Okay, at best.

poolandrews

A vigilante revenge thriller set in New York (why is it that about 90% of films are shot at least in part in New York, everything is set there!) that for some unknown reason has become a bit of a cult classic. During the opening sequence set in Vietnam, a soldier, John Eastland (Robert Ginty) saves the life of his buddy from a group of nasty Vietnamese soldiers. Years later back in New York (why New York, why?!) Eastland's mate is attacked and paralysed by a group of thieves/thugs. Eastland is annoyed about this and kills them all in revenge. He then goes round killing the odd bad guy here and there for various reasons, not just that he wants clean New York up. For instance, he kills the mob boss so he can get money for hes mates wife and kid, not just because its the moral thing to do. He kills the guy who runs the brothel because of what he did to the prostitute he has befriended. Then there's the cop (Christopher George) whos trying to track him down, yawn. So, the exterminator for the most part isn't really a vigilante film in my opinion, hes just a guy who tries to do the right thing by his mate, and kills the odd bad guy here and there if he gets a good enough reason. Ginty is poor, laid back, mild mannered and looks rather uninterested in the whole thing. I never got the impression he was a hard as nails ruthless killer. He just seemed to quiet and nice. George as the cop is also pretty bad, mostly focusing on his relationship with a female doctor, yawn. One or two nice bits of gore to keep you awake/interested, the beheading by machete in the opening sequence an obvious standout. I just found the whole thing a bit boring, dull and pedestrian. This guy was meant to be the exterminator, by half way through the movie he had killed about 4 people, hardly a one man army! I maybe am being a bit harsh as there's nothing technically wrong with it, and what was there was okay but I just expected more from a film with a title and reputation like the exterminator.

score /10

poolandrews 20 September 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0175497/