped up much quicker. And when things are wrapped up, the movie abruptly ends - the movie really needed another scene after the climax. Not the worst movie made by Cinetel Films, but there's no real reason to seek it out.

Leaves MUCH to be desired

[peter_blakeborough · 1/10 · 2 March 2004]

Where to begin? This is one of the biggest pieces of crap that I have seen in a long time. Come on my four year old sister could make a better movie with a camcorder. This movie is extremely slow through the first hour, with little, to no sembalance of a plot or story. Lou Diamond Phillips acting was sub-par as usual. The editing was also very poorly done. At one moment you are on one side, the the other, over and over again. Then the ending leaves much to be desired. The story, if you can call it a story has no closure at all. The horrible ending is previewed by a car chase with a power ram and a bmw. The power ram bounces around like a ball, it is pretty funny. I strongly recommend not wasting your time on this movie. It isn't even one of those bad movies that are entertaining because it is bad. This movie just plain SUCKS

I Enjoyed The Movie.

[howdyg · 7/10 · 23 July 2002]

I do not understand why more people have not seen this movie and/or have voted on it. It's a very good way to spend an hour and a half,some evening with some popcorn,a coke and your lady or gentleman. I really don't believe this film will win any awards. It has action,sex,crime and a lot of surprises. In this elderly mans opinion it was a heck of a lot better than some of the highly rated garbage they have turned out lately. Lou Diamond Phillips, Edoardo Ballerini and the rest of the supporting cast did a fine job, with an average movie. Yes, I do know what opinions are just like. No, I do not know anyone connected to this film. I'm just not sophisticated enough to tear it up, like some seem to do with many movies.I give it a 7.

Fans of stock footage (we know you're out there) should check out Malevolent.

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 10 October 2012]

Jack Lucas (LDP) is an LAPD cop on the edge. Putting him even closer to the edge of the edge is the fact that a psychotic criminal mastermind is trying to frame him for a series of murders. The obnoxious and annoying Oliver "Ollie" Chadwicke (Ballerini) has it in for Lucas and is going to slyly and shrewdly send him up the river. Fighting for his life against the bogus charges actually perpetrated by Chadwicke, Lucas must use his wits to defeat him at his own game. Teaming up with a stripper with a heart of gold, Jessica (Wuhrer), as well as his father, Warren (Argenziano), Lucas must not only defend himself against Chadwicke, but from the mistrust growing amongst his co-workers. Especially with Captain Pruitt (Bauer) breathing down his neck. Will Lucas get justice? Malevolent is a surprisingly solid and entertaining cop drama/thriller. It was smart putting LDP in the lead role, because he can easily carry a movie like this with his charm, charisma and acting ability. You could even say this is the continuing story of Jeff Powers from Extreme Justice. This isn't really an action movie, in fact all of the action was edited in from The Corrupter (1999) and Marked For Death (1990). Anyone who has seen those movies will surely recognize the footage. But at least Malevolent is open and honest about it, in its own way: both footage sources get large, easy-to-read screen credits at the end of the movie. Other DTV items don't do that. They try to hide their patchwork nature. So we give the movie credit for its openness.

You have to take this movie for what it is, it's not going to change the world but it's really not bad either. In its quest to be gritty, or perhaps different, there are some horribly (intentionally horribly) edited sequences that are trying to be "cool". If the movie was just edited normally, that would have helped. Plus there are some highly clichéd, even stereotypical characters, such as Lucas' partner Carla, played by Gwen McGee. But Ballerini did a great job as the baddie, he really makes you hate him. It's always nice to see Kari Wuhrer, we were happy she was on board. It was also cool to see Jack McGee, of The Quest (1996) fame as the bartender. Steven Bauer should have had more screen time as the captain. Also, Simon Rhee is credited as one of the stunt players.

LDP even wrote the lyrics for the movie's most memorable song, "Pray For Dawn", a bluesy-type number. He should get more credit for being multi-talented. Fans of any of the cast members involved, DTV cop dramas, or fans of stock footage (we know you're out there), or anyone with some spare time on their hands might want to check out Malevolent.

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Keeps you on the edge

[danteq45 · 9/10 · 12 March 2014]

... I have to say, this picture really holds your interest. You really feel for the detective being framed.

The acting was great. I was at every turn and twist in the movie,

glued to my seat anticipating the next move of the murder suspect and the Detective.

You really want to kill this guy and get to the bottom of the crime.

Also haven't seen such great car chase scenes since " Bullitt" and "The French Connection" Maybe I'm dating myself, but I will leave it up to everyone else.

I would have given it a 10 rating ,but I missed a few minutes getting the "Popcorn"...

standard cop verses mad killer thriller

[jaybob · 7/10 · 29 June 2002]

Lou Diamond Phillips & an actor I never heard of turn in decent, but unremarkable performances in this routine thriller, Lots of car chases & crashes etc. nothing new or different, BUT it is acted & produced competently.

rating **1/2 72/100 IMDb 6

Good movie stolen car chase

[Tiny T · 18 May 2004]

SPOILERS, SPOILERS. This is a standard cop got framed police movie in which the cop tries to clear himself by getting himself in to more trouble. Off course there is a good-looking stripper (is this always so with cops or what??) who obviously temporarily moves in with the cop (in the Netherlands you get suspended if you do that because you lose your credibility). The only thing that's remarkable is the car chase where they and up in the shopping mall. This chase is stolen from the Steven Seagal movie "Marked for death". Only the close-ups are replaced. How cheap can you get!! If you steal then don't steal from Steven's movies because they're sacred. Maybe there should be a law which prevents stealing from other movies to begin with. The movie improves however because of the car chase so in this case maybe it should be an exception.