'The Foreigner' (2003) – Michael Oblowitz.

For quite some time I have been of the opinion that Seagal's hugely divisive cinematic oeuvre, especially the more creatively diminished examples from the noughties are best taken as an entirely separate cinematic entity, perhaps, even being a fabulously disposable micro-genre in of itself! Unlike JCVD's proletarian, frequently moral pugilist, Seagal's darker protagonists are rarely sympathetic, being retrograde, unrealistically indestructible, monotonously monosyllabic, orgiastically violent outsiders set loose on their pitiless swathes of blood-soaked vengeance, or elite, inscrutable stiletto-cool government trained super soldiers forced to fight the system they were initially trained to protect. And in 2003's convoluted actioner 'The Foreigner', Seagal's surly deep cover spook Jonathan Cold inevitably finds himself the hard target in a malign corporate conspiracy to purloin the evidence of a tragic plane crash that might have been covertly orchestrated for Machiavellian political motives: cue much physical carnage, conspicuous body doubles, happy-slappy Kung-foolishness, and asthmatically delivered one-liners! Love it!!!!

While director Oblowitz's pacey, stridently squib-happy Seagal shoot 'em up is another unapologetically knuckle-headed thriller, The Foreigner's wintry Polish locations, plentiful old school pyrotechnics, strident score by David & Eric Wurst, and the deliciously eccentric array of scenery-chewing gunmen give it more of a skewed psychotronic edge than one may initially expect. Seagal's monomaniacal Jonathan Cold predictably obliterates everyone on his relentless quest of bodily destruction without ever cracking the veneer on his bizarre-looking helmet head! Seagal's sinister shadow Max Ryan oozes ambivalence as the dangerously twitchy, perma-smoking psychopath Dunoir, a volatile killer so despicable he cruelly cold-cocked an innocent waitress merely to get hold of her delectably iced buns!!! And kudos to super charismatic actor Deobia Oparei who effectively steals the film with his dynamic, oratorically-inclined, Seagal strangling thug 'The Stranger'. While Seagal uncharacteristically doesn't get the picture-perfect girlfriend this time out, there's a rather unsavoury scene at the beginning sordidly suggesting he only just recently enjoyed naughties with a lissome beauty over half his age, which does much to undermine Mr. Cold's hypocritical claim to having unimpeachable ethics; perhaps yet more damning evidence of Seagal's 'art' imitating a no less questionable life?