Astute use of New Orleans locales is about the only asset of BODY COUNT, a stereotypical film about slaying cops and vengeful felons.
When two goodfellas, the Gianelli brothers, are rubbed out, their murderer, Makato (Sonny Chiba), has trouble collecting his paycheck and maintaining his freedom. Not only was Makato hired for the hit by a member of the New Orleans police force, but that same vigilante cop set up Makato to get
caught. Suffering the ignominy of incarceration, Makato vows to target the entire force until he punishes his betrayer. Sprung from jail by an escape expert, Sybil (Brigitte Nielsen), Makato flees after helping Sybil slaughter the guards at his outdoor work detail. Meanwhile, veteran cops
Detective Cook (Robert Davi) and partner Detective Rizzo (Steven Bauer) resent the diligence of new superior officer, Janet Hood (Cindy Ambuehl), as she scratches for clues to uncover the cop linked to Makato's paid hit.
After initiating his vendetta by offing a stoolie, Makato slashes, torches, tortures, and pushes off of high places several members of the force, leaving Rizzo for dead. Eventually Hood and Cook deduce that Rizzo hired Makato to ice the Gianelli boys, because they kidnapped Rizzo's young daughter
for a kiddie-porn sideline. At the hospital, Rizzo, in disgrace, pulls out his own life support. While Hood tangles with Sybil, who is eventually crushed to death under a compressor at a trolley barn, Cook grapples with Makato aboard a runaway trolley. At the last second, Cook hops off and Makato
meets a fiery end as the trolley crashes into a fuel tanker.
Dependable action star Robert Davi brings his reserved masculinity to BODY COUNT, lending this clunky crimestopper some much needed class. Clever incorporation of photogenic New Orleans locales cannot disguise the mechanics of a stereotypical revenge scenario. Instead of revving up the thrills
with a police force counteroffensive, the film passively portrays the cops as sitting ducks, priming the audience for each of Makato's gruesome assaults as if this were a slasher flick instead of a cop drama. The aggressive violence depicted is often startling, but not satisfying. (Graphic
violence, extreme profanity, extensive nudity, adult situations, sexual situations, substance abuse.) leave a comment
