Full Contact (1993)

 

Full Contact (1993)- * * *

Directed by: Rick Jacobson 

Starring: Jerry Trimble, Marcus Aurelius, Denise Buick, Reginald VelJohnson, and Michael Jai White

Luke Powers (Trimble) is a self-described "farm boy" who journeys to the dark underbelly of L.A. to get to the truth about his murdered brother. It turns out that Luke's bro was heavily involved with "Alley Fights" (what we call Punchfighting). To achieve his goal, he links up with Pep (Aurelius), a fight trainer/alcoholic/Art of War quote enthusiast. Romance blooms with dancer Tori (Buick, whose only other feature film role is the same year's Angelfist). Will Luke be able to summon all of his POWERS to beat the baddies and find out what really happened to his sibling? And who is REALLY behind all this alley-fighing stuff? Make FULL CONTACT with your remote control and find out today...

Not to be confused with the prior year's Full Contact starring Chow Yun-Fat and Simon Yam, THIS Full Contact is a moment in time for fan favorite Jerry Trimble to shine. It all opens with textbook Punchfighting as enthusiastic fans scream, yell, and clutch cash in their hands as they enjoy said punching in an abandoned warehouse.

The whole thing has a very Corman feel, as he's done this plot numerous times before, i.e. Bloodfist, Dragon Fire, Bloodfist 2050, etc. There's also at least one scene in a strip club, which was a Corman trademark/obsession around this time period. Happily, we can report that Full Contact is one of the better run-throughs of this plotline. There's plenty of sax and synth on the soundtrack, there's ridiculously stupid dialogue (in a good way), wacky situations, and punching, punching, punching. Characters, mainly Trimble, jumpkick their opponents in slow motion as they just stand there waiting to be kicked in the head. Somehow, against all odds, this all gels in the world of Full Contact.

Trimble is great as he resembles a melange of Emilio Estevez, Sean Penn, and Kirk Douglas. Tori's initial dance routine is gold, and when she meets Luke Powers, both of them are clad head-to-toe in denim and they have long blonde hair. It's clearly a match made in 1993 heaven.

It starts to run out of steam when the tournament fighting begins about two-thirds of the way through, but we do give Full Contact full credit because they actually bothered to include a twist towards the end, which a lot of similar films never actually do. There's also the time-honored barfight. Plus, there's an utterly ridiculous stick fight near a dumpster, and Powers's main training goal is to outrun a city bus with a wacky bus driver.

Director Rick Jacobson, no stranger to this sort of material, also worked as a fight coordinator on the film, and has a cameo as "Bar Heckler". Early appearances from Michael Jai White and Reginald VelJohnson round things out nicely. VelJohnson plays "Fighter #2", so if you've ever wanted to see Carl Winslow engaging in illegal alley fights, now's your chance.

The end titles song is "Sometimes You've Got To Fight", credited to no performer. The singer has an odd, quavering voice. Charles Philip Moore is one of the writers, who has a writer/director pedigree in the action field.

In the end, Full Contact is better than you might think. It's not intelligent, but it's entertaining. And that's the important thing.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

The Butcher (2009)

The Butcher (2009)- * * *

Directed by: Jesse V. Johnson

Starring: Eric Roberts, Jerry Trimble, Robert Davi, Keith David, Bokeem Woodbine, Irina Bjorklund, Vernon Wells, Geoffrey Lewis, and Michael Ironside







Merle "The Butcher" Hench is one cool dude. He's an ex-boxer, has a pair of golden guns, and he drives a 1969 Dodge Charger. His temperament is very even and he doesn't yell. He also has a gambling problem. As an enforcer for Irish mobster Murdoch (Davi), he is highly skilled in "the science of violence", as someone tells him. However, Merle's luck begins to change when he wins money from both Chinatown Pete (Woodbine), and Larry Cobb (David).

Meanwhile, thinking that Merle is "over the hill", he is set up as the patsy for a multi-million-dollar heist on a group of other gangsters. While Hench does end up with some of the money, and plans to use it to run off into the sunset with diner waitress Jackie (Bjorklund), he can't help but shake the fact that he needs to get revenge for the fact that Murdoch and his boys betrayed his long-time loyalty to them. So, risking it all - including a potentially brighter future with Jackie - The Butcher gambles one last time...for his life.

There's a lot to recommend about The Butcher. The style of it is fairly downbeat and a bit unorthodox, with some interesting flashbacks. It seems influenced by the "L.A. Noir" of the past. It's a fantastic showcase for fan favorite Eric Roberts as well, as he not only gets to ponder on the existential side of things, he also does some Eric Roberts-Fu on the baddies, and he shoots a whole heck of a lot of them as well. 

Director Johnson is almost venerable towards Roberts and gives him the starring role he deserves. There are a lot of other interesting character moments as well - Davi doing an Irish accent, instead of the expected Italian one, was a surprise treat. Woodbine and David as The Butcher's gambling cronies added a lot. The great Geoffrey Lewis as Naylor, the pawnshop owner, stood out. Although he only appears in the silent flashbacks, Vernon G. Wells is hiding in there as well. And this has to be one of the best-ever performances in Jerry Trimble's career.

The cast is strong and the main idea behind the film is simple but effective. We've seen a good amount of Johnson's films at this point, and he really seems to understand action and what the fans want. He's one of the very few directors out there that really seem completely dedicated to the action genre. 

While The Butcher is far from a thrill a minute - it's deliberately paced and takes time to build up a head of steam - Johnson seems to be showing the fact that you can combine action violence and quasi-film noir without a hitch. When the action does come, it's explosive. It's all the more impactful because of the character moments that surround it. Johnson does his best to eschew cardboard characterizations. 

We applaud everything about the film, with the exception of one little caveat. It's too long. At almost two full hours, we couldn't help but think that if it was trimmed down to 90 minutes or so, it could have worked better. Yes, we realize we just contradicted ourselves a bit - it takes time to build up character moments, so how can we say we love those moments and then want to cut them - but surely a few trims here and there just to get things down to a reasonable running time couldn't hurt.

Perhaps interestingly, the working title for the Van Damme film 6 Bullets (2012) was The Butcher. They must have realized that this The Butcher predated it, then they changed it. Then they got Joe Flanigan. As all movies should.

The Butcher is a solid film all around with a lot of good points and highlights. Its mix of thoughtfulness in with the violence was appreciated. There are interesting faces, as well as ideas, and the cast is excellent. The only thorn in the movie's side is that it's too long. So, as that's not a complete dealbreaker, we say check it out.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Live By The Fist (1993)

Live By The Fist (1993)- * *

Directed by: Cirio H. Santiago

Starring: Jerry Trimble, George Takei, Laura Albert, Vic Diaz, and Nick Nicholson












 John Merill (Trimble) is a former Navy SEAL who winds up in the Philippines while looking for work. Impeding his job search is the fact that he is framed for the murder of a young girl by a gang of thugs. Sent to Bolera Island, sort of the Alcatraz of the Philippines, things take a downturn for the mighty Merill. The prison is ruled under the iron fist of corrupt warden Acosta (Diaz), but did you think it would be any other way? Acosta’s days may be numbered, because a pushy human rights crusader, Helen Ferris (Albert) is investigating the place. 

While Acosta cares not for human rights, Uncle (Takei) does, and he happens to be Merill’s cell mate. So Merill gets into various fights with various factions during his prison stay, and he must survive long enough to alert the world of his innocence. Will he die in prison, or LIVE BY THE FIST?

The presence of fan favorite Jerry Trimble is really the only noteworthy thing about the otherwise-mediocre Live By the Fist. It’s a typical Cirio movie, shot in the Philippines of course, and features every prison movie cliché there is. You’d think the fact that the movie is only 79 minutes would be enticing, but because it all feels like stuff you’ve seen a million times before, time actually goes by pretty slow here. And because it’s a Corman production, it’s all just a rehash of Bloodfist II (1990) and Bloodfist III (1992). Instead of Richard Roundtree, they got George Takei for the same part. Seems like a natural conclusion.

George “oh MY!” Takei (he doesn’t actually say his trademark line in this movie, but he does have some Oh My-esque moments) and Jerry Trimble truly are the ultimate cinematic team-up, Trimble of course resembling a more ripped cross between Sean Penn and Emilio Estevez. Vic Diaz, who has been in every Filipino movie ever made, is particularly hard to understand this time around, but Trimble makes up for it because he yells most of his lines. The “human rights chick” is basically a token character and does almost nothing.

Because it’s a prison slog with all the expected things that would entail, it’s hard to really get invested. It’s all very simplistic, and even a completely gratuitous exploding helicopter can’t save the day from the lackluster overall feel. But, as we said, Trimble is good, it’s not his fault. And the setups for the fight scenes are hilariously flimsy, which is a plus. 

There’s the sax on the soundtrack, when there’s not a squealing electric guitar riff (we were hoping for an end credit that read “Guitar riff played by Jerry Trimble”. Sadly it did not come. We’re assuming it’s out of modesty, not a more logical reason.)

Lest we forget Philippine-shot movie regular Nick Nicholson (as “Greasemonkey”), Live By the Fist is the weakest Jerry Trimble movie we’ve seen to date. Featuring the song (which was also uncredited but we’re assuming it’s called) “You’ve Got To Fight” (which we’re also hoping was sung by Trimble), the movie is typical Corman Crud, saved from utter worthlessness by Jerry’s Trimblings.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

Terminator Woman (1993)

Terminator Woman (1993)- * * *

Directed by: Michel Quissi

Starring: Karen Sheperd, Jerry Trimble, Michel Quissi, Ashley Hayden, and Ted Le Pat













Sgt. Jay Handlin (Trimble) and Sgt. Julie Parish (Sheperd) are cops with an ongoing rivalry about who is the better Martial Artist - but could there be some sparks flying in the romantic department as well? In the midst of trying to figure these things out, the pair travel to Africa of all places to try and bring down crime lord Alex Gatelee (Qissi). 

Consequently, they get into a ton of fights and face some other trials and tribulations - Julie is kidnapped, Jay has to reject the advances of Gatelee associate Myra Bolo (Hayden), and so forth. After enlisting the help of some locals, their Martial Arts abilities are truly put to the test when they face the ultimate showdown - Gatelee himself, of course. Will Jay be Handlin business? Find out today...?

Terminator Woman, not to be confused with Lady Terminator (1989), is professionally-shot and competently made - could it be a coincidence that this was not one of Trimble’s Roger Corman-produced actioners? That being said, the pacing is off and things get a bit dull at times. If about 10 minutes were lopped off, this whole outing might have a bit more verve to it. 

But the leads are all top-notch: You’ve got fan-favorite Trimble, who, in the most complimentary sense, resembles a more meatheady Emilio Estevez, and his trademark raspy voice is instantly recognizable. Then you’ve got fellow fan-favorite Sheperd, an enjoyable screen presence whose Martial Arts skill is excellent and wonderfully captured here. Finally, there’s Qissi, who also directed the movie, who very convincingly plays the baddie. So those are the movie’s strengths and weaknesses for you, and they fight it out - like everyone else on screen - throughout the running time.

Generally speaking, we don’t really care for ‘Africa Slogs’, as we call them, but this one is tolerable, thanks mainly to the aforementioned leads. The Trimble/Sheperd team up was an inspired choice, and it might remind you of similar pairings, such as Richard Norton and Cynthia Rothrock in the Rage and Honor diptych, or Steven Vincent Leigh and Sophia Crawford in Sword of Honor (1996). If nothing else, the movie as a whole plays to the strengths of the leads, and there are plenty of fights - as well as some good-natured stupidity - to prove that.

The whole thing is very 90’s - just witness the scenes at the Backlash club for proof. Maybe it’s an Africa thing, or maybe it’s an action movie thing, but it’s hard to imagine a dance club in the U.S. being named “Backlash”. It’s a bit too angry for us. 

Judging by the large “TW” logo on the U.S. VHS box art, perhaps the filmmakers were attempting a bit of branding: this is the one and only TW, and in their ideal world, people would ask each other around the water cooler, “have you seen the latest TW movie? I did, and it was awesome.” Latest, because surely more TW’s were planned. As it stands, presumably Sheperd is the TW, but the movie isn’t solely about her and her quest. Trimble is an equal part, and they didn’t call the movie “Terminator Man” - though, to be fair, Steve Railsback is the true Termination Man. Schwarzenegger ranks somewhere in there too, I’m sure.

In the midst of all the action, Trimble finds time to do a spontaneous shirtless Martial Arts workout/display alone in his hotel room whilst wearing tight jeans. The only outfit a 90’s action star needs.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

Breathing Fire (1991)

Breathing Fire (1991)- * * *

Directed by: Lou Kennedy, Brandon Pender, and Brandon De-Wilde

Starring: Jerry Trimble, Eddie Saavedra, Jonathan Ke Quan, Ed Neil, Laura Hamilton, T.J. Storm, Wendell C. Whitaker, and Bolo Yeung








Breathing Fire is the family saga of the Moore clan. Michael Moore (Trimble), who is the original Michael Moore and not to be confused with the noted unappealing and unpleasant blowhard who stole his name, masterminded a bank heist and stole plenty of gold bars. 

He has one White son, Tony (Eddie Saavedra in unfortunately his only movie role) and one Vietnamese son that he brought back from ‘Nam when he was serving there, somewhat distastefully named Charlie (Ke Quan). Both sons are Martial Arts enthusiasts and compete in local tournaments. 

When a young girl named Annie (Hamilton)’s parents are killed by Michael Moore, she goes on the run with Michael’s brother David (Neil), who also served in Vietnam. They end up at Michael Moore’s house, where David reluctantly trains them in his fighting style, and many baddies, including Thunder (Yeung) are fought against in the quest to unravel the truth about a highly-valuable piece of plastic pizza. You’re just going to have to watch to understand, which you should do today...

Usually when a movie is credited to three directors, that spells trouble. Just look at Slaughter High (1986). But in this case, it means silly fun for everyone. With its wacky and youth-oriented spirit, Breathing Fire wouldn’t be out of place in the canon of Ted Jan Roberts. Instead of Ted Jan, we get Mark-Paul Gosselaar lookalike Saavedra, who gives us his own personal vision of what a Zack Attack should be. The movie also strikes a blow for the Americans with Disabilities Act, because it features a boy with a speech impediment (Ke Quan) in a fight scene with multiple midgets (excuse me, “little people”), and doesn’t dwell on or exploit the fact. And any movie with a cross-dressing Bolo Yeung simply demands to be seen.

The movie is chock full of great line readings, fascinating T-shirts, training sequences (a lot of which could easily be mistaken for torture), Vietnam flashbacks, and much more. There’s a killer disco sequence, the token female baddie of the gang is of course here, and it all concludes in - you guessed it - an abandoned warehouse.  

And let’s not forget the time honored “young person/people have to prove they’re worthy to the great master before he’ll work with them” subplot involving Ed Neil, not to be confused with Ed O’Neill (though both are Martial Arts masters - O’Neill is a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Why Al Bundy himself hasn’t been cast in any Breathing Fire-type movies remains an open question). Ed Neil should have done more as well. A team-up with Ed O’Neill as Karate-kicking cops would have been amazing. It’s never too late.

 

Despite, or perhaps because of, the three directors, there are plenty of humorously abrupt cuts, and other...what look like shortcuts, on display. It all adds to the entertainment value, and the fight scenes have that Hong Kong-style fast energy. While that style of fight scene is more than welcome, it almost seems out of place in this kinda-sorta-quasi-almost kids movie. 

The whole “brothers in ‘Nam” idea was an interesting concept, and could have been developed into a movie in its own right. But in the end, Breathing Fire is a wacky good time, with both Bolo and Trimble at their absolute best. (Side note: watch out for the Code of Silence (1985) poster at Tank (Wendell C. Whitaker in unfortunately his only movie role)’s house. )

Breathing Fire has got the fights you want, the silliness you need, and the “totally 90’s” vibe you can’t get enough of. And the DVD is dirt cheap. What’s not to love?

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, 10k Bullets, DTVC, and Fist Of B-List !

Stranglehold (1994)

Stranglehold (1994)- * * *

Directed by: Cirio H. Santiago

Starring: Jerry Trimble, Jillian McWhirter, and Vernon G. Wells













When Ohio congresswoman Helen Filmore (McWhirter) and her staff fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to visit Chemco, a new chemical weapons facility, all hell breaks loose when terrorist Richter (Wells) and his goons commandeer the place and take Filmore and her staff hostage. Luckily, she has a badass bodyguard with an attitude, Ryan Cooper (Trimble). Cooper singlehandedly must take down the baddies and save Filmore. But with Richter’s goons at every turn, can he do it? Find out today!

Stranglehold is yet another addition to the 90’s “DieHardInA” sub-genre that we’ve covered extensively on this site. Lethal Tender, Deadly Outbreak, Crackerjack and many others populated video stores with scenarios oddly reminiscent of the Bruce Willis film. 

Thankfully, our main hero this time around is the inimitable Jerry Trimble, who looks like Sean Penn in a bout of ‘Roid Rage. (Interestingly, he resembles Penn when he’s wearing his suit. When he changes to fatigues - he only has two outfits in the movie - he looks more like Emilio Estevez. Go figure). Nevertheless, Trimble has a great voice, and it sounds a lot like Reb Brown’s. It’s highly enjoyable to watch him fight baddies and shoot one-liners. And more baddies. To quote the tagline: “Bare hands. Fast feet. Short temper. Ryan Cooper needs no weapon”. That’s all you need to know, really.

Besides Trimble and his ponytail, and his utterance of lines such as “Maybe a diet sandwich?” to a portly compatriot (we think Trimble may have unwittingly invented something awesome here. But we suspect he does a lot of things unwittingly), there are some other B-movie greats onboard. Jillian McWhirter, who we knew from Beyond the Call of Duty (1992) and the great PM movies Last Man Standing (1995) and Rage (1995) is good as the congresswoman. 

And we always love to see Vernon G. Wells, and here he puts in a wonderfully hammy performance as the bad guy with the prerequisite German name. And because it’s a Cirio movie under the Corman auspices, the running time is only 73 minutes! So it’s easy to fit this one into your movie-watching schedule.

The shooting and kicking in an industrial scenario, exploding things, not the least of which is at least one helicopter, and the keyboard-based soundtrack will feel nicely familiar to action fans and it gives the movie an 80’s feel. On the whole, we enjoyed Stranglehold, because there’s nothing NOT to enjoy. It delivers action goods in a compact package, and we applaud that.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

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

The Package (2012)

The Package (2012)- * * *

Directed by: Jesse V. Johnson

Starring: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Keenleyside, Monique Ganderton, Darren Shahlavi, Mike Dopud, Lochlyn Munro, and Jerry Trimble









Tommy (Austin) and his partner Julio (Dopud) are Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who work for big shot mob boss Big Doug (Keenleyside). They go around collecting debts for Mr. Big and everything seems peachy keen. One day, Tommy is entrusted to deliver THE PACKAGE to rival crime lord The German (Dolph). Seems simple enough, but Tommy’s life is about to get a lot more stressful, because hordes of baddies start chasing him because they want what he’s supposed to deliver. 

Devon (Shahlavi) commands a gang of highly-trained assassins, including token female gang member Monique (Ganderton), and others, such as Carl (Trimble) fight Tommy every step of the way. Tommy just wants to get back to his wife Darla (Kerr) but it’s going to be a battle to get there. Will Tommy survive, or will The Package be marked Return to Sender? Find out today...

We enjoyed The Package. It had an old-school vibe that we could really get into. All the movie really consists of is a series of fights between Stone Cold and various other characters. For us, the highlights naturally were the fight with Darren Shahlavi, who was so memorable as the baddie from Bloodmoon (1997), the fight with none other than Jerry Trimble, who we thought looked and sounded great, time has been very kind to him and we hope this revives his movie career, and of course the Dolph-Stone Cold battle that the whole film leads up to. Dolph is known only as “The German” - it seems he plays a lot of Russian, American, and now German characters, never any Swedish ones it seems - and it was nice to see him as a baddie after a long string of hero roles. It seems his last bad guy role, or at least the only one that comes to mind, was way back as Ivan Drago.

Not to be confused with the Gene Hackman vehicle The Package (1989), this particular The Package makes for entertaining and pleasant DTV action viewing, and has a different look and feel than another Anchor Bay-released Dolph outing, The Killing Machine (2010) (which interestingly also featured actress Monique Ganderton) - so if you’re worried that Anchor Bay is just pumping out a mindless, samey stream of Dolph movies, have no fear, that’s not the case. Besides, where else will you see Dolph extolling the virtues of a good fruit salad? That alone makes The Package worth at least one viewing. 

Of course, the classic cliches are also delivered (pun intended?) - the Prerequisite Torture of the hero, the wife of the hero who wants him to quit his dangerous job/lifestyle, and a favorite of ours, when the baddies find a place where they know the hero is, then break out at least one machine gun and proceed to shoot up the place from outside, in an extended shooting scene, rather than go inside, giving the hero ample time to survive.

It was comforting to watch a solidly-made modern-day actioner - it always helps to know you’re in capable hands (speaking about the writing and direction, and all the other technical aspects, which were all pretty much right on target). Director Johnson had previously made Pit Fighter (2005), so we were familiar with him from that. The Package gets our stamp of approval.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

One Man Army (1994)

One Man Army (1994)-* * *

Directed by: Cirio H. Santiago

Starring: Jerry Trimble, Melissa Moore, Dennis Hayden, Rick Dean, and Yup The Dog as Hank













Jerry Pelt (Trimble) is a devoted Martial Arts instructor in the big city, who loves teaching tots how to punch and kick. When he receives word that his beloved grandfather has died, he travels to the country to go to his funeral. Once there, he finds the old town of Johnson City is rife with gambling, prostitution and corruption of every kind. There’s even illegal, underground Punchfighting taking place at the local watering hole. Jerry then teams up with lawyer Natalie Pierce (Moore), his old buddy Eddie (Hayden), and his trusty dog Hank (Yup) and he goes on a crusade to clean up the town. In order to do this, he must defeat Sheriff Boze (Dean), so Jerry runs for Sheriff himself. But it’s going to take all that Jerry Pelt has to save the town, his friends, his dog, and himself from the evil forces in Johnson City. Can he do it?

The man with Sean Penn’s face and Reb Brown’s voice returns for One Man Army, a movie with a storyline that will seem familiar if you’ve seen China O’Brien (1990), or even fellow Cirio outing The Devastator (1985) (among many other possible influences). Because this is a Corman-produced Cirio movie, the running time is only about 75 minutes - and in that time a lot of pleasantly dumb and very silly action is crammed in. 

We really like Jerry Trimble, and we felt this movie was better than his Die Hard knockoff Stranglehold (1994). We felt his character, Jerry Pelt (is he like Tony Danza, who contractually can only play characters named Tony because he cannot respond to any other name?) was put in an interesting position: He’s forced to Punchfight, and then wants to shut down the Punchfighting ring once invested with the legal authority to do so.  We don’t think we have ever seen that before.

A dog named Yup plays Jerry’s devoted sidekick (sadly it’s his only credited movie role to date) - and he’s listed proudly among the other actors in the opening credits. At first when you see “And Yup as Hank”, you feel confused, but Yup has a surprisingly big role, and has to do a lot of stuff to help Jerry. His dog acting was impressive, we have to say. Fan favorite Nick Nicholson is on board, pretty much guaranteeing that this movie was shot in the Philippines (not California as we’re led to believe). Melissa Moore is always nice to see - her batting average is pretty high, having appeared in Samurai Cop (1989) and The Killing Zone (1991).

One Man Army is brief, derivative fun from start to finish. It won’t tax your brain or your schedule. Trimble fans need to come out of the woodwork, so here we are talking about one of his mini-classics.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out reviews from our buddies, DTVC , Fist Of B-List and The Video Vacuum! 

The King Of The Kickboxers (1990)

The King Of The Kickboxers (1990)-* * *

Directed by: Lucas Lowe

Starring: Loren Avedon, Richard Jaeckel, Don Stroud, Keith Cooke, Han Soo Ong, Jerry Trimble, Sherrie Rose, and Billy Blanks











In this Seasonal Films production, the insufferable Loren Avedon plays Jake Donahue, a New York City undercover cop with, you guessed it, a bad attitude, who, you guessed it, plays by his own rules. He is sent by his Captain, O’Day (Jaeckel) who is working with Interpol, to Thailand to bust up a snuff film ring. While there he meets up with his contact in the area, Anderson (Stroud) and mannish love interest Molly (Rose, who must have stretched every acting muscle in her body to pretend she actually was into Avedon). However, it seems Donahue has a history in Thailand, as his brother was murdered there by the mysterious  Khan (Blanks). Coincidentally, the nefarious Khan is the star of these films where the martial arts is so real, you die on impact. The producers of the films recruit young fighters from tournaments, promising them stardom, and when they get to the set, Khan kills them. So, seeing as Donahue is also a kickboxing man, he goes undercover as a naive punchfighter with stars in his eyes so he can get a shot at Khan and get revenge. The only problem is, he’s not as good as Khan, so Prang (Cooke) takes him under his wing and trains him. Will Donahue get the closure he seeks?

Loren Avedon in this movie is so annoyingly cocky, and so devoid of one ounce of humility, you actually, weirdly enough, like Billy Blanks more as the evil Khan. Sure, Khan is pure malevolence, but he’s secure in his total diabolical-ness and you love him for it. It’s a lot harder to get behind the weaselly Avedon as the main hero.

The plot aside, there is excellent fight choreography and some punishing blows. Fans of fast-paced, well-executed moves will find a lot to appreciate here. Richard Jaeckel plays the classic ‘yelling police captain’ with aplomb, and the husky-voiced Sherrie Rose of Maximum Force (1992) fame is a serviceable love interest who calls Avedon’s character “Jack”. Perhaps she wished he was someone else that badly. 

The Pauly Shore-like Cooke does a good job as the trainer of Donahue and has the patience of a saint. His sidekick, a lovable chimp, practically steals the movie. Cooke does have some awesome moves - also check him out in China O’Brien (1990). Billy Blanks is great as the big heavy. His bulging eyes and funny faces are present and accounted for. Jerry Trimble appears in the opening, prerequisite “abandoned warehouse” scene simply as “Drug Dealer”. Han Soo Ong, of Last to Surrender (1999) fame, who plays a local kickboxer, gets one of the best lines of the movie when he tells Donahue “You’ve never faced a real kickboxing”. Loren Avedon, with his jean jacket with fringed sleeves and fanny pack, is simply an unlikable jerk, but he does get some winners in the dialogue department, as well as some memorable yells. This movie overall could have been improved if the audience actually liked the hero.

The pure silliness of the whole outing comes to the fore at the final confrontation, when Avedon tops his previous ridiculous casual outfits with a formal getup that can only be described as an “elf jester” suit. When you see it, you’ll know what we mean.

Entertainingly insane, for a punchfighting mini-classic, check out King of the Kickboxers.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett