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

Forced To Kill (1994)

Forced To Kill (1994)- * *

Directed by: Russell Solberg

Starring: Corey Michael Eubanks, Kari Whitman, Michael Ironside, Rance Howard, Clint Howard, Mickey Jones, and Don Swayze

Johnny (Eubanks) is a dedicated repo man who looks a lot like a young Patrick Dempsey. He’s so into his repo’ing, he’s built a whole life for himself and his fiancé, Heather (Whitman) and they’re on the road to marriage. When Johnny’s boss tells him to drive a Jaguar from L.A. to Utah, Johnny hits the road without a care in the world.


Suddenly, he runs afoul of stereotypical rednecks Rance (Howard) and his sons Dwayne (Swayze) and Neil (Jones). This crazed family takes note of Johnny’s fighting skills, so naturally they put him in chains and force him to fight/train in local Punchfighting competitions. Sheriff Wilson (Ironside) is certainly aware of the situation…but what side is he on? All the locals, including higher-ups in the government come to these illegal Punchfighting matches. But when the sinister good-ol’ boys kidnap Heather, Johnny goes out for revenge, and this time he’s not just forced to fight, he just may be…FORCED TO KILL.


We’re all familiar with the classic Coreys of the 80’s. Those being, of course, Haim, Feldman, and Hart. But like one of the lost tribes of Judah, there was another Corey who is only being uncovered today: Corey Michael Eubanks.

Unusually for a PM film, Forced To Kill is just kind of lackluster. The filmmakers probably just assumed that they had an awesome ace in the hole by getting Bob Eubanks’s son to write, executive produce and star in the film. And while Corey Michael Eubanks (henceforth to be referred to as CME) is indeed a gem, this movie has some structural problems that even he can’t overcome. 

The simple plot is extremely repetitive and there are no real surprises. At about an hour in, we get into boring tournament sequences that just aren’t that interesting to watch. There’s no one, singular, charismatic, evil villain such as a Brakus to provide a foil to CME. On top of that, to have stereotype redneck characters as these baddies are is just played out. Although, to be fair, if you’re going to get some redneck baddies, it was smart to get Don Swayze and Mickey Jones, who specialized in that sort of thing.

In other cast news, we do get two Howards for the price of one – both Rance (playing a guy named…Rance) and Clint Howard are on board. One of the better scenes appears when a bunch of aging punks (not quite in their 40’s as is usually the case but they appear to be getting there fast) begin bullying Drifter (Clint Howard) and CME intervenes and beats up the bullies.

Director Solberg is primarily known as a stuntman but he doesn’t hold it together too well behind the camera. A lot of what we see is stodgy and the pacing is off. We don’t even get as many CME wisecracks as we should. On the bright side, we do get some classic PM car flips and blow-ups, this time done up in a country-fried style rather than of the usual urban variety. While we appreciate the difference, it just wasn’t enough to keep the movie afloat. 

In the end, Forced To Kill (not to be confused with Trained To Kill or Forced To Fight) is Punchfighting by numbers. That was disappointing because some of the talent on screen is capable of much better. On the whole, it’s not weird, wild, and wacky enough for our tastes. While the movie isn’t bad, it’s really just okay - we can only wholeheartedly recommend it for Punchfighting completists. Or Don Swayze completists. We know you’re out there.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, Bulletproof Action and The Unknown Movies!

Red Sun Rising (1994)

Red Sun Rising (1994)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Francis Megahy

Starring: Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Michael Ironside, James Lew, Mako, Terry Farrell, Ken Davitian, Stoney Jackson, Edward Albert, and Soon-Tek Oh











Thomas Hoshino (Wilson) is a half American-half Japanese cop with a strong sense of honor. When his partner is killed whilst in Japan, he tracks the baddies responsible all the way to Los Angeles.  It turns out the main culprit is no ordinary baddie. Jaho (Lew) is a supremely evil monster with a very special weapon literally at his fingertips - the Death Touch. In order to combat against this supposed Death Touch, Hoshino reaches out to an old associate, Iga (Mako) and he trains him in not just Martial Arts but magic powers. Hoshino also ends up working alongside no-nonsense L.A. cop Karen Ryder (Farrell). Ryder comes into the picture because a gang war is brewing between street gangs the 72nd St. Icemen and the Malitos. 

Could Jaho have anything to do with the impending gang throwdown? Can it be stopped? Can anything stop...the DEATH TOUCH? Find out today!

We believe Red Sun Rising: The Legend Of The Death Touch (if you include that on-screen subtitle) is one of Don The Dragon Wilson’s best movies. Could it be a coincidence that when he escaped the clutches of Roger Corman, his best work appears? There have been other movies that revolve around, or at least mention some kind of “Death Touch” (also sometimes called the “Dim Mak”) but here it receives what has to be its ultimate cinematic representation. Add some training sequences and an all-star B-movie cast and it’s pretty tough to go wrong.

James Lew (he gets an “Introducing” credit here although he’d been in plenty of movies before this) puts in a hiss-worthy bad guy performance, with Soon-Tek Oh backing him up. Michael Ironside as Ryder’s Captain does pretty much a sit-down role, but it’s one of the better ones we can remember. Ken Davitian is on hand as the prerequisite Wacky Taxi Driver, and Stoney Jackson has a pretty small but worthwhile role as Gamal. 

Edward Albert of Kenderson!!!!!!! fame has a low-key role that perhaps should have been bigger, but that’s the problem with these “all-star” movies. Not everyone gets enough time in the sun. But for once, Mako is not the victim of that. His role is meaty and substantial, with plenty of screen time. Don the Dragon is delightfully wooden as always, and it should also be mentioned that Art Camacho has a small role as a Malito. Perhaps stealing the movie was Terry Farrell as Ryder. We weren’t familiar with her before, but she’s tough, smart and funny in equal measure. Farrell should have done more material like this.

Wilson, besides merely starring in the movie, receives the credit “Executive In Charge Of Fight Action”. Who else can claim that distinction? Providing his foil is Mako, and when we first see him, although he is the wise sensei, he is wearing a shirt that says “I am the big banana” with a large picture of a banana, with matching banana-print pants! We applaud the filmmakers for not going with the typical cliches. He’s more intelligible than usual and he puts in a bright, happy performance. 

Ryder and Hoshino go through the typical American vs. Japanese “culture clash” that we’ve seen before but it’s usually played for laughs. As for the training sequences, they could have used a pounding, anthemic rock song, but maybe they were taking a different tack this time. And seeing as how this was the mid-90’s and Street Fighter and its Ha-Do-Ken was huge, this is finally the movie to see it in. Interestingly enough, the Street Fighter (1994) movie came out the same year.

Seeing as how this is a “gang war” movie as well as a “death touch” movie with a mega cast, it really tries to be all things to all people and basically succeeds.

Featuring a title song (we always love those) by Angela Carole Brown and Phil Settle, Red Sun Rising is a very good example of what Don The Dragon can do and would be a good starting place for people not familiar with him. It’s also a good example of 90’s video store action that’s worth seeing.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

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

The Killing Man (1994)

The Killing Man (1994)- * *

Directed by: David Mitchell

Starring: Jeff Wincott, Terri Hawkes, and Michael Ironside








Harlin Garrett (Wincott) has been coasting on his enviable name for too long. Formerly a hit man, a mysterious man named Green (Ironside) kidnaps him and forces him to do assassination jobs for his organization. While unsure of his future, he obeys Green until a romance develops with one of his potential targets, Dr. Ann Kendall (Hawkes). When a conspiracy involving the U.S. government starts to spiral out of control, Garrett must hold on to what he knows and survive the onslaught. Can he do it?

While we’re not entirely sure what a “killing man” is exactly (is it anything like a Japanese Karate Man?) - what we do know is that this movie is certainly below the talents of the normally-capable Jeff Wincott. 

Of course, low budgets never bothered us, but the rock-bottom financial situation is painfully evident here. The budget must have been so low, they couldn’t afford backgrounds. BACKGROUNDS! Many scenes take place with a totally black backdrop. Either this is the weirdest episode of The Charlie Rose show yet filmed, or Wincott and the gang are floating in some sort of existential nowhere-land. Even when scenes take place in an actual room, there is no set design whatsoever. Is this a kind of avant-garde theatre production that no one ever goes to see? 

Regardless, the dark, dingy, bleak, depressing, Canadian vibe permeates the movie. It would all be tolerable if there were many competently-shot action scenes to mitigate the grime. Unfortunately, this does not happen either.

A handful of dumb, stupidly-filmed beat-em-ups, again, below Wincott’s standards, don’t help matters. But we do get more than one scene of him walking in slow motion. And his hair, sunglasses and jacket combo make him look oddly like Andrew Dice Clay. You feel that at any moment he’s going to break into a rousing rendition of “hickory dickory dock...” 

Aggravatingly, the movie as a whole does not play to Wincott’s strengths, like Mission of Justice (1993) did, for example. He’s an able and powerful Martial Artist, with a big likable streak. NONE of those attributes are effectively communicated in The Killing Man. Yes, there is an amateurish alleyway fight, and some type of romance, but the movie’s limitations prevent it from really taking flight.

But one thing we did learn is that if you ever send someone a severed head in the mail, make sure you use styrofoam packing peanuts. You wouldn’t want it to get damaged in transit and look bad. 

Also it made us re-discover the fact that standing on the edge of a building roof is so ‘90s. It seems like every star, from Richard Gere to John Travolta to Jeff Wincott took the elevator all the way up there and stood up and looked out into the distance. For extra dramatic effect, you could also extend your arms in a Jesus-like pose. Just ask Mr. Jones (1993), Michael (1996), or Phenomenon (1996). If you have any other examples, feel free to leave a comment.

One thing we as audiences should demand is that our movies have actual backgrounds. Is this too much to ask? Lighting issues be damned, we want to see where you are. Of course, The Killing Man has nil production values, but director Mitchell should really know better. We’ve seen a surprising amount of his work: Thunderground (1989), Mask of Death (1996), Last to Surrender (1999) and UKM (2006) - but we have yet to see him do anything exceptional or noteworthy.

Featuring the typically-90’s rock song “Drying Well” by Gangland, don’t be fooled by the cool box art. This particular Killing Man needs more testosterone.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

Black Ice (1992)

Black Ice (1992)-*1\2

Directed by: Neill Fearnley

Starring: Michael Nouri, Joanna Pacula, and Michael Ironside












Ben Shorr (Nouri) is a destitute cab driver with plenty of debts. He’s an aspiring author eking out a living. One night, Vanessa (Pacula) gets in his cab. Due to some political intrigue, she’s on the run from the murderous Quinn (Ironside). She tells Ben to drive her from Detroit to Seattle using “only the back roads” and she’ll give him thousands of dollars for his effort. Naturally, the worldly Belgian woman and the low-class shmoe forge an uneasy relationship, while dodging Quinn and getting into a few scrapes. Will they make it?

Equal parts 90’s Skinemax “erotic thriller” and supposed “neo-noir”, seemingly very influenced by the show Taxicab Confessions, Black Ice is serviceable, but nothing more. Its look screams “CANADA!” even though the plot takes great pains to prove otherwise. (It was, indeed, shot in Canada).

Michael Nouri, sporting some utterly ridiculous long hair, is not particularly likable as the motormouthed Ben. That’s an impediment to the movie. However, he does put in an energetic performance, much more so than he did in Overkill (1996). We also felt Michael Ontkean could have played this role. Interestingly, there’s a shot early on in the film of Nouri at a typewriter, with a rotary dial phone and a cigarette. Those three things alone would not be seen in a film today, much less all together. Strictly for preservation reasons alone, we felt that was the best shot of the movie.

Michael Ironside does what he does best - be sinister. He plays almost the exact same role here as he does in Watchers. Joanna Pacula provides the eye candy, and we can certainly sympathize with her having to put up with Ben, who frankly can get kind of annoying.

Aside from the prerequisite barfight, there isn’t a lot of action. Not that there’s necessarily supposed to be in a movie like this - but it certainly would have picked things up more. Where some scenes are needlessly talky, they could have put in an action scene of some kind. Sadly, they did not choose that route.

While it’s nice to see the three leads doing their thing, Black Ice is just a bit too bland to warrant a screaming recommendation.

NOTE: The VHS was released in both a rated and unrated version.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

McBain (1991)

McBain (1991)-* *1\2

Directed by: James Glickenhaus

Starring: Christopher Walken, Maria Conchita Alonso, Michael Ironside, Chick Vennera, Cris Aguilar, Victor Argo, Luis Guzman, and Steve James

Back in ‘Nam, Santos (Vennera) rescued McBain (Walken) when he was captured and made a prisoner. A bond developed between the two men, as represented by a ripped hundred dollar bill. In the present, Santos is leading a revolutionary army in Colombia against the dictator oppressing their country. When Santos dies in that fight, his sister Christina (Alonso) goes to New York to find McBain. McBain then agrees to help Christina finish what Santos started, and rally the revolutionary rebels to victory. To do this, he re-assembles his team of old ‘Nam buddies, including Eastland (James), Dalton (Patterson) and Frank (Ironside), among other helpers. Will McBain’s team - and the people of Colombia - be victorious?

Thanks to its cast and its professional sheen, McBain was one of the more well-known action titles around video stores back in the golden age. While it may not have had the visibility of a Van Damme, Seagal, Stallone or Schwarzenegger vehicle, it did have Christopher Walken instead, which is interesting - you don’t see him in roles like this too often. The only other one that comes to mind is The Dogs of War (1980). Walken’s square hair and Steve James wearing his trademark Wrestlemania hat brandishing a rocket launcher is a great combination. 

At its heart, this is just another exploding hut/falling guard tower movie, it’s just glossier. Imagine your standard “El Presidente” movie (for an explanation of this, see our review for Hour of the Assassin, 1987) crossed with the camaraderie of Last of the Finest (1990).  The film tries to be all things to all people, throwing a lot at the viewer: A Vietnam movie, an urban thriller, an airplane slog, A Mercenary action movie, and the aforementioned El Presidente and Exploding Hut scenarios are thrown in too, and the movie, trying to accommodate all these things, is overlong.

Alonso is there to provide the societal comment and relevance to supposedly justify all the action, and Steve James proves he’s one of the most under-appreciated and awesomely cool stars of the era. And who wouldn’t want to do what McBain’s team does - get the old gang back together to bust some heads? This A-Team-inspired scenario is appealing, but there’s way too much fat around this steak. The middle section, where the gang is in New York City taking down the baddies, is excellent. The whole movie should have been THAT. But there’s all this other stuff, like an interminable tangent about airplanes and bogeys and such. In our eyes, even though McBain is of a higher quality and budget than a lot of the stuff out there, that ends up being irrelevant because the movie doesn’t live up to its potential. That New York City section, rather than just being a color on the action movie palette listed earlier, should have been expanded and brought to its full flower.

While the movie is called McBain (not to be confused with Frank “Bulletproof” McBain or the Simpsons character), it’s really not ABOUT Christopher Walken’s character per se. We don’t know that much about him, and the movie doesn’t really revolve around him. It’s more about his team and the Colombian rebels scenario.

While there are some cool aspects to this movie, we can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, which is a shame, because we’d like to. But the NYC portion of the film and the presence of Steve James, while they can’t support the whole thing, are bright spots in this mixed bag of a movie.

Also check out our buddy, The Direct To Video Connoisseur's review of McBain!

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Red Scorpion 2 (1994)

Red Scorpion 2 (1994)-* * *

Directed by: Michael Kennedy

Starring: Matt McColm, Michael Ironside, Jennifer Rubin, Paul Ben-Victor, Réal Andrews, George Touliatos, and John Savage











From the mind of the notorious Jack Abramoff comes...

To stop the evil neo-Nazi Andrew Kendrick (Savage) from taking over the world with the stolen artifact the "Spear Of Destiny", Col. West (Ironside) and Sam Guinness (Rubin) assemble a ragtag team to infiltrate their compound. The leader, a "roguish superagent", is Ben Affleck dead-ringer Nick Stone (McColm). Other team members include:
1. Good ol' boy Billy Ryan (Michael Covert), the sharpshooter,
2. The token computer nerd Vince D'Angelo (Ben-Victor), the irritating "George Costanza" of the group,
3. Token Asian Joe Nakamura,
4. And token black man Winston "Mad Dog" Powell (Andrews). If this were the show "Criminal Minds", he would be the Shemar Moore character. He gets to call the evil skinheads "eggs with legs" and screams loudly every time he fires a machine gun.

They are all under the command of Gregori (Touliatos). They don't need to be, but the movie needed a connection, no matter how tenuous, to the first film. Gregori claims to have trained Nikolai, as played by Dolph Lundgren. Dolph is not in this film. So now they are all in the "Red Scorpion Brigade" and have small scorpion tattoos on their arms. It all Matt McColminates with some shooting and explosions (which they should have just done from minute 1 of the movie, but then there would be no movie).



Will this team be able to work together and infiltrate and dismantle Kendrick's nefarious operation? Could Matt McColm look any MORE like Ben Affleck? Will it be "Armageddon" all over again for our heroes? And what is "Kendrick's Roulette" exactly? Find out today!

Silly fun that is brain-numbingly dumb, Red Scorpion 2 has quite possibly every cliche in action movie history. Stone is going on "one last mission", he jumps from an explosion in slow motion, the unnecessary training sequences (which primarily consist of the team endlessly rock climbing), the old abandoned warehouses, the old, dying master and much much more.



John Savage as Kendrick makes a great bad guy. When he first sees the "Spear Of Destiny" he keeps saying "Ohhhhh" over and over again. He's such an evil Nazi, he has a glove drawer. He has a command center with film of Hitler running on a continuous loop. He also has some great underlings. Mr. Benjamin's only talent is counting in an extremely ominous and strained tone. Hans (of course that's his name), is a weird cross between Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer as Frasier and David Hyde Pierce as Niles. If you've ever wanted to see a cast member of "Frasier" execute a spin kick, this is the movie for you.

By contrast, McColm as the appropriately-named Stone is about as animated and lively as petrified wood. His "martial arts" consists of clumsily slapping his opponents. Michael Ironside looks really bored and unchallenged by his pat role.

It is insulting to the audience. When we see bad guys getting away, someone says "they're getting away!" When an oil drum with the gigantic letters "GAS" rolls toward our heroes, one of them yells "it's gas!" This can also be seen in Street Fighter (1994) E. Honda says that line and Matt McColm performs a "1000 hand slap" just like Honda and both movies came out the same year. Coincidence? I think not.

Despite the fact that the movie is silly, dumb and cliche-ridden, we loved how funny Red Scorpion 2 is and we had a lot of fun watching it.

Discover the "Spear Of Destiny" tonight with this classic!

Comeuppance Review by: Ty & Brett

Night Trap (1993)

Night Trap (1993)-* *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Robert Davi, Michael Ironside, and Mike Starr












Night Trap is a slow, plodding thriller from AIP regular David A. Prior.

New Orleans Detective Mike Turner (Davi) is trying to catch a devious criminal named Bishop (Ironside). Bishop has magical powers that include flying, and having a cool but pasted on beard. No one believes Turner that Bishop is evil, especially his captain who thinks he is "on the sauce" again. Turner is then partnered with Williams (Starr) to find suspects who have seen Bishop....as usual in other cop flicks, Williams and Turner bicker and eventually become buddies during their pursuit. Can they find and destroy Bishop before he strikes again?

The main problem with Night Trap is that it really wants to be good, but possibly out of guilt, it sabotages itself at every turn.

Every time Night Trap gets a good rhythm going, it pulls back for a ridiculous action scene and it loses focus. There is one scene where Bishop jumps over a car and the driver inside covers his eyes and then he slowly crashes into another car. 30 seconds later, the car blows up.

Davi puts in a good performance. Ironside has been in better work and he looks like he wants to take a nap. Starr tries his hardest to breathe life into his character, but the script fails him.

Every scene feels like it is in slow motion to stretch out the running time. There are a bunch of scenes with Davi just standing around doing absolutely nothing.

Overall, if you are a fan of Robert Davi, watch it. Anybody else should stay away.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty

Neon City (1991)

Neon City (1991)-* *1\2

Directed By: Monte Markham

Starring: Michael Ironside, Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad, Creed Bratton, Vanity and Lyle Alzado




“Take a deep breath, it may be your last. Welcome to the year 2053!”








In the year 2053 the world is a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In this movie it is called “The Outland”, with a blatant disregard for the Sean Connery film of the same name. “The Outland” doesn’t have a lot of clean air or water. People are eating dogs for sustenance.

Enter Harry M. Stark (Ironside), a no-nonsense bounty hunter who looks like Jack Nicholson. His job is to bring Reno (Vanity) back to Neon City. He handcuffs himself to her because she is always escaping. There are so many outlaws in “The Outland” that one can collect “Red Star Credits” for bringing them to justice. What you can exchange these for aren’t explained. Is it like Skee Ball tokens or “Coconut Coins”?

The world may never know.

Luckily there is a bus going to Neon City. The movie never explains where they are and how long it takes to get to Neon City. The bus driver is named Bulk and he is played with aplomb by Lyle Alzado. As if the name “Bulk” wasn’t enough, he is nicknamed “The Killer Tomato” because “He crushes people’s heads as easily as an overripe tomato”. Bulk and Harry don’t get along at first because Bulk is an ex-con that Harry brought in.



Also going to Neon City in this bus are a bad stand-up comic looking for work, a sketchy doctor with a mullet, a spoiled rich girl and a woman who looks like Hillary Clinton. Riding shotgun with Bulk for most of the journey is a mysterious Asian man named Wing (Arsenio “Sonny” Trinidad)

Along the way there are many obstacles and pitfalls. Besides the obvious personality clashes, there are roving bands of killers dubbed “Skins”. They ride souped-up, broken down motorcycles if such a thing is possible. They are continuously chasing the bus and shooting at it. We don’t know why. Stark shoots back with a laser that makes a classic laser noise: “Pew! Pew!” The many chase sequences are very repetitive and strongly reminiscent of the “Orange Grove Chase” from the classic Cobra (1986).

Other dangers our heroes have to face include something called a “Zander Cloud” which is a poisonous cloud. It would make more sense if it was a “Zzand Cloud”. Similarly, there are some hot lights which are a silly menace that pads out the running time. Not to mention if they are so hot, why don’t they melt all the snow around the area?

They take a million breaks on the way to Neon City and they could have gotten there a lot faster. The importance to getting to Neon City is negated with all the breaks. One of the important breaks involves healing water that Harry and Reno take. It doesn’t make much sense.

After all those breaks, they finally get to Neon City which is just a “Neon Room” (No city is actually seen) They are welcomed into the room by none other than “The Office’s” Creed Bratton (Who was also a grip on the film). Already overlong at this point, after multiple endings Stark confronts his commanding officer (who is also evil) and is named “Jenkins”.

There are some twists as far as relationships are concerned: Will Stark and Reno stay enemies or become an item? Will that annoying comic get his comeuppance for selling poison to cave-dwelling burn victims? And will Bulk get his wife’s ring back from the “Skins”? and is Wing (once again played by Arsenio “Sonny” Trinidad) who he seems to be? All will be answered if you watch the entire thing.

Neon City closely resembles the recent box office smash The Book Of Eli (2010), obviously the Hughes Brothers closely studied this flick. Honestly, the movie is a Mad Max (1979) knockoff and scenes from it are ripped off wholesale.

Make sure to watch Neon City in the future!

Interesting side note: Fan favorite Chuck Zito did some stunt work on the film.

Comeuppance Review by Ty and Brett

Thunderground (1989)

Thunderground (1989)-* * *

AKA: Boxcar Blues

Directed by: David Mitchell

Starring: Jesse Ventura, M. Emmet Walsh, Paul Coufos and Michael Ironside




"It's not the underground...it's the THUNDERground!"





Thunderground is a very silly film. It's about a would-be boxer, Bird (Coufos) and a kid who want to fight the ultimate bad guy: "The Man" played by Jesse Ventura. The acting is pretty bad except Ventura who knows he's in a goofy film, and he overacts with glee.

I'm happy when movies like this see the light of day and not disappear off the face of the earth.

Thunderground is a mixture - a ridiculous mixture - of Rocky (1976), Over The Top (1987), and Bloodsport (1988). If you want to see hobos beat each other up and Jesse Ventura fighting in a remote forest, this is the movie for you. Also check out the semi-sequel to this movie Busted Up (1986) with Paul Coufos. He reprises his role as Bird.

Comeuppance review by: Ty

Extreme Honor (2001)

Extreme Honor (2001) -* *

Directed by: Steve Rush

Starring: Michael Madsen, Olivier Gruner, Edward Albert, Antonio Fargas, Martin Kove, Charles Napier and Michael Ironside










"Extreme Honor" has one thing going for it: A hilarious title! As an added bonus, a character uses it in a sentence! "You have a lot of honor, You have extreme honor." If you are renting it for the usual antics by Michael Ironside, Olivier Gruner and Michael Madsen, you'll be disappointed. They don't have a lot of screen time.



The gunfight at the end is so fake, it's funny. Instead of bullets flying through the air like a John Woo movie, it just shows a flash of the gun and a sound effect. If you love that idea, let me introduce you to "Red Serpent"....



Comeuppance Review By: Ty