Code of Honor is one of the worst movies I’ve come across this year and easily the worst of Seagal’s now free-falling career. The acting was at best average from a supporting cast that at least were trying while Seagal was sleepwalking, action scenes that were poorly shot and laughable post-production work with bad CGI.
Code of Honor
(2016)
Genre(s): Action, Suspense/Thriller
Lionsgate | R – 106 min. – $19.99 | July 5, 2016
Date Published: 06/25/2016 | Author: The Movieman
  |
|
THE MOVIE – 0.5/5 |
|
The once venerable action star Steve Seagal continues his decent to obscurity and utter laziness. I thought last year’s Absolution was bad but Code of Honor sunk to new lows. Not only is Seagal not the lead, in spite of his oversized head and named being plastered on the front cover, but he’s only in the film for maybe 40-minutes and doesn’t even speak a single line until the 48-minute mark. Beyond that, the fight scenes, what few there are, were poorly choreographed and anything involving Seagal makes you realize why stunt doubles were used since any close-ups looked ridiculous.
Code of Honor is basically Punisher-lite with some Death Wish for good measure. Former Special-Ops operative Robert Sikes (STEVEN SEAGAL) has gone off the reservation following the deaths of his wife and daughter, deciding to take the law into his own hands. He spends his days and nights taking out scumbags while his former protégé, FBI Agent William Porter (CRAIG SHEFFER) is intent on taking him down with the help of local detective, of some random unnamed city, James Peterson (LOUIS MANDYLOR). Exotic dancer Keri Green (HELENA MATTSSON) and her young son gets thrown into the mix after Sikes set a bomb off in the strip club where she worked and her boss, and crime lord (JAMES RUSSO), along with the authorities want to talk to her as she might have seen the perpetrator before blowing up the joint, which served as an illegal gun running operation.
Beyond an absurd script, written by Michael Winnick who also helmed (marking his fourth film), this production which reportedly cost $8 million, looked so cheap. The production design was bad enough but even worse was the insane usage of CGI for everything from muzzle flashes, blood splatter, and kill shots. It was stunning how bad the movie looked. And then there’s Mr. Steven Seagal. It’s yet another lazy performance though this time around, despite being an executive producer and receiving top billing, he’s hardly the main character and doesn’t have much screen time let alone dialogue. I thought he looked bored in Absolution but with Code of Honor, he might have well been in a coma. Heck, as terrible as his fight sequences have looked in his past few movies, they’ve somehow, someway gotten worse. Laughably worse, in fact. He has one poorly shot mano a mano fight with Sheffer where Seagal’s moves were slow and comical, and at the same time, sad. Seagal never was a ‘great’ actor by any stretch but in movies like Under Siege and Exit Wounds, a viewer could at least appreciate his fighting style even amongst thin plots.
The supporting cast isn’t that much better though I’ll give Craig Sheffer, whose last movie I remember seeing was 1996’s Head Above Water, some credit for appearing to care about his character and material while I kind of wish Louis Mandylor’s detective character had replaced Seagal as he possesses at least a modicum of charisma. Code of Honor is a new low in the ever growing slate of direct-to-video (or contractually limited theatrical release) films and for Seagal a sad reminder that it’s apparent he’s just given up as he appears extremely bored. Beyond the actor, the rest of the movie is a train wreck from beginning to end. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0.5/5 |
|
The only feature included is the film’s Trailer (2:10; HD). Inside the case contains the redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Previews – Absolution, Precious Cargo, Extraction, Zero Tolerance, Chain of Command |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Code of Honor takes to the streets on Blu-ray shown with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The video actually doesn’t look half bad; detail looks sharp and well defined with some noise that never distracted. There were no major or obvious flaws like aliasing, artifacts, banding and the like making for a surprisingly pleasing video transfer. |
AUDIO – 2.5/5 |
| The same can’t be said for the lackluster DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. This is shockingly limited with absolutely no impact where the numerous gunshots were dull and dialogue levels were generally soft, albeit you can at least still understand it. The only depth I found was with the generic/forgettable action-thriller score by Michael John Mollo. I suspect, as with the bad CGI, the production company went the cheap route with the sound design as well. |
OVERALL – 1.0/5 |
| Overall, Code of Honor is one of the worst movies I’ve come across this year and easily the worst of Seagal’s now free-falling career. The acting was at best average from a supporting cast that at least were trying while Seagal was sleepwalking, action scenes that were poorly shot and laughable post-production work with bad CGI. The Blu-ray itself is basic with only a trailer in the features department, good video but woefully below average audio. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.