Abduction (2019)

 

Abduction (2019)- * *1\2

Directed by: Ernie Barbarash 

Starring: Scott Adkins, Andy On, Aki Aleong and Truong Anh

A man named Quinn (Adkins) wakes up in a mysterious room with a bunch of other abducted people, including his young daughter. Everyone has these weird, spider-like devices on the backs of their necks. Quinn manages to escape his captors, and somehow crawls out of a fountain in Vietnam. Last time he checked, it was 1985, and the fact that it's now 2018 is very disturbing to him. Naturally, people think he's crazy and a doctor named Anna (Anh) tries to get to the root of his problem.


Of course, she doesn't believe his tale of missing time and alien ABDUCTION, but when Conner (On) appears with a similar story involving his wife, the three of them get wrapped up in an adventure involving body-snatching aliens who are genuinely interested in Feng Shui. The Expert who may be able to figure out what's going on is Dao (Aleong), but the fact that these extraterrestrials have Martial Arts skills and regenerating power are going to make them tough opponents. Will Quinn and Conner rescue their loved ones from the diabolical space-baddies?


Well, you gotta give Abduction this: at least it's something different. It's DTV Sci-Fi action but thankfully it's not a space slog. So we do give it props for that right off the bat. Our personal hero Scott Adkins is quite good in the film, in both the acting and Martial Arts departments. Without him and his magnetic presence, the movie would have suffered a lot. But it does bring the action, there's no doubt about that, and at regular intervals we get some pretty nifty fight scenes with a Sci-Fi twist.


Sure, the plot doesn't make the most amount of sense, but so what? Most movies that make sense are boring. At least Abduction had some interesting ideas contained within it. The baddies provided worthy fight-foils for Adkins and On, even though it must be said that On's character of Conner is not very likable. Elements of They Live (1988) and The Matrix (1999) are there underneath the surface, and it's all mostly a bunch of quasi-nonsensical fun. Adkins is on record as stating that the fight scene in They Live is his favorite of all time, so he was probably happy to be in something with similar overtones. On perhaps a related note, one of director Ernie Barbarash's first films was called They Wait (2007).


The problem is the usual one: why is this movie 100 minutes long? It should have been 85. Barbarash's movies with Van Damme - Assassination Games (2011), 6 Bullets (2012), and Pound of Flesh (2015) - and Michael Jai White - Falcon Rising (2014) - are all well over the recommended 90-minute mark. Here, Adkins reunites with Barbarash after Assassination Games, which was one of the film's better ideas.


While Abduction may not be most people's first choice for cinematic entertainment, you could do a heck of a lot worse, and for fans it's worth seeing at least once for the Adkins factor alone.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Savage Dog (2017)

Savage Dog (2017)- * * *

Directed by: Jesse Johnson

Starring: Scott Adkins, Keith David, Juju Chan, Marko Zaror, Charles Fathy, Cung Le, Aki Aleong, Matthew Marsden and Vladimir Kulich

Martin Tillman (Adkins) is an Irishman and expert fighter. His rise to the top of the fight game is severely hampered by the fact that it’s 1959 and he’s in an Indochinese forced-labor camp. So he survives the only way he can - by becoming the number-one champ in the brawls that are held within said camp. These fights are held outside, so all the locals can see them, and Tillman becomes extremely popular. So much so that when it comes time for him to be released, the cadre of baddies that run the camp – Rastignac (Zaror), Steiner (Kulich), Boon (Le), and Amarillo (Fathy) – don’t want him to leave. Of course, Tillman does indeed get out of there but he stays in Indochina to work at a bar run by his buddy Valentine (David) and his wife Isabelle (Chan). 

Naturally, trouble starts when the baddies don’t leave them alone. After something happens (we won’t say what; no spoilers here), Tillman is forced to go on a rampage of revenge against his former captors. As if all that wasn’t enough, he’s also being trailed by a British government agent named Harrison (Marsden) for his supposed former connections to the IRA. Luckily, Tillman was trained to fight locally by a Tribal Chieftain (Aleong). Will Tillman get revenge and show he’s a SAVAGE DOG for the last time?

Thank goodness for Scott Adkins. He really is keeping the flame of the golden age of action cinema alive and burning. If it wasn’t for him, where would we be today? We’d have to fall back on the films still being made by the prior generation of action stars that are still working. Not that that is such a bad thing, but, let’s face it, Adkins has the vitality that some of the older guys naturally are losing over time. It’s fun to watch Adkins because he’s likable and has killer Martial Arts abilities. That formula is necessary for a truly great action star, so it’s no wonder he works so much in the DTV industry. He’s one of the very few men of action out there still left, so of course filmmakers are going to use him if they want to make this type of movie. 

While Savage Dog is indeed a Punchfighter/Revenge Movie, we applaud the filmmakers for at least giving it a setting that is different – the fifties and the former Indochina. That was a nice change of pace. Adkins and David have a nice chemistry together, and the fights overall are executed very well. The whole second half of the movie is simply Tillman getting revenge. That’s what’s good about DTV as opposed to Hollywood – you know they aren’t going to wuss out and revenge will be appropriately violent and bloody.


Nowhere is that more true than here in Savage Dog. For whatever reason – maybe it’s to further separate itself from its competitors even more so than its chosen time and place – writer/director Johnson decided to go not just with the standard action violence, but gore as well. While we certainly weren’t offended by it, it just seemed a little unnecessary. Rather than have limbs and heads being graphically chopped up and mutilated, maybe they could have concentrated a little more on the final fights between Adkins and Le and/or Zaror. If they extended each fight by 30 seconds instead of gore-ing it up, that would have fit the bill just fine. But as it stands, it makes Savage Dog something of an oddity.

A movie that surely lives up to its name, Savage Dog is perfect for Adkins fans, and nicely narrated by David. We say check it out.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Pound Of Flesh (2015)

Pound Of Flesh (2015)- * *

Directed by: Ernie Barbarash

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Aki Aleong, John Ralston, and Darren Shahlavi

Deacon Lyle (Van Damme) is just a guy out on the town in the Philippines, when he brings a nice lady home from a disco. When he wakes up in the morning, he is in a pool of his own blood and discovers someone has opened him up and stolen his kidney. Deacon then teams up with his religious brother George (Ralston), his old buddy Kung (Aleong), and the mysterious Ana (Peters), all in some sort of mission to get to the bottom of the kidney conspiracy. A baddie named Drake (Shahlavi) - a man more unpleasant than the music made by his namesake - may be behind this, or is there a conspiracy that goes...ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP? Further complicating things is the fact that Lyle’s niece is on the kidney transplant list. Will Deacon Lyle kidney-punch his way back to renal health? Just try to hold in your excitement...

They’ve Taken (2008) my kidney! is basically Van Damme’s battle cry in this somewhat puzzling new outing. Somehow a missing kidney isn’t as compelling a motive for revenge as a missing daughter...or are we missing something? He still has one left, as far as we know. Van Damme is good in the fight scenes, and he moves especially well for someone who has just had some unauthorized, highly-invasive surgery done on him. There’s even a novel excuse for him to do his famous split (yes, he’s still doing it, and proud of it, it seems) - but some not-so-novel excuses for rampant Van Damme nudity. We don’t need to see your whole body to know you’ve been kidneynapped.

But we give ol’ JCVD credit for trying. The opening alley fight is a standout, and the overall vibe of the movie is on the serious side, in keeping with most of the recent DTV JCVD output. Perhaps to maintain the “dark” vibe, to counterbalance the kidney-stealing plot, there are some religious themes that run throughout. This is mainly achieved by the brother character, the fact that Van Damme is named Deacon, and the fact that Deacon beats people up with a bible. Yes, as a society, we’ve reached a point where we’re subjected to Biblefighting. This might not be a good thing. 

But rather than concentrate on “dark” subject matter, director Barbarash - of fellow Van Damme vehicle Assassination Games (2011) and Michael Jai White vehicle Falcon Rising (2014) fame - REALLY should have “turned off the dark”, if we may paraphrase the title of that brilliant Broadway play. Why, oh, why do we always have to ask that filmmakers turn the lights on in their movies? Is that really so much to ask? And another no-no is here that is painfully obvious - green screen and CGI. Is it really so much better and easier to have chintzy-looking computer-graphic bullet hits on walls and gunsmoke? We’re really getting tired of what we call “Alt-E”, meaning some dork in an editing suite somewhere hitting “Alt-E” for “Explosion” instead of employing the technical mastery of pyrotechnics experts.  So, to recap, we have barfights, darkfights, and biblefights. (We didn’t mention the barfight before, but of course it’s there).

With the money they spent on CGI and green screen, they could have used on lighting. Priorities, people. There is some light Punchfighting, but it’s barely there and hard to see (like everything else). Van Damme’s buddy Kung - played by Aki Aleong of Gang Wars (1976), Out for Blood (1992) and Deadly Target (1994), among others - could have been played by Mako, if he hadn’t died in 2006. Actor Darren Shahlavi - so memorable as the baddie in Bloodmoon (1997) passed away in 2015 and the film is dedicated to him. With his passing, we’ve lost another actor/Martial Artist so integral to the fabric of the DTV action movies we’ve dedicated ourselves to celebrating. He will be missed.

On a lighter note, one of the highlights of the movie, appearing almost exactly an hour in, is when we see the actual kidney donor list. This might mark the first time we’ve seen an English-as-a-second-language attempt at a list of people’s names. We have Varko Bosilhoc, Consuela Pym, John Smythe II and even Simon Rants III. Will this be important to the plot? Just wait and find out. Also there was a Boris Sharlyakov, but it looked like it said Borts Sharlyakov. We wish it said Borts. We really do. There are other names on the list, but those were some highlights. Maybe it’s just us, but we found that funny.

Some elements of Pound of Flesh are worth your time, but what’s good about the movie is dampened by the inability to see anything, the insistent usage of green screen/CGI, and some pretty dumb dialogue. (Let’s just say Kung talking about how much he loves coffee isn’t likely to rival anything said by Portia from The Merchant of Venice anytime soon). It’s kind of a mixed bag for Van Damme. It doesn’t change his standing in our eyes or anything like that, but with some simple tweaks, it could have been significantly better. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Deadly Target (1994)

Deadly Target (1994)- * * *

Directed by: Charla Driver

Starring: Gary Daniels, Aki Aleong, Ken McLeod, Byron Mann, Al Leong, Ron Yuan, and Susan Byun












Charles “Charlie” Prince (Daniels) is a Hong Kong cop who travels to L.A. in order to bring arch-criminal Chang (Mann) back to his home country to face justice. The tenacious Prince will stop at nothing to achieve his goal, because the arrest of Chang is personal to him. His “cowboy” attitude initially rubs his temporary partner Jenson (McLeod) the wrong way, but of course they learn to work together. Naturally both men are Martial Arts masters, which surely is a coincidence. Somehow Prince finds time for romance with Diana Tang (Byun), but Chang and his army of goons are going to prove difficult to stop: their criminal network is vast and their firepower is huge. Will Prince and Jenson finally achieve their goal?

While Deadly Target has all the hallmarks of mid-90’s PM that we’ve come to know and love, such as constant Martial Arts fights, mindless shooting, car chases/cars flipping and blowing up in the middle of the street, exploding helicopters, and more mindless shooting, an element seems to be missing here. It’s not in the top tier, with movies such as Rage, Last Man Standing, Recoil and The Sweeper, and it doesn’t have the nutty/wacky factor of Wilding or Night Of The Kickfighters, but it’s a serviceable outing nonetheless, most likely, once again, because of the charm of Gary Daniels. While we’ve seen almost all of Ken McLeod’s filmography, somehow Daniels always steals the show. 

The presence of Susan Byun as the love interest was basically pointless, but if not for her, there would be almost no women in the whole production. Max Gail as Captain Peters was the classic WYC (White Yelling Chief) - too bad they couldn’t get his lookalike Peter Boyle to do the role. Ron Yuan, Aki Aleong, and Al Leong fill out the cast of familiar faces and names (well, if you watch a lot of 90’s DTV action product).

While that comfortable feeling of “dumbness” is achieved very quickly, what with Daniels beating up many people while wearing a leather jacket in an extended fight scene early in the film, during that same sequence, not only is there mindless shooting, but it looks like GENERIC shooting! It's just footage of a guy shooting a machine gun that could have been taken from any source was spliced in to fire mis-matchedly at Gary Daniels. We’re not saying that’s the case, but director Driver should have taken more care to make sure it didn’t look that way. But on the other hand, it’s really funny and we laughed, so all’s well that ends well. 

Interestingly, while Charla Driver has served in just about every capacity a person can while working on a film during her years with PM, this is the only movie she directed. Maybe that’s why the vibe is a little different, while all the main elements of PM are present and accounted for.

At least during the fight scenes, there appears to be some sort of baby powder on people’s heads, so when they get kicked or punched, the light picks up the flying particles. Also, while many movies have the time-honored sax on the soundtrack, Deadly Target bests them all by having a live sax player. Not only did he provide the smooth jams, but we can actually see what he looks like. 

Additionally, Gary Daniels proves once and for all that you’ve achieved true awesomeness as a human being if you can wear a vest with no shirt underneath as casual, everyday wear. Your body, your muscles and your confidence level must be so unimaginably high, you can pull it off. See also: Lorenzo Lamas. Finally, there’s an old Chinese gangster in the film named Mr. Zao. Presumably his first name is Po Po and he was named after the classic Kevin Federline song of the same name. Yes, the old man was named after the song. Not ridiculous at all. Think about it.

In the end, Deadly Target does provide all the kicking, punching, shooting, Gary Daniels, and blow-ups that fans want, but lacks that little bit of extra something to tie it all together. It’s still worth seeing though.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, DTVC!

Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988)

Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Aaron Norris

Starring: Chuck Norris, Aki Aleong, Yehuda Efroni, Miki Kim, Roland Harrah III, and Keith David













Braddock is back once again in this triumphant end to the trilogy. This time around, Braddock (Chuck, of course) is just trying to live life one day at a time after the end of the war. He’s informed by a kindly priest, Rev. Polanski (Efroni) that his wife Lin (Kim), who is Vietnamese, is still alive there. After all these years, he thought she was dead. So he travels back to ‘Nam to reunite with her. He also finally sees his 12 year old son Van (Harrah). Ruining the emotional moment, there’s yet another sadistic Vietnamese General, Gen. Quoc (Aleong). He hates Braddock - and also children - so Braddock has to not just get out of the country, but bring an entire orphanage along with him! Can Braddock do it?

To us, this third and final installment in the Braddock trilogy is clearly the best. It’s funnier, looser, weirder, and has a different vibe from the previous two films. Possibly due to the fact that it was made three years after the second movie and this time it’s directed by Aaron Norris. Because it, honestly, didn’t really have to be made, it has kind of an “Eh, screw it” kind of vibe and they just threw everything at the wall to see what sticks. Luckily, this approach is totally winning.

Everything, perhaps in spite of itself, seems to work here: Braddock showing his sensitive side, the especially dark Prerequisite Torture, the fact that Braddock’s son calls him “Braddock”, the fact that Gen. Quoc is constantly screaming “Braddock!!!!!”, the Patton (1970)-like musical stings, Braddock’s awesomely awesome “Supergun”, and many more excellent moments. 

All three movies had quality explosions, and this one doesn’t disappoint in the blow-ups department either. Matching that are some top-notch neck snaps as well. The whole movie is loaded with that classic 80’s violence/silliness/patriotism mix that’s the hallmark of the Golden Age of video-store action movies of the day. It’s incredibly addictive once you get into them (and since you’re reading this site, we assume you also have got the bug, and we thank you).

Besides all the onscreen action, some of the dialogue is priceless too. Most outstanding, of course, is the super-quotable “I don’t step on toes...I step on necks” line, which Braddock actually lives up to later in the movie. The music by Ron Bloom and Lenny McDonald adds a lot, and their Bruce Springsteen-meets-Warren Zevon songs add another layer of icing for the wedding cake of radness that is Braddock. 

Also adding to the list of Braddock firsts, this is the first of the three to be released on the Media label. You have to buy this movie on VHS for one very simple reason: there is an amazing commercial on the tape for Braddock merchandise. You can get Braddock hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts. This commercial alone makes the tape worth buying.

We love this movie for some very personal reasons. It’s the first Braddock movie we all saw, and we rented it from our local video store back in the 90’s. As a group of friends, we watched the movie, and two things of note happened: we misheard the song lyrics in the beginning, and we imagined the ultra-gruff vocalist sang: “In the streets of Saigon, when my ass was king”. So we continue to quote that (plus you can‘t deny it’s true in Chuck’s case - we just thought the singer was being a bit on the nose) to this day. And, somehow, another song was crafted. Sung to the tune of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” came: “Don’t cry for me Col. Braddock, I know that you’re missing in action.” (Thanks Ant).  So clearly we have a strong personal connection to this fine film that you might not have. But that’s the genius of Braddock. He inspires creativity. There may be a heavy metal CD in the works that’s a concept album all about Braddock. It truly never ends.

Nevertheless, this, the best of the Braddock movies, represents a fine end to the trilogy. It’s highly rare that sequels get BETTER as they go along, yet the Braddock movies get absolutely no credit for bucking that trend. It might be the only trilogy in movie history to improve as it goes along, but do you ever hear anyone say that? No, of course not. So take a trip to the Philippines and watch Braddock work his magic, one more time.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up by our friends at Ruthless Reviews!

The Quest (1996)

The Quest (1996)-* *1\2

Directed by: Jean-Claude Van Damme

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roger Moore, James Remar, Janet Gunn, Abdel Quissi, Louis Mandylor, Aki Aleong, and Jack McGee









Set in the 1920's, Chris Dubois (Van Damme) is a street performer who wears clown makeup, a funny hat, and walks on stilts for a living. Adventure finds him when he ends up a stowaway on a boat heading to mysterious Muay Thai Island. There he learns martial arts, and, later in Tibet, meets the charming Lord Dobbs (Moore) and his assistant Smythe (McGee). It is around this time that Chris seeks to be involved in Ghan Geng, a secret underground fighting tournament. The winner gets a huge golden dragon, so Dobbs has a stake in Chris winning, as he wants the Dragon. 

Fighters are invited from all over the world , and America is represented by boxer Maxie Devine (Remar). Chris must take his place in the tournament and defeat the sinister Khan (Quissi) to win it all. Also, there's some mild romance with the prerequisite female reporter Carrie Newton (Gunn).

 Van Damme does a solid, professional job with his directional debut. Having co-written the film with Bloodsport (1988) dude Frank Dux, you pretty much know what to expect - but this movie is rated PG-13, so it was clearly trying to bring the Punchfighting genre some mainstream acceptance. With its slick Hollywood look and booming, sweeping score by Randy Edelman, the final product is perfect for 13-year olds, presumably its target demographic.

Interestingly, the movie is a period piece, and plays like a prequel to Bloodsport. Instead of The Kumite, It's Ghan Geng. Van Damme tries on a number of personas  from "Old Man Van Damme" to "Van Damme The Clown" and many things in between. The presence of Roger Moore adds class and respectability to the proceedings, and James Remar of Quiet Cool (1986) fame stands out as Devine. He's always worth seeing. Janet Gunn from Night Of The Running Man (1995) and The Sweeper (1996) is the eye candy but not much else.

 It's important to remember this was when video games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter were at the peak of their popularity. So when the Ghan Geng section of the movie begins (pretty much the last half) - the plot just STOPS. It's just one fighter from one country facing off against another fighter from another country. It gets repetitive and pretty numbing after awhile. Other Punchfighters don't do this. 

They vary the Punchfighting scenes with other plot-based stuff. Not so here. Plus the fact the movie is kind of on the long side doesn't help matters. What The Quest should have been is an 80 minute R-rated Punchfighter. Simply cutting the length but adding more violence would have helped immensely. But they weren't going for that audience, unfortunately.

The Quest is more of a big "adventure" film where characters are seeking a "lost city" and many countries and time periods are represented. This might be a good way to start younger viewers on a career of watching Van Damme movies\action movies\Punchfighters but only Van Damme or perhaps Roger Moore completists need apply. 

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Out For Blood (1992)

Out For Blood (1992)-* * *

Directed by: Richard W. Munchkin

Starring: Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Robert Miano, Shari Shattuck, Aki Aleong, and Robert Delano












John Decker (Don) is a troubled lawyer with a tragedy in his past. He's trying to sort out his troubles with his friend and psychologist Dr. McConnell (Ron Steelman), or Mack as Decker calls him. Mack takes him to an art opening where he meets the beauty Joanna Montaigne (Shattuck) and wise old man Hiroshi (Aleong), who both influence his life in different ways - but at night, figuring he has nothing left to lose, Decker puts on his purple and black Nike running jacket and becomes...Karate Man! He goes around the city beating up and shooting bad guys and drug dealers. The media, based on the drunken ramblings of a homeless woman, runs with the "Karate Man" moniker and soon the whole city wants to know who he is, including Decker's friend on the police force, Lt. Croft (Delano). With both the cops and the baddies on his trail, will Decker/Karate Man win the day?

We love Don "The Dragon" Wilson and anything he's in, we'll watch. Here, he's as delightfully wooden as ever. It's great when Don wears glasses, and here he has some funny ones during his lawyer persona. This is a funny plot point - he's not a cop, he's not in Intelligence, CIA, FBI, etc...he's a LAWYER! Action Lawyer away! He even says at one point "I feel naked without my beeper!" Interestingly, Don gets the credit "Based on a Concept By Don The Dragon Wilson" - so he was involved in the creation as well. Director Munchkin strikes again and his movies are usually better than average. Here he goes for something a little less linear, with some weird scenes and flashbacks.

Speaking of which, the main influences here seem to be Batman (1989) and Robocop (1987), but without all the fantastical elements - it's just a man in a jogging suit. Oddly enough, Out For Blood prefigures Kick-Ass (2010), in the sense that it is about a self-made 'superhero', with no actual super powers, that becomes more and more popular as he is swept along by a wave of media interest.

Robert Miano stops by as Geisler, the evil mastermind. He has plenty of goons, not the least of which is a "Cowboy of the modern day" who doesn't seem to have a name. But he does have two of the biggest, stupidest meatheads ever. These two dunderheads are so ridiculously dumb they make the Barbarian Brothers look downright sophisticated. I guess they give the film some humor, which is always welcome.

For some rock-solid Don, with a cool vigilante/revenge theme, look no further than Out for Blood!



Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out our buddy Direct To Video Connoisseur's review!