If nothing else, Mercenary for Justice has one of the best titles of all of Seagal’s movies, and not just because it harkens back to Out for Justice — Seagal’s finest venture and one of the towering artistic achievements of the 20th century.
A ‘mercenary’ is defined as an individual who works for monetary reward, so the movie’s title is already an oxymoron. Saying someone is a “mercenary for justice” is like saying someone is a “dentist of fingernails” or a “Jew for Jesus.” But let’s forget that for second and ponder what a “mercenary for justice” would theoretically do. Maybe they rescue a VIP from a prison camp and, as payment, someone wrongly accused of murder gets a full pardon? Or maybe they assassinate a dangerous political figure and, as payment, a woman who was fired due to outdated sexist policies gets her job back and a formal apology? The possibilities are endless!
Alas, Mercenary for Justice features no mercenaries for justice. In fact, while it features a number of mercenaries, Seagal’s character is neither a mercenary for justice nor even a mercenary for money (which is also know as just ‘a mercenary’). Certain characters refer to him as a mercenary, but if you look back at the plot, he actually isn’t, assuming you use the traditional definition. He is many things in this movie — Iraq war vet, CIA operative, bank robber, prolific cop killer, sensitive romantic — but he is never what the dictionary would define as a mercenary.
Despite the disappointments on the mercenaries for justice front, Mercenary for Justice is actually one of the more enjoyable Seagal DTV movies. It is sufficiently entertaining — for some of the reasons it’s supposed to be, and lots of reasons it’s not. It sure doesn’t start out well, though. After the opening credits, which look and sound like they were done in iMovie by a 65-year-old man, these are two of the first things we see:
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