Zero Tolerance (2015)

 

Zero Tolerance (2015)- * *1\2

Directed by: Kaos

Starring: Kane Kosugi, Nina Paosut, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Dustin Nguygen, Scott Adkins, and Gary Daniels 

When a girl named Angel (Paosut) turns up dead, Bangkok cop Peter (Boonthanakit) travels to Ho Chi Minh city to track down her estranged father, Johnny (Nguyen). Together, the two men go back to Bangkok and proceed to search the seedier areas of the city in search of answers as to Angel's death. Along the way, characters such as Steven (Adkins), Sammy (Daniels), and Kane (Kosugi) come and go, but will the mystery of Angel's death be revealed?



Well, we had to see this movie for the cast alone. While Adkins and Daniels don't share any scenes together (and there's a good reason for that that we will get to in a moment), they are both here, as is Kane Kosugi, action stalwarts all. And while the film is reasonably professionally directed and shot (if some scenes are underlit as many modern films tend to be), it loses focus and direction a lot of the time. It also could have used a heck of a lot more action, but that makes sense, because...



If the presence of Scott Adkins in the film seems a bit out of joint, there's a very good reason for that. Apparently, Zero Tolerance started life as a film called Angels (2012), and you can still see this version if you want. It was a passion project for director Kaos, and more of a drama. Then some of the money people told him that this Angels movie, as good as it may be, would be a tough sell in the film marketplace. So footage with Adkins was integrated into the pre-existing Angels film, and a total re-edit was done, and in the end a completely new film was fashioned called Zero Tolerance.

Just exactly why this movie is called Zero Tolerance, we don't exactly know, especially because few movies can compete with the awesome Robert Patrick Zero Tolerance (1994). So, if you name your movie after a superior film, you're just asking to look worse by comparison. Nevertheless, there are some bright spots along the way, such as Peter's young tot of a son proclaiming, "the lead singer of our band sucks!", the classic warehouse deal gone wrong featuring some of the Adkins footage, and Gary Daniels's wild Hawaiian shirt. This seems especially at odds with the intense dramatic performance Daniels gives, which ranks highly as one of his best acting moments ever. Yes, we would have liked some classic Daniels fights, but at least he got to shine in the drama department.

Director Wych Kaosayananda, alternately known as Wych Kaos, or, in the case of his Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever (2002), simply just Kaos, has been working with fan favorite Mark Dacascos a lot lately, in such films as The Driver (2019) and, of course, One Night in Bangkok (2020), which also features Kane Kosugi. Despite the...interesting...history regarding Zero Tolerance's editing process, he manages to turn in something watchable. But that's all. It's not great and there are a lot of problems here. So, in the end, it's probably a one-time watch for Adkins and Daniels fans.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up by our buddies The Video Vacuum and  DTVC!

No Escape, No Return (1993)

No Escape, No Return (1993)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Charles T. Kanganis

Starring: Maxwell Caulfield, Dustin Nguyen, Denise Loveday, Joey Travolta, Real Andrews, Pamela Dixon, Robert Miano, John Saxon, and Michael Nouri










Police officers William Sloan (Caulfield), Tommy Cuff (Nguyen), and Ali Weston (Loveday) are more than just your average cops. They grew up together, trained together, and graduated the academy together, all at the top of their class, with their own individual specialties. They have a strong bond, and that bond will be tested to the limits when a corrupt DEA agent, Dante (Nouri) tries to set them on a path to their ultimate ruin. 

When another official, Mitchell (Saxon) comes in to investigate, he realizes something fishy is going on. Dante, against the warnings of their Captain, Stark (Travolta), made them a special team to investigate drug runners, setting them up for a fall. While each member of the team has their own personal demons to confront, will they be able to outsmart and out-shoot the bureaucratic forces lined up against them? Much like a busy day at the Stop & Shop bottle return room, will it be NO ESCAPE NO RETURN?

PM’s batting average remains high with this very enjoyable and entertaining outing. It’s gems like this that made going to the video store fun - trying new titles, never knowing what to expect, and sometimes finding a winner. Items like No Escape No Return kept the odds in your favor.  

We appreciate that. NENR (don’t kids tease each other by saying “neener neener neener”?) was essentially the culmination of writer/director Charles Kanganis’s time at PM. It does appear to be the end of his education and evolution there, as he seems to put all he’s learned onto the screen, with winning results. Coming hot on the heels of his Traci Lords diptych, A Time To Die (1991) and Intent to Kill (1992), here Kanganis goes full-throated action and makes no apologies for it. There’s a ton of action, the stuntwork is top-notch, the movie is shot and directed well so you can see all of what’s going on, there are shootings, high-quality blow-ups, and beat-ups constantly, and two of our favorite settings for action are, of course, here: the disco and the bar. The disco scene features some very cool slo-mo and the bar, of course, is the place for the time-honored barfight (which, in classic form, is instigated by some racial slurs that you would never hear today in our stranglingly PC world).

 As if all that wasn’t enough, we have a stellar cast of familiar faces to keep the whole ship buoyant. Dustin Nguyen’s “back’s against the wall” once again, as it was in 21 Jump Street, and it’s hard to find a cooler moment in our recent memory than him, dressed in a black leather jacket, with fingerless gloves, and shades, holding double handguns and he takes down the bad guys. 

Fan favorite John Saxon resembles Rudy Giuliani, Joey Travolta resembles...I mean, does his part (mainly delivering exposition) quite well, and Michael Nouri looks like he’s gotten a haircut. Even mainstays Robert Miano and Real Andrews get in on the fun. And we’ve gained a new respect for Maxwell Caulfield. Far from being just a cross between Jeff Fahey and C. Thomas Howell, his performance is also cool and great.

For PM fans, this movie will certainly put you in mind of Maximum Force (1992) - but NENR has a unique character all its own. Maybe that’s because Kanganis places emphasis on character development - there’s more of it in the first five minutes of this movie than a lot of other action movies combined. So you always care about these people and what happens to them. If that wasn’t the case, all the car-flipping-over-in-the-middle-of-the-street-and-blowing-up stunts wouldn’t mean a thing. So, we applaud all involved with No Escape No Return (not to be confused with No Retreat, No Surrender) - it delivers the goods.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett