Invincible (2001)

 Invincible (2001)- * *

Directed by: Jefery Levy

Starring: Billy Zane, Stacy Oversier, David Field, Dominic Purcell, Tory Kittles, and Byron Mann

There are immortal beings called Shadow Men and they want to destroy the earth. One formerly-evil Shadow Man defects and becomes a good guy intent on preserving the world. His name is Os (Zane). His main rival is Slate (Field), and in order to defeat him, Os assembles a team of four warriors: Michael Fu (Mann), Serena Blue (Oversier), Ray Jackson (Kittles), and Keith Grady (Purcell). Over the course of a lot of training, Os takes these unwitting people and transforms them into "Protectors" - they represent the powers of Air, Fire, Water, and Steel. Of course, the final battle with Slate awaits, and we will then see who is truly INVINCIBLE...


When the first credit you see on screen when you start watching Invincible is "TBS SuperStation Presents", you kind of get an idea of what you're in for. Coming hot on the heels of the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter films, but before video game movies such as The King of Fighters (2010), Invincible seemingly takes those influences and melds them with The Matrix (1999) - a TBS SuperStation Matrix.

When certain characters wear long trench coats, have sunglasses, and are doing anti-gravity Martial Arts up and down walls, you can imagine a kid sitting at home on Saturday afternoon, who is too young to go see The Matrix in theaters, so he watches Invincible instead. Sure, it's not as good, but it's there. And it's free.


There is a lot of that Chinese-style Martial Arts on display, where characters are always flying around and doing crazy stuff. But, as usual, Billy Zane is the best thing here, and he anchors it all with his personable performance. As a sort of cross between Neo and Captain Planet, he is the leader of the group and also has some humor that makes him a bit more relatable and not just a cardboard cutout.


Some of Invincible is incoherent, but we always enjoy a good "assemble a team" subplot. After the 45-minute mark, things start to slow down and it kind of falls off before the final battle. There is some philosophy going on in the film, but it's also from the makers of Red Water (2003). So, make of that what you will.


Let's put it this way: for a TBS TV movie from 2001, Invincible is just barely watchable most of the time. Unfortunately, it dispenses with character development, coherent plotting, or any songs by Pat Benatar. That being said, Zane is good in the film, so if you're a big Zane fan, check it out, but everyone else may be less than impressed.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Crying Freeman (1995)

Crying Freeman (1995)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Christophe Gans

Starring: Mark Dacascos, Julie Condra, Rae Dawn Chong, Jerry Wasserman, Byron Mann, Tcheky Karyo, and Mako

A mysterious hired killer named Yo (Dacascos) - known as the Crying Freeman because after he executes his victims he sheds tears - is seen practicing his deadly trade by a woman named Emu O’Hara (Condra). Awesomely, he even has exploding guns to help cover his tracks. Soon after their chance encounter, they’re both caught in the middle of a Yakuza war, with only the skills of Yo keeping them both alive. Detective Forge (Chong) and Detective Netah (Karyo) are trying to sort it all out, but Netah may have more going on than meets the eye. It may all seem simple, but in the world of the Crying Freeman, nothing ever is. Will the Power of Yo prevail? Find out today...

Crying Freeman is an excellent film that everybody should see. How it compares to the original Manga or Anime we wouldn’t know, but as a film in its own right it succeeds brilliantly. In other words, you don’t really need to know the source material to appreciate this. Maybe it helps, but there’s plenty to recommend even if, like us, you were unfamiliar with its origins and background. 

Classily directed by Christophe Gans - known primarily for his Brotherhood of the Wolf (2008) - he balances sensitive and poetic passages that are downright painterly and beautiful with violent action setpieces involving everything from Martial Arts, gun-fu, blow-ups, and even a bow and arrow. Its artistic soul meshes well with the violence. The overall effect is intoxicating and adds up to be, we believe, a must-see.

Since this is quite obviously a work where the filmmakers clearly had high standards of quality, the whole thing seems solid and professionally made on every level - writing, directing, and, notably, the cinematography.  It’s all very solid, and it’s comforting feeling you’re in competent hands. 

Naturally, fan favorite Mark Dacascos shines in the role that he was perhaps born to play. Co-star Julie Condra must have been impressed - they later married. They are backed up by some familiar names: Rae Dawn Chong and Tcheky Karyo are on board and acquit themselves well, though, interestingly, Condra and Karyo were overdubbed by Deborah Kara Unger and Ron Perlman, respectively. Other B-Movie stalwarts are here to be found too, such as Byron Mann and Jerry Wasserman (check out our Virtual Assassin review for the reason why we’re always pointing out these unsung actors) - and lest we forget fan favorite Mako. 

 A little over an hour in there’s a bit of a lull, but that’s common and to be expected. That’s really the only criticism we have of Crying Freeman. And unlike most of its other brethren from 1995, this seems far more timeless. Shockingly - criminally - this didn’t receive a U.S. VHS release during the video store era, and only came out here on DVD quietly in 2008, and that release is now out of print. There are some fine international releases out there, and even a Blu-Ray now. But why this didn’t come out here when it would have done the most good for its reputation is puzzling and maddening. I guess it’s all part of the adventure of movie watching and collecting - you never know what you’re going to find, or where you’re going to find it. Occasionally you turn up a gem like this.

Crying Freeman should be more well-known, especially in the U.S. We absolutely recommend this enjoyable winner of a film. 

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Absolution (2015)

Absolution (2015)- *1\2

Directed by: Keoni Waxman

Starring: Steven Seagal, Byron Mann, Adina Stetcu, and Vinnie Jones

A man known only as The Boss (Jones) is some sort of crime lord but also has a kill room where he tortures and murders the captive victims of his insane rages. When one girl, Nadia (Stetcu) escapes The Boss, she ends up crossing paths with a hired Killer - said to be “the only guy who can do the job” - named John (Seagal). John, a rotund man of girth, teams up with an actual Martial Artist named Chi (Mann) so they can both fight the baddies that are after them - some for political reasons, some for personal ones. After a lot of violence and bloodshed, the final confrontation occurs: The Boss vs. John. Who will feel the ABSOLUTION?

Absolution is proof that they are indeed still making Steven Seagal movies. Maybe it’s not that difficult to head off to Romania for a while and, armed with a computer that can do CGI bullet hits and editing software that can speed up fights and take away frames, come back with something that you can release to DVD. 

Presumably Seagal himself doesn’t have to appear that long on the set, as he has other people do his ADR, his stuntwork, and even his dialogue scenes, as stand-ins, well, stand in for him. Many times this is very obvious that Seagal is not actually there listening to the dialogue said by other people. Usually his stand-ins look like Hollywood producer Robert Evans or Roy Orbison. So now you’ll know what to look for. It’s possible some of the stand-ins even have glasses or blonde hair, that’s how little they care to make it match. (That’s a joke, but very close to the truth).

Just exactly why Seagal doesn’t do these fundamentals of filmmaking remains unexplained. Is he some sort of Hollywood royalty that thinks he is above doing these things? Better question: what does this free up time for him to actually DO? What is so important to him that he can’t really even appear in his own movies, but for a bare minimum? When did he get so lazy? Why is he running away from himself? (Stay tuned until the last paragraph for a potential answer). 

We’re not really sure who is watching these Seagal movies (besides us, obviously, but we have a website about direct-to-video action movies - what’s everyone else’s excuse?) - and, if people are watching them, are they taking them seriously? Are they meant to be taken seriously in the first place? Judging by Seagal’s narration about him being a bad man in search of absolution, whatever that may mean, we think the answer may be yes, interestingly. 

Maybe the foreign markets eat these things up, we don’t know. Thankfully, when Seagal is talking (and not someone else talking for him), he doesn’t lapse into a random Cajun accent too much, but you never know when it will strike. It’s like a cobra. A Cajun cobra.

Smartly, the filmmakers brought a solid actor and quite good Martial Artist named Byron Mann to pick up Seagal’s considerable slack. The movie could have starred Mann and been perfectly fine, if a bit junky. However, the two of them walk away slowly from an explosion, so, maybe there was some bonding there. Fan favorite Vinnie Jones as the uncreatively named “The Boss” (Seagal’s name is “John” in the movie so the writers get zero points for creativity in naming the characters) is really at his worst here. Not him, per se, it’s not his fault, but the role is weak. But the guy likes to keep working, so, lord bless him. 

But as a pseudo-Saw-type monster/crime boss, Jones doesn’t shine like he should. It could’ve been anyone wearing that apron in that green-tinted room.

Seagal is a victim of his own choices in life. He is where he is because of no one but himself. He wanted to place more emphasis on being some sort of blues-playing Buddha than on doing what he does best. He should consider being less lazy and arrogant and instead put some energy into what he puts out there with his name on it. If he were to reverse course and do that, we might really have something going forward. But as it stands, this is pretty much standard Seagal muck. 

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

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!

Sniper 3 (2004)

Sniper 3 (2004)-* *1\2

Directed by: P.J. Pesce

Starring: Tom Berenger and Byron Mann










Beckett’s back! Yay? This time around, Beckett (Berenger, of course) is summoned to back to Vietnam to kill some terrorists. He teams up with a local cop to clean up Ho Chi Minh City, but as his mission is getting underway, he realizes a former ‘Nam buddy had stayed behind and now is his nemesis. Beckett will now have to grapple with demons from his past, his current alcoholism, and a sort of culture shock to dust off his old sniping skills. Can he do it?

Okay, okay, we get it. Thomas Beckett. He’s a sniper. He’s the best. Why on God’s green earth there needs to be THREE movies to tell us this cannot possibly be explained. There’s no possible way anyone demanded another Sniper movie after the lackluster Sniper 2 (2002). Now there’s even a fourth one, but Berenger had the good sense to steer clear. But Billy Zane returns, so it’s not a total loss. However,  the movie at hand today is not Sniper: Reloaded (2010), it’s part three of the Berenger trilogy.  But the problem is, there are only so many ways you can snipe. There are only so many times you can say “One shot, one kill” before it starts to lose all meaning.

We see what they were trying to do here. They were trying to bring it back to a more dark, serious and human level after a mediocre part 2, exactly what happened with the Universal Soldier series. Part two of that was lame, but Regeneration redeemed itself by dispensing with the stupidity and going for the jugular. While Sniper 3 appears to be following that formula, the results are not the same. While we appreciated Beckett calling the city “Saigon” and reminiscing about his past, and his struggles with alcohol, somehow it’s just getting harder and harder to care. Not that there aren’t some cool moments, such as the scene at the nightclub. But if there must be a Sniper 3, they should have gone in a grittier direction and stuck with it, not just give Beckett yet another temporary partner and call it a day. But because it’s a DTV film of the 2000’s, there’s plenty of techno on the soundtrack. Due to the presence of Vietnam vet Thomas Beckett, a new genre is formed: “Beckno”.

The four Sniper movies made to date have four different directors. Coincidence? Perhaps no director has come back because after they finish directing it, they feel they’ve taken a movie about sniping as far as they can and feel no need to return. Apparently that rule doesn’t apply to the viewing public. The people behind the Sniper series seem to think there’s an endless appetite for this out there. While Sniper 3 is not a bad movie by any means, it’s unnecessary on top of unnecessary. Even the presence of the great Tom Berenger can’t save it from feeling like a retread. It’s hard to get very enthusiastic about a third Sniper movie. To date, the best one remains the first one.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty