Close Range (2015)

Close Range (2015)- * * *

Directed by: Issac Florentine

Starring: Scott Adkins, Caitlin Keats, Madison Lawlor, and Nick Chinlund

When Colt MacReady (Adkins) rescues his niece Hailey (Lawlor) from imprisonment by an evil drug cartel, and kills a bunch of her captors in the process, the remaining baddies cross the Mexican border into America to come find him and get revenge. The cartel also wants back a flash drive that Colt has, so they lay siege to the house of Colt’s sister Angela (Keats). Colt goes all out, and falls back on his skills as a former soldier to keep them alive throughout the ordeal. They won’t be getting help from any of the local authorities, since Sheriff Jasper Calloway (Chinlund) is corrupt and in bed with the bad guys. Will Colt single-handedly save his family from the murderous cartel? Find out today…

Thank goodness for Isaac Florentine and Scott Adkins. They are two of the last pillars holding up the concept of DTV action movies. Where would we be without them? Close Range is an entertaining and streamlined outing and another feather in their already well-plumed caps. While wags may complain that the plot is thin and the dialogue lacking, we would put it in a different light: nothing is overly complex and there is plenty of room for the main attraction, which are the action scenes. So many times there are overly-complex dramatic motivations and fat when there doesn’t need to be any. Close Range dispenses with most of this and gives the fans what they want: thrilling and well-choreographed fight and action scenes.

The whole movie opens with a bang and there’s plenty more where that came from. Fan favorite Adkins more than makes up for the lackluster El Gringo (2012), with this follow-up south-of-the-border tale. Shootouts, car chases, and fights ensue, but as we always say, we’re more fans of Martial Arts skill than gunplay, and of course there’s plenty of that too. In this post-The Raid (2011) and The Raid 2 (2014) world, not to mention Ong-Bak (2003) or The Protector (2005), fight scenes have become more “open”, and Florentine has taken this cue. Even the fact that the majority of the action takes place in one house is reminiscent of The Raid, as is the fact that the baddies get harder to beat as MacReady goes along. These are all good developments, by the way. Hopefully Florentine and/or Adkins will take these themes and run with them in the future.

It’s all very well-lit and we loved the fact that you could see everything clearly. The Adkins fight scenes are the undoubted highlight here, and they don’t disappoint. In the 70’s, bad guys looked for “the ledger”, in the 80’s/90’s they looked for “the disc” and now in the present they look for “the flash drive”. In this way, Close Range is very much in the tradition of B-action movies of yore, and the Sergio Leone touches only serve to reinforce the pleasantly retro vibe.

For unpretentious, audience-pleasing fun, look no further than Close Range.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Ninja (2009)

Ninja (2009)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Isaac Florentine

Starring: Scott Adkins, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Mika Hijii, and Todd Jensen

Casey Bowman (Adkins) is the lone white student at a dojo in Japan, among a class studying the ancient art of Ninjitsu. His father was stationed in Okinawa as a G.I., and this is the only culture he knows. When a fellow student, Masazuka (Ihara), attacks Casey in anger during a sparring exercise, he is banned from the school by the sensei. Naturally, that drives him to become an evil ninja who uses hi-tech weaponry and does the bidding of an evil cult in America. Meanwhile, the sensei entrusts Casey and fellow student/love interest Namiko (Hijii) to protect something called the Yoroi Bitsu, the historical ninja outfit and weaponry. 

They travel to New York City and proceed to fight waves of baddies to protect their honor and the Yoroi Bitsu. Things get complicated after Casey and Namiko are arrested by NYC cop Det. Traxler (Jensen), but eventually the inevitable happens: the final showdown between Casey and Masazuka. Who will be the ultimate NINJA?

Entertainment and good times abound with this throwback to the 80’s Ninja Boom. Fan favorite director Florentine is at the top of his game as he delivers action-packed fights and well-choreographed action (along with his trademark “whooshing” sound effects), while frequent collaborator in front of the camera and fellow fan favorite Scott Adkins is also in fine form. Adkins is always enjoyable to watch, and when he’s put in roles like this, he can really shine. No wonder there was a Ninja 2 (2013) - fans clearly wanted more, and we can see why.

Like any good action movie, Ninja actually has a strong, central hero in Adkins (and his trusty sidekick Hijii) as well as a super-evil baddie. Ihara makes a great foil for Adkins as he plays the bad ninja - the guy who was expelled from the dojo and proceeds to break from ancient ninja tradition by using cheats like night-vision goggles. Ninja - the movie - deserves credit for actually trying to imbue the plot with history and true ninja tradition. There’s a (comically fast) scroll at the beginning informing us of the history of Ninjitsu, and a few re-enactments as well. This sets the stage for the action we are about to see.

Ninja delivers the goods - cool ninja violence and a panoply of engaging fight scenes. If we have ONE criticism it’s the over-use (or use, period) of CGI - and because it’s Nu Image, we all know what this looks like - but Ninja gets a pass because all the rest is good, and because it’s in that Florentine style we all know and love: exaggerated motions and big, oversized actions. And there’s plenty of real Martial Arts and stunts as well. So, it’s all good. We’ll let the CGI stuff go in this instance.

Plus, Masazuka is the first Cyber Ninja we’ve seen since…well, Cyber Ninja (1988). He’s also a Cyber Ninja with a machine gun. This is awesome. We haven’t seen a ninja with a machine gun since Ninja III:The Domination (1984), so, it was more than welcome. We also liked the wackier elements of the plot, such as the Temple cult. What made it great is that it wasn’t needed at all, but it was totally welcome. A final observation: in the onscreen title at the beginning of the movie, in the word NINJA, the “A” is a throwing star. We need more clever, cool details like this in movies. Though due to their censorship and hatred of throwing stars, it’s likely that in the UK this movie is called NINJ. We’re imagining it crudely crossed out with a crayon.

In the final analysis, this particular Florentine/Adkins collaboration has cranked out another winner and kept DTV from going into the doldrums for the time being. Not everyone could have pulled from the Ninja Boom well and done it so successfully, so, they deserve credit.  It’s a fun and enjoyable watch, and we recommend it. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Savate (1995)

Savate (1995)- * * *

Directed by: Isaac Florentine

Starring: Olivier Gruner, Ian Ziering, Ashley Laurence, Michael Palance, James Brolin, Donald Gibb, Marc Singer, Rance Howard, and R. Lee Ermey










Joseph Charlegrand (Gruner) is a French Legionnaire and a pioneer of a fighting style developed by the Legion, known as Savate. He and his fellow military men would practice their Savate and get into good-natured tournaments to hone their skills. But then along comes the dastardly Ziegfield Von Trotta (Singer) - who wears a monocle so you just KNOW he’s evil - and he heartlessly kills one of Charlegrand’s comrades. It turns out that Charlegrand must travel to the United States in his quest to find Von Trotta and get revenge for his friend’s death. This is the immediate post-Civil War period in Texas, mind you. Charlegrand becomes friendly with a brother-sister pair of homesteaders, Cain (Ziering) and Mary Parker (Laurence). 

The evil mayor of the town, Benedict (Ermey in an uncredited role) wants the land and threatens to raise taxes to exorbitant levels. The townsfolk resist, and Benedict has some gunslingers such as Mitchum (Palance) to enforce his will. But Benedict also holds an international “Tough Man” competition with a cash prize. Perhaps Charlegrand should enter the competition, as no one in the wild west has seen kicking in fights before. Will he find Von Trotta, get revenge for his friend, beat Mitchum and the boys, help the homesteaders, fall in love, win the competition, and become a hero to the small town? It seems like a tall order, but will the power of Savate win the day? Find out later...

Fan-favorite director Isaac Florentine sure seems like he was having fun directing this one. He playfully reworks some classic Western (and especially Spaghetti Western) tropes, themes, and, for lack of a better word, cliches, and serves them up in his own, inimitable style. In other words, it’s “SWOOSH”-ing sound effects in the old west. It’s all pretty tongue-in-cheek and relatively upbeat - Florentine’s tribute to the movies he obviously loves and grew up with.

Sure, as moviegoers we’ve seen this plot countless times before, from Desert Heat (1999), to The Final Alliance (1990), to, well, just about anything you can name dating back through the history of cinema. But that’s not the point. Florentine has transposed modern-day fighting skills over an old west setting, and we thought that was pretty cool. You get to see Olivier Gruner as a cowboy. That alone is worth a look, and the concept of ‘Western Kickboxing’ is just so nutty, you have to love it. The music by Kevin Kiner is an unashamed and unabashed Spaghetti Western...well...bonanza, complete with Edda Dell’Orso-style vocals.  It really helps things along. But before you get too excited, there are, of course, some drawbacks.

A lot of times in the movies we’ve seen, there’s no one, clearly delineated baddie. Here, there are too many! You’ve got Von Trotta, Benedict, Mitchum, and any number of fighters in the Punchfighting ring (yeah, the Tough Man competition is Punchfighting. Old West Punchfighting.) Ermey is uncredited, Ashley Laurence doesn’t really do anything at all in the second half, Singer’s character isn’t really set up as well as he could have been, and was James Brolin even in this? His screen time is so minuscule, it’s barely a cameo. And, as usual, at times the movie drags a bit. But, as a display for stunts and fights, which we assume is the main point, it certainly succeeds, and we appreciated the offbeat angle of it all.

Somehow, Ian Ziering looks younger here than he does on 90210 (though to be fair, on that show the male leads were 39-year-old high school students), and he even does some light Ziering-Fu. Clearly this is Ian (pronounced eye-an, of course), at his best. Donald Gibb brightens things up and brings to mind the Bloodsport (1988) parallels, and, in a rare treat, Ashley Laurence says “Get off my land” instead of a cantankerous old man. So that was nice.

While PM was the production company, the movie was released on VHS in the U.S. on A-Pix with the undistinguished title The Fighter. For a reasonably enjoyable homage to Spaghetti Westerns featuring some B-movie names and some notable moments and ideas, Savate comes through.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, DTVC and The Video Vacuum! 

Desert Kickboxer (1992)

Desert Kickboxer (1992)- * * *

Directed by: Isaac Florentine

Starring: John Newton, Paul L. Smith, Judie Aronson, Sam DeFrancisco, and Michael M. Foley











 Joe “Hawk” Highhawk (Newton) is a former kickboxer turned mulleted lawman in the dusty deserts of  California. After a tragedy in the ring, Hawk now devotes most of his time to whittling.  And also to his job as Deputy. He even has some form of PTSD, constantly flashing back to what happened in his earlier life. When diabolical drug runner Santos (Smith), and his lieutenant Bruno (Foley) start causing trouble in the dusty ol’ town, and start going after his newfound friends Claudia (Aronson of American Ninja fame) and Anthony (DeFrancisco), it gives Hawk a reason to live again, and to dust off his old kickboxing skills to use them against the baddies.  Will Hawk triumph in the war against drug runners and find redemption?

Right from the beginning of his career, Isaac Florentine was turning out solid movies like this, and even his trademark sound effects are here. Lots of whooshing, crunching and “splat!” noises are heard on the soundtrack, for even the most mundane actions. If someone moves a muscle, it sounds like some guy has mic’d up a bunch of Nickelodeon products like Gak, Floam, and Zzand and are throwing them around with abandon. But where Florentine shines, of course, are the Martial Arts/fighting action scenes, and those are some of the highlights of Desert Kickboxer. It’s easy to see why he followed this up with the similar Savate (1995).

This was our first exposure to one John Newton. He looks like a cross between Ken Wahl and John Stamos. Evidently Hawk is supposed to be some kind of Indian in the film, though Newton looks about as Native American as Regis Philbin. Even Mark Gregory in the Thunder trilogy was closer to Indian than this (and come to think of it, there are a lot of similarities to the Thunder movies in Desert Kickboxer). Newton’s Martial Arts abilities are competent, however, and if nothing else, we can admire his mullet, which was clearly crafted as carefully as the sound effects and the Martial Arts. Naturally, before his final assault on the baddies, he does some form of shirtless Native American Tai Chi on some high desert rocks.

But as Hawk is going through his character arc from flat and none-too-likable to flat and sensitive, he has to deal with some pretty tough baddies. Sure, we all love Paul L. Smith, but his lackey Bruno is far more intimidating, not to mention agile. You know if a baddie is doing Martial Arts in a suit, the guy is going to be a hard opponent to beat. Bruno is so tough and evil, he uses actual Mexican migrant workers as human training dummies. But he didn’t reckon on one thing: the awesome power of Newton.

Featuring some great early-90’s computers, Desert Kickboxer is perfect for Florentine fans that may not have seen his early work. It’s a testament to its entertainment value that, to anyone else, it would have been just another DTV item, but to fans of the genre it retains its staying power.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, The Video Vacuum!

U.S. Seals 2 (2001)

U.S. Seals 2 (2001)-* * *

Directed by: Isaac Florentine

Starring: Michael Worth. Damian Chapa, Kate Connor, and Marshall R. Teague


"Infiltrate. Detonate. Annihilate...THE ULTIMATE FORCE"








Lt. Casey Sheppard (Worth) and Chief Frank Ratliff (Chapa) were former colleagues and SEALS. But as often seems to be the case, Ratliff turns evil and goes to a remote island to construct and then launch a nuclear warhead. He even kidnaps Dr. Jane Burrows (Connor) to help him do it. 


So Sheppard assembles a team of fighters to go to Ratliff’s island (which sounds like it could be a kids TV show) and stop his nefarious plan. But not only does Ratliff have his own team of evil fighters, but there’s a gas leak on the island, so no guns can be used. It can only be non-firearm weapons and Martial Arts prowess. Will Sheppard be victorious over his former mentor? Or will he blow up the world as planned?

The great Isaac Florentine strikes again with this winner of a movie. The man understands action and his movies are a joy to watch. He is singlehandedly keeping the reputation of Nu-Image afloat. Here he applies his skills to one of our favorite genres: the “assemble a team” movie. Best seen in the great Kill Squad (1982), it’s where a mastermind goes to different locations to, well, assemble a team of diverse fighters with diverse skills. 


The result in this case is nonstop action done with a lot of energy, sly humor and over-the-top mannerisms. For example, when characters move their head or hands, there is this cartoonish “whoosh” sound effect. We’re not exactly sure what Florentine was going for here, but it adds to the fun and we figure it must be a by-product of his time working on Power Rangers shows. We suppose he thought that, for the first hundred or so years of filmmaking, when people in movies moved their head or hands and it didn’t sound like a jet was taking off, Florentine felt something was missing. Now he’s here to correct that.

While this movie is well-thought of in action movie circles, we think it could have reached an even wider audience if not for the packaging and marketing. Just by looking at the box art and title, you think it’s going to be a standard military slog with nothing really to recommend it. Presumably, video store patrons back in ‘01 felt this and kept browsing for something else, leaving it on the shelf. To quote Dana Carvey’s impression of John McLaughlin, “WRONG!” -- this movie has almost nothing to do with Seals, per se, it’s an out-and-out, brawling action movie, with killer Martial Arts, stunts, shooting, guard tower falls, a high kill-count, blow-ups, and everything action fans crave. The movie starts off with a bang - literally - and doesn’t let up. Ignore the misleading presentation of this movie and pretend its subtitle is its main title, “The Ultimate Force”, and you won’t be disappointed.

Damian Chapa was a very good choice as the main baddie. He just looks evil. Even his name, “Ratliff”, sounds evil. The thing we’ve always wondered about bad guys that want to blow up the world with a nuclear bomb is, where are they going to go? Even if it’s not the whole world, do they really want to live in a remote part of the globe, especially while there is so much radiation around? That aside, it’s great to see Chapa, who appeared in Hitman’s Run (1999) and Street Fighter (1994), go up against Michael Worth, the star of Fists of Iron (1995) and Final Impact (1992). Truly it’s the DTV war you’ve been waiting for.

All the noises, sound effects, angles, dubbing and musical stings clearly identify this as a Florentine movie, because these techniques are seen in his other work such as Bridge of Dragons (1999), etc. If you’re not already a fan, this may win you over and make you one. See U.S. Seals II.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out reviews by our buddies: Explosive Action, The Video Vacuum, and Good Efficient Butchery!

Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)

Undisputed III: Redemption (2010)-* * *

Directed By: Isaac Florentine

Starring: Scott Adkins, Mykel Shannon Jenkins, and Robert Costanzo


"One Deadly Tournament. A Last Fight For Freedom."






Undisputed III: Redemption is just as well made as the 2nd one.

 Boyka (Adkins) is still in jail after the fight with Chambers (played by Michael Jai White). Chambers destroyed his knee. All Boyka wants to do is fight again. "I am the most complete fighter" he keeps telling himself.

Luckily, there is a new ultimate fighting tournament in Russia, called the "Prison Spetz Competition" where they get the best fighters in the country to fight for their freedom. It is run by the corrupt guards of the prison and the mob.

Boyka is desperate to get in and after he barely beats a fellow prisoner, he is let into the competition...but the guards and the mob have rigged the event for the dangerous Colombian fighter to win and Boyka to lose.



Can Boyka win the tournament against all the odds?

The best parts of the movie are the fighting sequences. They are excellently choreographed and brutal. You can almost feel every punch and kick, because this is a punchfighting movie, the plot is basically predictable and some of the acting is amateurish.


Scott Adkins' fighting skills are amazing in this. He executes one kick towards the end that is just devastating.

Undisputed III is one of the best DTV fighting movies in a long time and I definitely recommend it.



Comeuppance Review by: Ty