Better than expected... but not much
Summary
Truce Justice is one of the last watchable things Steven Seagal made and he does look like he’s putting some effort into it… mostly. It isn’t anything new to the action genre, but it’s still mildly diverting and enjoyable with a few shocking moments.
Plot: Elijah Kane is the head of a group of undercover cops that works the beat in Seattle, tasked with carrying out a unique, and at times brutal, style of law enforcement. The officers investigate crimes that range from drug offenses to murders and gang activity that occur in the seedy underbelly of the Emerald City. Although Kane is admirable and worthy of praise for his moral principles, he has a past that is shrouded in mystery. Kane’s second in command on the team is Andre Mason, who is always there to deal with the chaos that is an undercover officer’s daily life.
Review: If you have never watched True Justice then read no further as I am going to go into some major spoilers.
Believe it or not I had never watched True Justice starring Steven Seagal until recently; everyone told me it was terrible, so I held off from viewing it, but I’d be lying if I said I hated it.
It is mostly a police procedural which started off as a television show, but was then repackaged into a punch of 90 minute movies. In terms of recent Seagal fare it isn’t bad as he shows up for each episode and I didn’t notice any dubbing.
True Justice is at times quite gritty and isn’t afraid to show the seedier side of life while also not guaranteeing cast members will not be killed off. Seagal plays Elijah Kane, the head of a team of undercover cops who investigate various murders and other crimes. He is the mentor to his team who of course never gets injured and is a better fighter and shot than anyone else.
The supporting cast includes William Stewart as Andre, Sarah Lind as Sarah, Warren Christie as Radner and Meghan Ory as Juliet; they make up Seagal’s team and to be honest, aside from Andre and Sarah I didn’t especially like the other two. That’s quite handy as everyone aside from Sarah gets killed off in one of the biggest shocks of the series. In season 2 they are replaced by Lochlyn Munro as Simms, Jesse Hutch as Garcia and Tanaya Beatty as Finch. I prefer this cast as they are just more appealing as characters, but the first season is still entertaining.
In terms of action every episode has some shoot-outs and car chases with regular fight scenes too. Seagal even gets to throw down, but it’s mostly his body double as his fights are horribly edited. I love how he does things like have swordfights with suspects (which I’m sure is police procedure) as well as being utterly merciless. He seems to have no problem taking out the bad guys if it’s for the “greater good”.
I also enjoy how Seagal sometimes remembers to use his Louisiana accent by ending sentences with “you hear?” It was cool seeing one of the villains in Angel of Death say Kane is “hard to kill”. I see what you did there.
I mostly find the best episodes are directed by Keoni Waxman who manages to get Seagal to try a little. I prefer watching the show as episodes rather than the movies as they feel a bit half-assed in terms of editing occasionally.
We get some interesting guest stars like Tia Carrera, George Takei, Jon Foo and Ty Olsson (who plays two different characters in season 1 and 2). My favourite guest star is the late, great Darren Shahlavi in Season 2; he was so charismatic on screen and it’s such a shame he was taken from us so young.
It’s a shame the show was cut short as it ends on a rather huge cliffhanger which never gets resolved; I would have liked one more movie to wrap everything up, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Overall, True Justice is hardly amazing television, but for some reason I’ll always have a soft spot for Seagal and enjoy watching him slap his opponents around even if it is edited terribly. Some of the stories are entertaining and it is never short on action, so if there’s absolutely nothing else to watch you could do worse.