''Code of Honor'' is a 2016 American

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

written, produced, edited, and directed by Michael Winnick. The film stars

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

and

Craig Sheffer Craig Eric Sheffer (born April 23, 1960) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his starring roles as Hardy Jenns in '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' (1987), Aaron "Cabal" Boone in '' Nightbreed'' (1990), Norman Maclean in '' A Ri ...

and was released to

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

on May 6, 2016.

Plot

The film starts with members of

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

, Polynesian and Latino gangs being gunned down as they meet for the sale of cocaine, killing a dozen. The killer is Colonel Robert Sikes is a stealthy, one-man assault team who takes on a city's

street gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collecti ...

mobsters A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

and corrupt politicians until his mission is complete. His former protégé, William Porter, teams up with the local police department to bring his former commander to justice and prevent him from further

vigilantism Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

Cast

Production

Writer-director Michael Winnik said he wanted to make "''

First Blood ''First Blood'' is a 1982 American war action film starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, the film was co-written by Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim, and Stallone, deriving from the 1972 no ...

'' meets '' Death Wish''." Seagal liked the script and an earlier film of Winnik's, ''

Guns, Girls and Gambling ''Guns, Girls and Gambling'' is a 2012 American action crime thriller film written and directed by Michael Winnick. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, Megan Park, Helena Mattsson, Tony Cox, Chris Katt ...

'', and agreed to make the film. The film was shot in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

in March 2015 on a budget of $8 million. The shooting schedule was 20 days. Winnik said of Seagal, "he's definitely the real deal... he really knows his guns, his Aikido, his martial arts, his fighting skills. You know, he's teaching you weapons, he's teaching you moves. He’s been around a long time, but his arms, his hands, they’re still lightning fast." In the movie, Seagal's character dies. Winnik says the actor was not pleased with this and "if you ask him, he didn't ie He escaped. That said, the implication, the way the film is structured, is that he does. Obviously you can interpret it as you wish, but yes, he does go down. And that’s kind of what he’s been saying throughout the film. 'Would you give your life to save the world if no one knew you did it?' is the question he keeps posing. He's completed his mission and he's even made the other character take the fall for it."

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. In a review for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Robert Abele called it "dreadful" and "laughably awful".

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor ''Th ...

wrote in ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' that the film includes almost every B-action cliché, and stated that "the latest effort from the bloated, aging star is ..as bland as its title."

References

External links

* *{{Rotten Tomatoes, code_of_honor_2016 2016 films 2016 action thriller films 2016 crime drama films American action thriller films American crime drama films Films shot in Salt Lake City 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language action thriller films English-language crime drama films Vigilante films