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Hard to Kill poster

Hard to Kill

year 1990decade 90sdirector Bruce Malmuthgenre Drama

97 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Steven Seagal Mason Storm
Kelly LeBrock Andy Stewart
William Sadler Vernon Trent
Frederick Coffin Kevin O’Malley
Bonnie Burroughs Felicia Storm
Andrew Bloch Dan Hulland
Branscombe Richmond Max Quentero
Charles Boswell Jack Axel
Dean Norris Goodhart
Zachary Rosencrantz Sonny Storm
Lou Beatty Jr. Carl Becker
Stanley Brock Counterman

Hard to Kill | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Kyle Brandtproducer Craig Horlbeckproducer Jessie Lopez
Explore episodeClose episode

Most Rewatchable Scene

Recovery montage; coma awakening and hospital escape, tentative

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:51Read transcript
  • The secret dock meeting during the opening credits recalls an action trope already parodied by The Naked Gun.
  • Storm’s inept-looking camera handling somehow records incriminating evidence perfectly, prompting comparisons with incompetent volunteer photographers.
  • The liquor-store robbery is enjoyably ridiculous: Oscar banter precedes execution and mass retaliation, followed by questions about leaving the crime scene.
  • Visible landing pads, Seagal’s smirk and champagne exchange, the clerk’s crude career joke, and police Oscar jokes amid corpses heighten the liquor-store scene’s comedy.
  • Emerging from the coma and escaping the hospital are a leading choice; the greasy assassin impersonates a doctor without identification, and Storm maneuvers a stretcher despite years of immobility.
  • The nurse’s sexual interest in an incapacitated patient is startling; sheet-lifting and suggestive kitten dialogue are condemned as grotesquely inappropriate while Seagal’s ego is mocked.
  • The rapid recovery montage combines shaving, movement practice, motivational clippings, jogging, rope-board punching and acupuncture.
  • The recovery montage is an explicit favorite revisited for amusement: bandana, thin tank top, weak-looking punches, running and requested Chinese herbs all contribute.
  • The modest exercises are contrasted with Rocky’s spectacular training; the mountain climax predictably receives an eagle sound effect.
  • The montage briefly pauses for the nurse to seek O’Malley before returning to more training.
  • The blood-bank threat finally follows recognition of Trent’s repeated catchphrase, leading into the house shootout.
  • Storm’s reunion with his son and O’Malley’s death are nominated, with visible squibs and wires undermining the shooting.
  • The pool-cue fight culminates in the crude revenge line for Storm’s wife, a favorite catchphrase reused socially.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Liquor-store clerk

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:56Read transcript
  • The clerk is an early nominee for making a vivid impression before being abruptly killed.
  • The hospital hitman and Johnny Carson are alternatives, but the clerk’s few magnetic lines opposite underplaying Seagal receive the final preference.

What’s Aged the Best?

Storm’s wife; LeBrock’s 80s appeal; escaping child; chopsticks; dojo house; Sadler; Seagal running; Carson contrast; ego

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:37Read transcript
  • The absurd sheet-lifting admiration is read as evidence of Seagal’s ego, despite the nurse’s deeply inappropriate treatment of a coma patient.
  • Storm’s wife is admired as attractive, while the unusually explicit love scene raises questions about Seagal’s conduct and his real marriage to LeBrock.
  • LeBrock’s lasting appeal from Weird Science and The Woman in Red is separated from her weak performance here; the passionless scene with her real husband contrasts strangely with his screen wife’s scene.
  • A small child instantly understanding a murder threat and escaping through a window is admired as an implausibly competent movie-child trope.
  • Serving chopsticks to a newly awakened coma patient and finding an Ojai house already outfitted as a martial-arts dojo are enjoyed as absurd conveniences.
  • William Sadler is welcomed through memories of Shawshank and Die Hard 2, with joking disappointment at the absence of naked tai chi.
  • Seagal’s dangling-arm running is a maximal source of unintentional comedy, compared with a toddler fleeing a towel; a running coach seems necessary, while dialogue praising his speed and online compilations compound the joke.
  • A near baseball-playing scene in Out for Justice creates regret over missing another potential display of awkward athleticism.
  • Johnny Carson playing during sinister events supplies a pleasing happy-versus-scary contrast.

What’s Aged the Worst?

LeBrock’s performance and nurse characterization; coma wig and beard; bank slogan; intimacy concerns; rapid physical and emotional recovery

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:19Read transcript
  • LeBrock’s performance is considered underthought and disengaged.
  • The coma hair and beard are cheap and visibly peeling, although their absurdity is also entertaining.
  • Trent’s bank slogan is overused, with speculation that modern social media would ridicule it.
  • The love scene prompts concern about the lack of an intimacy coordinator, followed by a cited magazine account of sexual-misconduct allegations.
  • A magazine’s allegations from McCarthy, de Rossi, Chong, LaRue, Margulies and former assistants are discussed alongside Seagal’s Putin relationship and reported dishonesty; the hosts distinguish enjoying old screen work from their present view of him.
  • The nurse’s nickname for her comatose patient, ignoring danger, and seduction beside pictures of his murdered family make her characterization especially objectionable.
  • The rapid physical recovery and apparent emotional recovery from his wife’s murder are implausible, while Storm fails to establish whether his son survived.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Kill Bill borrowed the premise; Seagal as action’s Billy Corgan; early Seagal crush

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:34Read transcript
  • The explicitly solicited take links betrayal, coma and revenge to Kill Bill, while the assassin’s bolo tie and Storm’s ponytail are compared with Vincent Vega; Kill Vern is proposed as a joke title. — Kyle Brandt
  • Seagal is compared with Billy Corgan: a major creative run whose reputation is eclipsed by a disliked persona, with the Under Siege pair likened to a double album.
  • A spouse’s admission of an early Seagal crush becomes an amused personal revelation, particularly his low voice and ponytail.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:17Read transcript
  • Sadler and Norris are excluded as too recognizable by name, though Norris previously fit the category.
  • Richmond is the textbook familiar face with an unknown name, recalled from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and varied sinister supporting roles.

Apex Mountain

Unintentional-comedy Seagal; acupuncture; Ojai;1990 action movies, qualified

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:57Read transcript
  • This is affirmed for unintentional-comedy Seagal, while his overall career peak is placed at Under Siege and the leverage to direct his passion project.
  • LeBrock is rejected; acupuncture is affirmed, prompting personal treatment stories and surprise that real sessions lack smoking needles.
  • Cobra is preferred for empty-hospital murder attempts; The Fugitive’s one-armed Sykes is ultimately preferred for incompetent hitmen after the era as a whole is considered.
  • Ojai is affirmed, with admiration for the house and speculation about renting it for a bachelor party.
  • 1990 is a possible action-film peak within the 1988–1992 run, when many major stars had releases and a new action film seemed to arrive every weekend.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Untouchable; adjacent Seagal films supply prequel and sequel equivalents

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:36Read transcript
  • Leaving the movie alone is preferred, while Above the Law and Marked for Death already function as informal prequel and sequel equivalents.

Just One Oscar

Creator of the Seagal-running compilation

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:22:51Read transcript
  • No actual film contribution receives the choice; the maker of the entertaining online running montage is jokingly preferred.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Trent’s painting; inscribed toilet lid

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:16Read transcript
  • Trent’s giant self-portrait is favored, prompting jokes about such paintings as warning signs.
  • The toilet lid bearing the death-anticipation message is the alternative, admired as a ridiculous display of quick, perfect lipstick penmanship.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Learn to heal; hurting people is easy

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:31Read transcript
  • The healing lesson receives agreement over the death-anticipation maxim, with superior attitude and state of mind offered as another possibility.