CODE OF HONOR (2016) ***

Code of Honor is probably Steven Seagal’s best Direct to DVD movie.  For sheer unintentional laughs, I’d still stick with Out of Reach, but this is definitely his most polished and involving DTV action flick since Pistol Whipped.

I admire the fact that Seagal is at a point in his career where he can just sit behind a sniper rifle to hide his ever-expanding girth while wearing sunglasses and a goatee for most of his screen time.  I swear, he spends about 80% of his screen time sitting down.  When he’s not sitting behind a sniper rifle, he’s sitting in the shadows of a strip club watching women dance in slow motion. He probably wasn’t even on set the same day because he's only shown sitting in front of a pink glittery curtain.  In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find him in a shot containing any of the other actors.

Another jaw-dropping fact about his character is that he doesn’t have any lines of dialogue until 45 minutes into the movie.  Props to Seagal for finding projects in which he can grab a paycheck from doing the barest minimum possible.  I think even late-era Brando would be impressed.  

However, there’s a REASON why you see so little of Seagal in the movie.  The kicker is that it honestly makes sense.  I won’t spoil it for you because it is one of the genuine treats the film has in store for you.

Code of Honor plays like a mash-up of The Punisher and another movie.  I won’t tell you which one because you’ll immediately guess the twist ending.  Anyway, Seagal is a sniper who is singlehandedly taking out kingpin James Russo’s crime syndicate.  Craig Sheffer is the mysterious federal agent who is hunting Seagal who waltzes in and complicates detective Louis Mandylor’s investigation.  

I’ve sat through a lot of these things and I can honestly say Code of Honor is a truly good one.  It’s competently, even stylishly at times, made and features some decent action.  Writer/director Michael Winnick uses Seagal’s fleeting appearances to maximum advantage.  Some will undoubtedly be disappointed by the lack of wrist-snapping action in this one, but Sheffer makes for an acceptable Seagal substitute as he is constantly jamming knives into bad guys every twenty minutes or so.