Exiled (1998) Reviews

• excellent movie, well-acted and -written, and engrossing

  karen-261998-11-11

  I'm not sure how captivating this movie would be for those who didn't love Mike Logan from the first 5 years of "Law & Order". I *think* Chris Noth did a brilliant job conveying Mike's sense of loss, despair, and alienation, but then again, I've missed him sorely from the series. But, even without that background, "Exiled" is a tightly-written and well-acted police procedural, tracking between Staten Island (the scene of Mike's exile) and Manhattan (his lost and desired home), and through the stormy emotional terrain of Mike's mind. The case -- a murdered prostitute -- is far less important than the things it leads them to: a sociopathic mobster and a crooked cop in Mike's old precinct, and even those aren't quite as compelling as the battle Mike fights with his own obsessive desire to get back to his old way of life. In the end, that desire demands more than Mike could ever have dreamed... and the end of the film is painfully real. The Staten Island Ferry visually dominates the film, as is appropriate, as it symbolises Mike's in-between state. And the contrast between the suburban streets of Staten Island and the city (especially for those who remember the episode "God Bless the Child" and Mike's comments about small-town policing) were well done. In fact, the movie was filled with resonating triplets: Staten Island-the ferry-Manhattan; Cragen-Stopher-Van Buren (Mike's bosses); his three partners (past and present); the three women (the wife, the victim, the sister)... and these added to the depth. In short, this is far, far more than a long L&O episode.

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• It could have been so much better.....

  Jimmy-1282000-02-24

  All right, all right, I was ecstatic as the next L&O junkie when I heard that Chris Noth would reprise his role as Mike Logan. I looked forward to this movie for months, lying to every friend, family member, and creditor I have that I was absolutely, positively, unavailable that particular Sunday night. I even told my roommate that he was going to have to live without the X-Files for 1 week. Mulder and Scully, you never looked so good. It wasn't that this was a bad movie. It's that it took the easy way out in many cases, which is something Law and Order never does. It was a paint-by-numbers cop drama, and didn't try to be anything else. I won't spoil the plot by pointing out the various pointless twists--let's just say that anyone with a nodding familiarity with the genre will see the ending a mile away. What really struck me was how hard the writers were trying to make this a "one-lone-cop-against-the-bureaucracy" story. That might have worked with brand new characters, but we've all watched Mike Logan, Lennie Briscoe, Anita Van Buren, and Jack McCoy for years. We know how they're going to react to situations and to each other. Logan's difficulties with McCoy in this film are plausible--they were never all that friendly during their one year together. But his confrontation with Briscoe seems forced, and the mutual animosity with Van Buren is way out of left field. Logan risked his career for her at one point--over Briscoe's objections. So how exactly does she label him "self-absorbed"? All in all, it left a bad taste in my mouth. The characters and the actors both deserved better.

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• Enjoyable, Quick Moving Mystery

  joystar1999-12-24

  I've been a Chris Noth Fan for a long time, and was very upset when he left LAW & ORDER. Mike Logan was a quirky, individualistic character who always left you wanting more. What a treat that Mr. Noth and co-writer Charles Kipps finally told us what happened to Logan after he was banished to Staten Island. In addition to being an enjoyable, fast moving mystery, there was always the underlying angst of Logan's boredom. I'm reminded of the phrase "Be Careful What You Wish For...You May Get It." Logan got what he wished for: He returned to the 2-7, and the Homicide work that he loved, only to find out that you can't go back again. I'd enjoy seeing a sequel, to find out how the character resolves this. Good Work, Chris Noth!

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• The "Blue Wall" stops at homicide!

  sol-kay2008-04-18

  ***SPOILERS*** Having been exiled to far off and low crime Staten Island for slugging, in front of TV cameras no less, a New York City councilman Det. Mike Logan, Chris Noth, has been dying to get back where the action is. Logan want's to be transferred back to his old precinct the 27th, the Two Seven in police lingo, in midtown and high crime ridden Manhattan. Finagling a murder victim found floating in New York Bay Logan makes it look like the victim was dropped, or deep sixth, off Statan Island to get on the case. Back in the good old Two Seven, on a temporary basis, Logan soon finds out that the murder victim was an exotic dancer and part-time hooker named Suzan Taylor, Nicole Ari Parker. Checking the dead hooker out Logan not only finds that Suzan was working for Mafia Godfather Don Giancarlo Uzielli, Tony Musante, young hot-headed and a bit obnoxious son Glanni, Costas Mandylor, at his strip joint "The Catwalk" but that she had a twin sister Georgeanne, also played by Miss. Parker. Det. Logan finds Georganne studying ballet at an uptown Harlem dance school. Tracking the late Suzan Parkers movements before her brutal murder Det. Logan together with his partner woman detective Frankie Silvera, Dana Eskelson, finds that she was last seen alive at this hotel run by young Galanni Uzielli. Det. Logan also tracks down Suzan's pimp Seymour "Kingston" Stckton, Ice-T, who was at the hotel the night that she was murdered! As both Det. Logan and Silvera follow up the leads from the murder scene it becomes apparent that Suzan's murder was either covered up or in fact committed by a police officer at the Two Seven! The crooked cop it turned out was in the pocket of the Uzielli Mob who had him planted in the Two Seven to keep them updated to what's going on there. It's then that Det. Logan realized that his being transferred back to the Two Seven wasn't the Nirvana, or fun and games, that he thought that it at first would be. Det. Logan is now in danger of breaching the never talked about, by policemen, "Blue Wall of Silence" in arresting someone whom he works with. A cop who that in fact was Det. Logan's partner before he was sent into exile to Statan Island! Made for TV movie version of the top TV crime series "Law and Order" with it's top stars, besides Chris Noth, Jerry Orbach and Sam Waterston, as Det. Lennie Brisco and D.A Jack McCoy, making cameo appearances in the film. Nothing really that different from the series the film is based on but spicier language and a number of violent, that you'll never see on commercial TV, scenes. P.S There's also very prominent in the film the now gone forever two World Trade Center Towers that give you a chill, in knowing what happened to them on the morning of September 11, 2001, every time that they pop up in the movie.

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• My Name is Mike Logan!!!

  edwinalarren2005-07-12

  My name is Mike Logan, I am the best part of Law&Order...I completely dominated this wonderful two hour special of Law&Order entitled "EXILED" I was incredible in my acting performance and I look FANTASTIC!!...Many people want me back on Law&Order.. However, I am a sensational success on the hit series "Sex and the City" as well!! I am doing hit movies and I love being a huge and immensely popular actor in one of the biggest Television series in all of the history of NBC's history and all other networks as well!! Law&Order has done a great deal for me, however I have made significant contributions to the success of Law&Order as well!! When you are 6'4" and you are loved by women and admired and respected by men due to your great looks and wonderful personality, you are cast as the highlight in a Law&Order television special....Exiled was my show...nobody else seemed to spark the television audience nearly as much..."Exiled" was great, because I was great!!!...Of course, Chris Noth is way too modest to say all of these things...but he should...So I will say it for him...I loved Chris Noth in Law&Order "Exiled" just as I thought that he was without question and effortlessly the best part of Law&Order as well!!!

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