Enemy Action (1999)

 

Enemy Action (1999)- * *

Directed by: Brian Katkin 

Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Louis Mandylor, Carl Struycken, Lisa Thornhill, Michael Newman, Beata Pozniak, Ed O'Ross, Randolph Mantooth, and Richard Lynch

Because he is "the best", John Reed (Howell) is dispatched to the former commie country of Dagestan to stop some baddies who want to release advanced-technology missiles on the U.S.A. The small band of evildoers, led by the sinister Solonsky (Mantooth), but also including Price (Mandylor), Eyepatch (Struycken), Dimitri (Lynch), and Fatima (Pozniak) have met their match with John Reed. Backed up by Catherine Kelly (Thornhill) and Major Pedyed (O'Ross), Reed must stop the missiles, stop the commies, and save the day. But will he be able to stop the ENEMY ACTION?

Hey, remember Stealth Fighter (1999), Desert Thunder (1999), Black Thunder (1998), The Pandora Project (1998), or perhaps Interceptor (1992)? Well, here's another low-budget Roger Corman programmer to file along with all the others. Enemy Action has the benefit of a cast that is well above average, but the movie itself is the usual mishmash of plane slog, dogfight slog, sub slog and mix-and-match-footage-from-other-movies slog that we've all become acquainted with over the years, especially in the output from the late 90's/early 2000's when that sort of thing really seemed to proliferate.

It's not a total loss, however, because Howell and Mantooth are both really good in the film and seem to be giving it their all. Or something close to their all. It helps the proceedings a lot to see that. Of course, there's the time-honored Wacky Taxi Driver. In this case, he proclaims how much he loves the West and his fondest goal is to "marry a Spice Girl". The baseball-loving John Reed really seems to appreciate this. Larry Hankin plays a guy whose name is - if you listen to what other characters seem to be calling him - "Yuri Avocado". Makes sense.

The special effects are indeed quite special, as we've got miniatures that look like they were taken out of a box of Battleship, "explosions" that look like if you crash your plane in a CD-ROM flight simulator from 1994, and an exploding helicopter that's quite literally onscreen for one second. We only point out these things because they help make the movie more fun and more watchable, not out of any sort of negativity.

In the realm of constructive criticism, we would say that the plot was very simplistic and should have had more going on, perhaps more twists and turns. The solid B-Movie cast was nice to see, but what they had to work with wasn't that meaty.

The VHS tape, released by Corman's New Concorde label, states on the tape itself that the film runs 77 minutes. The back of the box states that it's 84 minutes. The film itself is 82 minutes before the credits. All split hairs aside, the movie is still pretty short, but it feels longer because we've all been down this road many times in our viewing past.

In the end, Enemy Action isn't anything you haven't seen before. For a suggestion that's similar but better, try The Pandora Project.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Avengement (2019)

 

Avengement (2019)- * * *

Directed by: Jesse V. Johnson 

Starring: Scott Adkins, Craig Fairbrass, and Louis Mandylor 

When Cain Burgess (Adkins) escapes from prison, he wants to have a talk with his brother Lincoln Burgess (Fairbrass). It's pretty important. So he heads over to the hangout of Lincoln and his criminal crew, the Horse & Jockey pub in London. While there, Cain doesn't let anybody leave the premises until he unravels the whole tale of how he got to be in the position he's in. In a series of flashbacks, Cain explains his pain - and his transformation from low-level, basically harmless wannabe criminal into a hardened, angry, grizzled monster. 

It seems his prison stay was made far harder than it should have been due to the fact of a certain person putting a price on his head. So Cain had to train hard - and fight harder - just to stay alive while inside. Through the flashbacks, we learn that Detective O'Hara (Mandylor) is looking to put an end to Lincoln's crime ring. But Cain ends up having other ideas...ones that involve unrelenting, bloody AVENGEMENT.

From the Comeuppance Reviews dictionary: AVENGEMENT (avenj-mint) - the quality or state of Scott Adkins punching, kicking, shooting, or breaking your limbs until he gets justice.

Avengement is a film that concentrates much more on brutal violence than director and frequent Adkins collaborator Jesse V. Johnson's The Butcher (2009), or even the more recent Accident Man (2018). Here, Johnson and Adkins strip away the fat and deliver a nice, concise tale that moves swiftly along and delivers the sort of tough, strong entertainment we as viewers want to see.

We liked the unorthodox structure of the film, bouncing back and forth between the past and the present as the plot unfolds. We also liked that Adkins gets to show his range here - from a "normal" guy to a terrifying, barking dog that's been put through a very hard wringer of life. The prison beatdowns are fantastic, as is the final pub brawl. But some important later scenes show that Cain hasn't completely lost his humanity. During the prison scenes, his training is intercut with the fighting, instead of one following the other. That was pleasantly different.

There's a certain, very enjoyable London atmosphere to it all, and a lot of slang is used, so for American viewers, putting on the captions might be advised. Lincoln's gang all add a lot of color, and the whole thing makes Guy Ritchie movies look like Mister Rogers episodes. The score by Sean Murray includes some great synthy moments that reference the 80's, but are far from a slavish copy of them. We commend him for that, and all the behind-the-scenes people did a great job - it's shot well, lit well, etc. It all adds up to total entertainment, as strong and forceful as it is.

We hope Johnson and Adkins continue to collaborate in the future. They obviously work well together and if this is the upward trajectory that they're on, we can't wait to see what's coming next.

Avengement is highly recommended. And watch out for the after-credits sequence.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

Champions (1997)

Champions (1997)- * *

Directed by: Peter Gathings Bunche

Starring: Louis Mandylor, Danny Trejo, Jeff Wolfe, Lee Reherman, George "Buck" Flower, Bobbie Blackford, Kool Keith, and Ken Shamrock

William Rockman (Mandylor) was a professional fighter who decided to become a Martial Arts instructor for children after accidentally killing an opponent in a tragic training accident. When Congress outlaws UFC-style underground fighting (is this supposed to take place in the future?), it morphs into something called “Terminal Combat”, a far deadlier sport (and should have been the title for this movie). When Rockman’s brother Ray Rockman (Wolfe) is killed by reigning Brakus/Tong Po-style super-evil baddie The King (Shamrock), well…you might find this surprising, but William comes out of retirement to get revenge for his fallen brother. It just so happens that unscrupulous Terminal Combat promoter Max Brito (Trejo) is staging the biggest contest yet – a multi-billion dollar fight extravaganza broadcast by satellite. He gets fighters from all over the country, imprisons them in his lair, puts chips in their necks so he can control them, and forces them to fight to the death for amusement and big bucks. But they didn’t count on one thing – the scrappy and tenacious William Rockman. He now has to corral the other remaining, non-dead fighters to break out of prison and save the day. Will their fate be terminal…or will they come out as CHAMPIONS?

Watching Champions is the Punchfighting equivalent of what a doctor must feel like when they are observing a patient fighting for life who is hooked up to an Electrocardiograph machine. There are long stretches of a flatline where the doctor must despair that the patient is dying, but occasionally it will spike up, and excitement must ensue that there is life left in the patient yet. In other words, there are some commendable things about Champions, but the movie is too damn long at 98 minutes. This stretches out the better aspects and unnecessarily makes them fewer and farther between. If it were streamlined and the lead weight taken out, this movie could almost be a minor classic. If it were 80 minutes long, we’d really have a winner here.

Okay, so it was the 90’s, Ken Shamrock is involved, and it’s what you might call the “early days” of UFC. Most of the fight scenes are like live-action versions of the classic video game Pit Fighter, but with sillier pants (or lack thereof - see cover above). Most of the fighters and fans shout “Yeeeaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!” a lot. This must be why these underground Punchfights to the death are so heavily traded on “black market VHS”, and/or why George “Buck” Flower is involved (perhaps they gave him an Irish accent here to distinguish him from Randall “Tex” Cobb).

As far as our hero is concerned, it appears that Louis Mandylor is physically shrinking more and more as the movie goes on. If you compare his height to the other people in the movie, it appears he devolves to Tom Cruise-level proportions as proceedings roll on. He also narrates it, presumably for people who find the story too hard to follow. To add more unnecessary plot, it appears he has a history with “The King”, there’s a love interest between him and fellow fighter Kimberly Pepatone (Blackford, a Paget Brewster lookalike who you might remember from “Force”-ful productions like Total Force and The Silent Force), and a fighter who looks as if David Letterman was younger, and a meathead – who also has a love interest. This guy, who we’ll call David LetterMeat, is played by Lee Reherman – a very similar last name to Letterman. Coincidence?

Danny Trejo is engaging as the promoter Max Brito, although it sounds like other people are either calling him “Lance Ito” (it was the 90’s, after all. Maybe Judge Ito promotes underground fighting on the side. What a thought), or “Max Burrito”, which might be horrendously racist. A good chunk of Trejo’s dialogue consists of him giving an extended maniacal laugh. Speaking of which, the “corrupt politician on the take”, subplot – yet another subplot – was one of the better ones and should have replaced some of the lesser ones. 

Another bit of the storyline, that Pepatone is a fighter who takes out her repressed anger that stems from a prior assault on her opponents, could be a movie in itself. It was another strand that was undeveloped, which in this case might be good because we didn’t want Champions to be over three hours long.

At least the fighters are skilled and enthusiastic, and have their own individual personalities. It’s not a mush of meandering meatheads like in later movies of this sort. It all comes to an entertaining and enjoyable climax, which should have come much earlier, because at that point the viewer’s attention has flagged. The sight of Ken Shamrock dressed in not much more than a red wrestling Speedo while screaming and shooting a machine gun amidst a hail of gunfire, explosions, and guard tower falls is nothing short of awesome, but you have to swim the Sargasso sea to get there.

One of the aspects of Champions that adds a level of interest is the fact that rapper Kool Keith is in a couple of scenes for no conceivable reason. He even has an encounter with a confrontational meathead that has “Jesus Saves” tattooed on his chest. So, all is not lost. In other music news, the end credits has a list of bands involved, but no song titles or other information. The list is as follows: Civil Rite, Mother, Try, Faded, Corporate Dick, and Black Ass ID. Maybe they supposed the band names speak for themselves.

In the end, Champions does indeed have some bright spots and noteworthy aspects, but they’re spread awfully thin over an overly-extended running time. The verdict has to be that we would recommend the movie to Punchfighting fans with a lot of patience.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Double Deception (2001)

Double Deception (2001)-*

Directed by: Shundo Ohkawa

Starring: Louis Mandylor, James Russo, Rei Kikukawa, Maya Hoshino, Udo Kier, and Joe Estevez












Luke Campbell (Mandylor, not the guy from 2 Live Crew) is a bodyguard hired to protect Lisa Ozaki (Kikukawa), the daughter of a wealthy Japanese businessman. Due to a recent spate of kidnappings perpetrated by the evil Snake (Russo), Mr. Ozaki hired a lookalike named Maria (Hoshino) to confuse the kidnappers and keep his daughter safe. However, when a two million dollar ransom is at stake, things get very confusing indeed as allegiances and alliances change and shift, while Luke and Lisa go on the run. Will this kidnapping plot go as planned?

Double Deception is a junky, low-budget film that feels low budget. Many times, thanks to quality acting and writing, movies can overcome a lack of funds. Unfortunately, that is not the case here. There are plenty of stupid fights and chases, and some amazingly moronic dialogue thus making this movie a tough sit. It’s a standard plot that you’ve seen before, but this time there are Japanese actors with extremely thick accents that are hard to understand. The quality of the tape is muffled and there’s plenty of wooden acting on top of that. So, from an audio standpoint, there’s a lot to be desired.

From the minute, early on in the movie, when we see some baddies with those cheap plastic glow-in-the-dark Jason-style hockey masks, it’s easy to see there’s trouble brewing. Udo Kier seems to take things somewhat seriously, but it’s hard to tell as his role is basically a cameo and is nothing more than an all-too-brief walk-on role. Same thing with Joe Estevez. It’s hard to believe this is the second time we’re saying this, but: This movie needed more Joe Estevez! Apparently he’s more important to the structural integrity of movies than we heretofore believed.

There’s a guy in the movie that’s like a stupider Gary Busey, and there’s plenty of 90’s-style high-waisted pants, and a large dose of “90’s tech” cell phones. It’s hard to believe this movie came out in ‘01. It feels more mid-90’s. Rei Kikukawa is attractive, but she should have been subtitled. It would have been more coherent and possibly some entertainment value could have been gained from her trying to communicate with Louis Mandylor. As it is now, Double Deception suffers from a lack of just about everything, with cohesiveness being the main casualty.

It’s hard to imagine anyone renting this in a video store back in the day, but here it is. We can safely say, this movie exists. That’s pretty much all there is to say.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

Jack Of Hearts (2000)

Jack Of Hearts (2000) -*

Directed By: Serge Rodnunsky

Starring: Louis Mandylor, Nick Mancuso, Joe Penny, Roddy Piper, Ben Gazzara, and M. Emmet Walsh






This movie is pretty bad.

The plot: Some guy has a casino and gold is involved or something...I don't know, the editing and pacing are abysmal.

One the director's last movies, Paper Bullets (2000) was a masterpiece compared to this trash. M. Emmet Walsh and Ben Gazzara (They should know better) put in "paycheck" performances at most. The direction, writing, mostly everything about this movie is amateurish.

Don't be fooled by the cool looking cover or goofy tagline:

"Shoot from the hip or don't shoot at all"... It's barely an action movie.

Comeuppance review by: Ty

Rogue Force (1998)

Rogue Force (1998) -* * *

AKA: Counterforce, Renegade Force

Directed By: Martin Kunert

Starring: Michael Rooker, Diane Di Lascio, Louis Mandylor, and Robert Patrick








Rogue Force is brainless action at its best. The plot: FBI Agent Matt Cooper (Rooker) has to stop renegade cops who are killing mafia members and other assorted bad guys. It doesn't seem like a problem, but they have gone too far, because innocents are also being targeted. He is saddled with a partner: Helen Simms (Di Lascio) to bring down the ringleader Jake (Patrick).

What Rogue Force excels at are the action scenes. All the action is brisk and exciting. The climax in particular is very well executed. It's just non-stop bullets and mayhem. Rooker, Di Lascio, and Patrick put in good performances too.

In the end: Rogue Force is 90 minutes of cool FBI\SWAT action. The plot is routine but who cares when you're having a good time?

Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Angel Blade (2002)

Angel Blade (2002) -*1\2

Directed by: David Heavener

Starring: David Heavener, Marc Singer, Louis Mandylor, Richard Moll, Amanda Righetti and Margot Kidder









David Heavener is stuck in the 80's. Angel Blade is filled to the brim with 80's cheese. First the casting: Margot Kidder, Marc Singer and everybody's favorite actor, David Heavener.

Then the plot: A cop at the end of his rope (Heavener) has to find out who is killing hookers. But not just your ordinary hookers, PREGNANT hookers. It can't get any more sleazy than that. Not that sleaziness is bad, but when it is acted, edited and directed in a lifeless and horrible way, all you can do is stare at the griminess dripping off the screen.



I like David Heavener, but he puts in a poor performance this time around. Instead of Heavener always writing and directing himself, He should give someone else a job for once.



Comeuppance Review By: Ty