American Samurai (1992)

American Samurai (1992)-* *

Directed by: Sam Firstenberg

Starring: David Bradley, Mark Dacascos, Valerie Trapp, Rex Ryon, and John Fujioka












When Drew Collins (Bradley) was just a child, he was in a plane that crashed in Japan. Like what would happen to anyone in that situation, he was then raised in the ways of the Samurai by a Japanese Master, Sanga (Fujoika). After reaching the highest levels of Samurai school, Master Sanga bestows upon him the treasured family sword. However, his son from birth, Kenjiro Sanga (Dacascos) feels anger, betrayal and resentment about that fact. So much so, he joins the Yakuza. Later on, Drew becomes a reporter in L.A. He ends up traveling to Istanbul with Janet (Trapp) for an assignment - at first they don’t get along and then they end up in a relationship! - but naturally Drew gets roped into illegal, underground “live blade fighting”, and guess who the reigning champ is - none other than Kenjiro. So now the two half-brothers must face off in the ultimate duel to the death: the honor of the Samurai vs. the evil of the Yakuza. Who will slice and dice their way to the truth?

In American Ninjas 3, 4, and 5, David Bradley was the American Ninja. Now, he’s the American Samurai. We know Cannon recycles plot ideas all the time, but come on. A transparent word change from one well-known aspect of Japanese culture to another is pretty obvious. But what this movie really is, is practically a remake of Bloodsport. Even the DVD touts the fact that “It’s Bloodsport with blades!”  There’s even an amazing facsimile of that movie's Donald Gibb character in Harrison (Ryon).  But there are plenty of meatheads with weapons on display, and many of them seem to take on well-known personas. For example, there’s a guy who’s strongly reminiscent of Conan the Barbarian (1982), and Harrison resembles Indiana Jones (and his name is Harrison...coincidence?). The situation is sort of a cross between Ring of Steel (1994), Best of the Best 2 (1993), and Bloodsport (1988).

Dacascos puts in an energetic performance as the angry brother, and Trapp is decent as your classic reporter who bickers with Collins and then inevitably falls in love with him. She even calls him “Samurai Hunk.” Ugh. But a lesser-known fan favorite gets a pretty decent “slice” of the action here - Ron Vreeken, of Hurricane Smith (1992), Rage and Honor II (1993), Deathfight (1994), and Under the Gun (1995) fame. He looks extra-meatheady, and we mean that as a compliment (?), but then again, it’s hard not to when you wear a wrestling singlet for the entirety of the movie and you have long blonde hair. But it is nice of the “Arena” captors to provide their fighters with their own weight room.

Sadly, American Samurai is the victim of overly-PC editing. By that we mean, in days gone by, during the death and dismemberment scenes (which are undoubtedly the highlights) they would either show the blood or perhaps gore, or release the movie in two versions: cut or uncut. In the PC 90’s, they just released a jaggedly cut version. The Swedish DVD is uncut, but extremely hard to find. It’s a real shame. In the DVD era, American fans should be given what they want. There’s no excuse for it, and the only “cuts” we should be seeing are the ones administered by David Bradley and Ron Vreeken!

Perhaps interestingly, “American Samurai” is an alternate title for Paper Bullets (2000), and “American Samurai 2” is what the Jerry Trimble outing Live By the Fist (1993) is called in Germany. It all gets very confusing, but all you really need to remember is that this American Samurai is yet another underground fighting movie that is okay, not bad, but could have used a tad bit more originality.

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

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Rage and Honor II: Hostile Takeover (1993)

Rage and Honor II: Hostile Takeover (1993)-* * *

Directed by: Guy Norris

Starring: Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton, Patrick Muldoon, Ron Vreeken, Frans Tumbuan, and Tanaka

Rothrock and Norton reprise their roles as Kris Fairchild and Preston Michaels in this sequel that is superior to the original film.

Kris is now a CIA agent who is sent to Jakarta to go undercover in a bank to investigate the money laundering of Gerald Andrews (Soucy).  Meanwhile, Preston works in a run-down bar and does a lot of boxing on the side. For some unknown reason, he takes on a spoiled, unlikable, arrogant student, Tommy Andrews, the son of Gerald. As it turns out, Gerald is working closely with nefarious gangster Buntao (Tumbuan). There’s also a cache of diamonds at stake in the ensuing gangster wars, with Kris and Preston caught in the middle. They’ll have to use their teamwork and fighting skills to get out of this mess...

Rothrock and Norton are always pleasant to watch, both individually and together. There are some nice fights in this film, and, as always, you can actually see the action with no stupid tricks or fast cuts. There was some cool inventiveness as well, as Norton beat up a baddie with a raw fish, leading to perhaps the first “fish-fighting” scene in recent memory.  For as awesome as Rothrock and Norton are, Patrick Muldoon is as lame. Well, his character as a preppy jerk is pretty effective. Maybe it’s not Muldoon, it’s Tommy Andrews who the audience will not like. Buntao is more likable.

Also we have Ron Vreeken as the classic heavy/bodyguard, the man they call “Blondie”. I guess they couldn’t get Matthias Hues. Vreeken was last seen in the Norton vehicles Deathfight (1994) and Under the Gun (1995), so they must be buddies. He was also seen in Hurricane Smith (1992).

Director Guy Norris, presumably no relation to the Norris family that produced Chuck, Aaron and Mike, primarily is known for his stunt work, having been the stunt coordinator on countless films, including Day of the Panther (1988) and the aforementioned Hurricane Smith. It was a wise choice to put him in the director’s chair because he understands action and delivers plenty of it to the audience, leading to the rare improvement for a sequel.

You can rarely go wrong with Rothrock and/or Norton, as this golden-age-of-the-video-store action movie amply proves.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Deathfight (1994)

Deathfight (1994)-* *1\2

Directed by: Anthony Maharaj

Starring:  Richard Norton, Chuck Jeffreys, Tetchie Agbayani, Cris Aguilar, Joe Mari Avellana, Franco Guerrero, Karen Moncrieff, and Ron Vreeken









 While in Bangkok on business, young Jack Dameron’s (Norton) parents are brutally gunned down. He is then raised by Papa Fung (Avellana) along with Fung’s son, now Dameron’s “step brother”, Chiang (Guerrero). All the while, Dameron immersed himself in the ways of martial arts.

Now, in the present day, Dameron is poised to take control of the lucrative family business, Bangkok Mercantile. He has a successful wife (Moncrieff) who is a lawyer, and things are looking up. But Chiang is an evil, corrupt man who, rather than climb the corporate ladder like his step brother, felt more at home staging illegal underground Deathfights. While the audience for these matches enthusiastically holds their cash in their hands, punchfighting isn’t enough for Chiang. He wants the corporate control as well. So he frames Jack for murder. Jack spends some time in prison, befriending Wiley (Strzalkowski). Once out of jail, Jack is on a search for the truth - but it’s going to involve putting his lifetime of martial arts training to use.

Here we have another Maharaj/Norton vehicle, and judging from the VHS box art, they were trying to make Richard Norton a more noticeable name for video store patrons perusing the shelves. While he certainly deserves it, he somehow never reached the level of the Seagals and Van Dammes in America. 

For Norton’s character, Dameron, shirtlessness is a way of life. His shirt, gratuitously or not, is either off or coming off, and there’s even some pre-Transporter (2002) shirtfighting. Rather than Guerrero’s character Chiang being the real nemesis to Dameron, it is in fact Chuck Jeffreys as I-Ron. Sure, his voice sounds dubbed and his hairstyle is ridiculous,  but the fight between Norton and Jeffreys is by far the high point of the film.

Deathfight needed a bit more energy, and actually it could have used some more punchfighting. Interestingly enough, Chiang calls it “Shoot Boxing”. This as opposed to Shootfighting. I know, it all gets very confusing. That’s why everyone should call it punchfighting. That would make all our lives easier. But there are other action bits as well, such as the classic barfights and fruit-cart style car chases. There’s a shootout at the end with a unique shot of a baddie falling out a building, seen from a unique point of view. That was noteworthy.

The movie is filled with “just bubbling under the radar” names such as Cris Aguilar from Savage Justice (1988), Raw Target (1995), some Bloodfist movies and Blood Ring (1991), Strzalkowski, also from Savage Justice and Raw Target, appeared in the other Norton vehicle Raiders Of The Sun (1992), and Ron Vreeken as Manson, who appears some kind of cut-rate Matthias Hues, was in Norton’s Under the Gun (1995), as well as Hurricane Smith (1992). Avellana and Guerrero are well known to B-movie fans, having been in countless productions, Filipino and otherwise.

Deathfight is so-so in most departments, but the presence of Richard Norton raises the watchability level considerably, and the fights, especially the Norton/Jeffreys brawl, raise it further.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty