Extreme Justice

1993 "They're an elite task force. They target high-profile criminals, learn how they work...and shut them down."
5.5| 1h36m| R| en| More Info
Released: 26 June 1993 Released
Producted By: Trimark Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Jeff Powers is the newest member of a very elite and very secret LAPD division. Their mission is to target important criminals and to get them to stop. Police brutality is not a known term for the division and they will stop at nothing to get the job done, even if it means murder.

Genre

Action, Thriller

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Director

Mark L. Lester

Production Companies

Trimark Pictures

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Extreme Justice Audience Reviews

Pluskylang Great Film overall
Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.
Robert J. Maxwell 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.
elskootero-1 I got a real kick out of EXTREME JUSTICE, but I knew right off that Lou Diamond Phillips' and his girlfriend's characters were going to screw, it up, and sure enough; they DID! I liked the way the SIS squad got rid of criminals and saved the taxpayer's a ton of money in the process, but that stupid reporter just couldn't bear to see criminals not getting their rights coddled, and her liberal cop boyfriend just HAD to F**K it up, and that's just what they did! I just don't see how people, even movie characters, think like those fools did. Imagine a world where criminals actually got punished for the crimes they commit! Tell that to that idiot reporter and her equally idiotic cop boyfriend. A GREAT film, except for those two bozos!
ofumalow Mark L. Lester has directed some of the most enjoyably trashy movies ever ("Roller Boogie," "Class of 1984," "Gold of the Amazon Women" etc.), mostly working in the low-budget direct- to-video or TV movie realm though he briefly entered the mainstream with the Stephen King adaptation "Firestarter" and Stallone vehicle "Commando." I haven't seen much of his more recent work, but always perk up when I see his name on a DVD or old VHS tape--his movies are sometimes ridiculous but they're almost always energetic and entertaining.This is actually one of his more respectable efforts, as it's a fairly effective indictment of police corruption that was made at a time when LAPD was under close scrutiny for just that. Lou Diamond Phillips plays a conscientious (but incongruously long-haired) young police officer recruited to a special unit, teamed with his mentor Scott Glenn. They're assigned to track down serial murderers, rapists and robbers, but somehow every time they apprehend the bad guys, all the perps and usually a few innocent bystanders end up dead--the whole squad is way too trigger-happy, esp. Glenn. Phillips gets increasingly uncomfortable with this, leading to the inevitable tension (a la the later "Training Day") between cop veteran and newbie partner.Both leads are good, the violent action is solidly handled, and the movie is less campy but no less fun than many of Lester's other films. It's nothing great, but it's a solid "B" flick.
lost-in-limbo Supposedly this film when it came out caused a bit of a stir and controversy by claiming that the idea behind the premise (an elite group of LAPD cops operating outside normal police guidelines that target high-profile criminals) was inspired by facts. The idea is scary (bystanders sometimes considered necessary sacrifices), but not particularly new as it did remind me of the Dirty Harry sequel; "Magnum Force". Although this death squad were not rogues operating outside the law as in that film; well that's what they like to think in what is an official unit. "Extreme Justice" might be audacious, but what occurs is by-the-book and formulaic. Director Mark L. Lester's mechanically brazen handling balances the tough action with the not-so black-and-white context. Some set-pieces are frenetic and raw, chucking in foot-chases, car-chases, bloody shootouts and Mark Irwin's sweeping photography. Sure it can be somewhat heavy-handed and morally bounded, but Lester keeps it reality bounded and it's the lead performance of Scott Glenn that sells it. He plays the leader of the S.I.S (Special Investigation Section) unit. Glenn's outstanding performance is lean, but also ballsy and cynical as you can see it beginning to affect him. Lou Diamond Phillips suitably plays the brash, but idealistically rough newcomer to the squad who actually begins to question the methods in how they go about getting the job done. Watching the two go at it fuelled some tension in between the set- ups after set-ups. There's good support from the likes of Yaphet Kotto, Chelsea Field, Richard Grove, William Lucking, L. Scott Caldwall and Ed Lauter as the police captain. Daniel Quinn and Andrew Divoff play some criminals. While also look for action stuntman Larry Holt and stuntman / actor Bob Minor."Trust me amigo. You're made for this work."