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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 5441
Released: January 28, 1998 |
| Our Price: $1.99 |
| Used Price: $2.00 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
STEVEN SEAGAL UNLEASHES NEW SCREEN FURY AS A DETECTIVE WHO AWAKES FROM AN EXTENDED COMA AND SEEKS REVENGE ON THE CORRUPT POLITICIAN WHO MURDERED HIS FAMILY.
Description of Hard to Kill:
After making his action-hero debut in 1988's Above the Law, Steven Seagal followed up with this typically formulaic action thriller, in which the ponytailed crime fighter is shot full of bullets and left for dead after he uncovers a powerful circle of corrupt politicians. After seven years in a coma, he returns to consciousness and is nursed back to health by--surprise, surprise!--a gorgeous woman, played by Seagal's then wife Kelly ("don't hate me because I'm beautiful") LeBrock. Once in peak condition, snarlin' Steve sets out to satisfy his hearty appetite for revenge, and the bone-crunching action kicks into high gear with the requisite chases, hand-to-hand combat, and escalating body count. This is one of Seagal's best vehicles, establishing the star's screen persona before it grew stale in later films. --Jeff Shannon
Hard to Kill Reviews:
The Road To Recovery & Revenge 
2009-02-20 - Looking for a no-brainer that is fun to watch, the standard-but-effective revenge film? Well, this is it.
As usual, everything is played to the hilt, meaning the bad guys couldn't be much worse. They not only kill hero Steven Seagal's wife and kid but are crude and use profanity in every sentence. They are the low-life scums in every sense of the word.
Seagal's real-life wife, Kelly LeBrock, plays a nurse in here, nursing her Buddhist he-man back to health after the thugs had left him for dead in the aforementioned family killing. The rest is simply Seagal's road to recovery and for revenge against those punks...but it's an interesting road, enough to fill the bill if you're in a revenge-seeking mood
worth the price
2009-02-20 - So the acting is a little lame, but it has martial arts, a beautiful woman, corrupt politicians and cops and did I mention VIOLENCE! Pretty much Seagal's best work and LeBrock is easy on the eyes and ears as always.
Seven Years In 96 Minutes 
2008-10-05 - I'm conflicted about "Hard to Kill" (alternatively known as "The Seven Year Storm" - a better title, if you ask me): on one hand, it displays Steven Seagal's strengths to near-perfection, but on the other, it's just about the dumbest follow-up that Seagal could do after his smarter-than-average debut, Above the Law. Rest assured, it's not a bad movie, and certainly belongs on any of Seagal's "best of" lists...but for many folks, that's not saying much.
In the film, Seagal is Mason Storm - a lone wolf policeman who's just made a breakthrough regarding a plot to assassinate a US senator. Before he can deliver the evidence, however, an attack on his home by the crooks leaves his wife dead, his son missing, and Storm himself in a coma. Protected by his friend and colleague Kevin O'Malley (Frederick Coffin, View from the Top), Storm lies unconscious for seven years until awakening to renewed assassination attempts and a thirst for revenge.
For the record, being put into a coma is the most harm that has ever befallen the usually-invincible Seagal. That doesn't stop him, however, from managing to outrun an assassin while still in his hospital bed, mere minutes after he woke up. Throw in the beard he grew during his coma and the taking off of his shirt, and you've got a respectable list of things you see in none other of his films. I suppose that's where the film's main appeal lies: he's put into situations you usually don't see him in, but the fact that he handles all of them in his superhuman way puts a bit of a damper on the thought that his character might be but a man.
The action is hit-and-miss: the scene in the convenience store is one of the best examples of seeing real aikido in use, but it's nothing more than Seagal taking out the garbage as usual. A couple of similar scenes don't supply much of a rush, either. However, the shootout in the doctor's house is one of the finest that Seagal has ever been filmed in: brilliant mix of gunplay and hand-to-hand fighting, and even a grotesquely-snapped arm thrown in for good measure.
The inclusion of Kelly LeBrock (Weird Science) - Seagal's then-wife - is a two-edged blade: while she gives little more than an acceptable performance, her interaction with Seagal seems to give the martial artist a confidence that he tends to lack in his acting, and supplies him with a surprising flair that chooses to express itself during quieter scenes - I mean, when's the last time you've seen Seagal guffaw convincingly? Then again, since she was his real-life spouse, it's inevitable that they begin a relationship in the movie, and this doesn't gel at all with the approach of a man who, in his mind, has lost his wife only weeks ago.
However, when the bad guys get theirs, it's some of the most satisfying scenes that our hero has ever uttered harsh language in: you really don't know how good you can feel for a guy until William Sadler (Roswell - Seasons 1-3) is standing with a gun barrel in his mouth, being told what's going to happen to him in prison. The ability to instill this marvelous feel for vengeance earns late director Bruce Malmuth (Nighthawks) some kudos...but eventually, it feels like just another run-of-the-mill action vehicle for Steven.
While it's more interesting than most of the films Seagal's been involved in, it really doesn't top an old-fashioned, to-the-point Seagalian bloodbath like Out for Justice or Under Siege. Fans should definitely pick it up, and 80s-action freaks should get a fix out of this one...but everybody else, rent it first.
A fun movie
2008-08-15 - This is a good Seagal thriller and pushes the right buttons. It isn't one of his best but it does deliver the goods.
No classic
2008-07-05 - This is no classic. Seagal plays a cop who after capturing a politician on film with some well known criminals becomes their target. He survives but his family do not. The rest you can guess. Having said its no classic, that is only by comparison to the very highest standards; as Seagal films go this is one of his best. He has ample opportunity to display his martial arts skills and it moves along with pace, and as its only just over an hour and a half long this means you won't be bored.
However the script is pretty average, and as with a lot of Seagal films it has a made for TV feel about it which does it no favours. I certainly wouldn't recommend purchasing as I don't believe it will hold up to repeated viewings. See it once and enjoy it for what it is and move on!
