Excessive Force ** (1993, Thomas Ian Griffith, James Earl Jones, Charlotte Lewis, Lance Henriksen, Burt Young) – Classic Movie Review 9719

Director Jon Hess’s 1993 Excessive Force is a forceful, tolerable but excessively routine and commonplace action thriller, with martial arts star Thomas Ian Griffith as Chicago cop Terry McCain, who must clear himself of charges of theft and killing when he is wrongfully accused of big-time robbery and corruption.

Excessive Force is a conveyor-belt product tailor-made to the usual, unsurprising formula, written and produced by its star. Some good action and the strong cast help it limp along, but the lack of surprises in the story means you can have a long doze in the middle and not miss very much.

Excessive Force is all quite adequate, and boosted by its above-average support performers, though it is all done with excessive ordinariness.

Also in the cast are James Earl Jones, Charlotte Lewis, Lance Henriksen, Burt Young, Antoni Corone, Liza Cruzat, Leon Delaney, Danny Epper, Tony Epper, Danny Goldring, Tony Todd and W Earl Brown.

Excessive Force is directed by Jon Hess, runs 93 minutes, is made by 3 Arts Entertainment, Ian Page Productions and New Line Cinema, is released by New Line Cinema, is written by Thomas Ian Griffith, shot by Donald M Morgan, produced by Thomas Ian Griffith and scored by Charles Bernstein.

Excessive Force is rated R for strong violence and strong language, and for sexuality and drug use.

Two sequels so far: the unrelated Excessive Force II: Force on Force (1995) and Excessive Force III.

Thomas Ian Griffith was born on 18 March 1962 in Hartford, Connecticut.

Thomas Ian Griffith is best known as Terry Silver, the main villain in The Karate Kid Part III (1989). After his successful acting career ended in 2007, he started writing and producing for TV, including the NBC hit show Grimm. He is married to actress Mary Page Keller since 1991 and they have two sons.

 © Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9719

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