Hard To Kill (1990) * * *


Cast: Steven Seagal, Kelly LeBrock, Bill Sadler, Frederic Coffin

Directed by Bruce Malmuth

Seagal plays super-cop Mason Storm an Aikido expert who survives an attack on his family only to wake up later looking to avenge the matter, seems Seagal accidently videotaped a corrupt politician (is there any other kind?) and his dealings with mobsters to assassinate the current mayor or senator of the state, but after recouping with a fetching nurse (Seagal’s than real life wife LeBrock)and using Chinese herbal remedies to put him in peak condition to get revenge in the most brutal of ways. Hard To Kill represents a vast improvement over the mediocre Above The Law, as the revenge angle is perfectly suited to Seagal’s style of hero, and the bad guys are viscous and thoroughly hateful. Also, the action goes more for suspense, especially the action sequence where Seagal has to dodge gun toting hit-men while bed ridden and needing a broom to press the elevator buttons. Hard To Kill also succeeds in giving us the vintage Seagal line- “I’m gonna take you to the bank…the blood bank!”