Beyond The Law (2019) Review

Beyond The Law (2019)

Directed By: James Cullen Bressack

Starring: Johnny Messner, Steven Seagal, DMX & Zach Ward

Synopsis: A former mobster turned businessman and a police detective must contend with a dirty ex-cop looking to bring the killer of his son to justice.

Review: The cast alone is enough to have you hooked. Johnny Messner is a cool dude and has some great action movies under his belt, Steven Seagal is an action legend and DMX if not notable for his music is know to action fans in the 90’s where he starred in gems such as Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 The Grave and Romeo Must Die.

The movie was written by action genius Chad Law and directed by James Cullen Bressack who has stepped away from the genre of horror and delved into some action with a hard hitting cast. Naturally James has let some form of horror slip in – during nightmare sequences – that fit in with the movie and add more depth to what Johnny Messners character is going through.

I initially read some reviews that weren’t overly impressed with the movie. I couldn’t have been more pleased, I thought the movie was solid and each actor done their piece and were invested. We all know that sometimes these low budget movies get some star names who phone in their performances. This didn’t feel like that.

There was some action and fight scenes throughout too keep us action fans pleased, Seagal doesn’t really do much of the fighting, but I was here to watch Messner kick ass, which he did with ease. Zach Ward plays Steven Seagals son Desmond, who would in sense be the villain character and Zach done an awesome job playing the character. I really didn’t like him and was waiting until Messner got ahold of him. DMX plays the cop trying to piece everything together, it was cool seeing him back in a movie, he doesn’t get the big Exit Wounds reunion we hoped for unfortunately. His character had an interesting arc and DMX plays it out so well.

Their are some twists and turns throughout and the ending was quite a fun turn, Chad definitely had an ace up his sleeve with that.

Overall its a solid action thriller featuring a cool cast line up. If I had one gripe it would be a scene featuring Seagal and a buissness woman, it felt really awkward and clunky, I was waiting for it too end. Apart from that I really enjoyed the movie and the characters. We get a cool cameo from Patrick Kilpatrick as a bouncer. The story keeps you hooked and has some twists too it.