The Divine Enforcer (1992)

The Divine Enforcer (1992)-* *

Directed by: Robert Rundle

Starring: Erik Estrada, Jan-Michael Vincent, Michael Foley, Jim Brown, Judy Landers, Hiroko, Don Stroud, and Robert Z'Dar












The Monsignor (Estrada), Father Thomas (Vincent) and their helpful assistant Merna (Landers) live and work at a church in a “bad part” of L.A. One day, a man named Father Daniel (Foley) comes to join their parish. The only thing about Father Daniel is, he’s a Martial Arts expert who uses his Cross-emblazoned gun, knives and even throwing stars to take out the trash of the city. He even uses the confessional for tips on where to go. But if the parishioners don’t give him enough info, he uses his psychic powers to find out more. 

While trying to keep his double life secret, he meets a fellow psychic, Kim (Chambers), who he takes a liking to. Meanwhile, there’s a sadistic serial killer stalking the city named Otis (Stroud), who drains his victims of blood and saves their skulls. But Father Daniel saves people’s souls, so the two men are mortal enemies. When Otis kidnaps Kim, the ultimate showdown ensues. Or something like that.

You would think a movie about a psychic priest who kills his enemies with throwing stars with the Cross on them would be a surefire hit. But in the hands of director/co-writer Rundle, this one idea is not enough to sustain a 90 minute movie. Thus there is plenty of filler which dilutes this killer idea. A wise man once said “you cannot intentionally make a cult film” and that seems to be the case here. 

Sure, the movie is loaded up with quality B-movie names, but it could definitely be argued that they are not used to their full potential. Add to that some muddy, muffled sound where the music is louder than the dialogue and a lot of repetitive scenes (such as the oft-repeated “Breakfast” scene) and, far from a unique winner, we’re bordering dangerously on dud.

The credits of the movie misspell Erik Estrada’s name (crediting him as “Eric” with a C), while the VHS box (released by Prism) has it correctly. He does more-or-less a “sit-down” role, as does Jan-Michael Vincent, who does an out-and-out sit-down. Vincent just sits at the breakfast table with his newspaper and slurs a few lines. Sure, there’s something endearing about it, but he’s so under-used. And speaking of under-used, Jim Brown and Robert Z’Dar are on screen for literally seconds as incidental drug-dealers. More should have been made of them. Don Stroud plays the deranged killer with aplomb, but his scenes contain the most filler.

And who is this Michael Foley, who plays the main role of Father Daniel, you ask? He was in Lionheart (1990), Karate Cop (1991) and Intent To Kill (1992) - but he’s still kind of an odd choice for a leading role. 

Some of the better moments in The Divine Enforcer comes from the random scenes - plenty of parts have no explanation, and that combined with the amateurish acting usually provides the VHS gold we’re always looking for. But it’s a battle against filler. Ken Davitian shows up in an uncredited role as a club owner watching the singer Hiroko (and her stellar backup dancers) do a performance. Her song “My Love’s Waiting” temporarily livens things up, but this movie is still fairly disappointing.

In all, the idea of the Father Daniel character is excellent, but, sadly, the movie as a whole is mishandled, not getting the maximum bang for the buck from the idea.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Blowback: Love and Death (1991)

Blowback: Love and Death (1991)-* * *

Directed by: Atsushi Muroga

Starring: Riki Takeuchi, Keishi Hunt, Mie Yoshida, Shun Sugata, and Mike Monty











After making off with a stash of money and heading to the Philippines, gangsters Baku, Lopez (Hunt) and Joe (Takeuchi) are ambushed by the supercriminal Yamaneko, or “Wildcat” (Monty). Baku is killed, Lopez disappears and Joe is gravely wounded. He manages to stumble into the restaurant of Rei (Yoshida) and she nurses him back to health. 

Once back in fighting shape, his intention is to find Lopez, then find Yamaneko, to get revenge for his fallen partner Baku. Rei gets swept up in this mission, and a mysterious man named Ratts (Sugata) does as well. But it’s not going to be easy, because Yamaneko controls a virtual army of heavily-armed baddies. But Joe forges ahead anyway...is this going to be a good idea?

Guns, guns and more guns! Blowback: Love & Death (or Blowback 2) is perhaps the ultimate non-John Woo “Gun-Fu” film. While influenced by Woo, it seems the major driving force behind this movie was Sergio Leone’s Westerns. Even the black-and-red animated title sequence gets you in a Leone frame of mind. And there are plenty more Leone references along the way. But it all adds up to be an entertaining gangster drama, with an exploding guard tower or two. (It was the Philippines after all, and they don’t let you leave without at least one).

It is nice to see someone besides an American film production utilizing what the Philippines have to offer as far as film backdrops go - in this case it’s the Japanese. Riki Takeuchi makes a very cool anti-hero, and while he has had a long and fruitful career in his native Japan, stateside fans of the work of Takashi Miike and the five movies he puts out a month will recognize Takeuchi from the Dead or Alive series (he was in all three), Fudoh: The New Generation (1996) and Deadly Outlaw Rekka (2002). 

With his slicked-back pompadour, sunglasses and open Hawaiian shirts, and brandishing tons of guns, it’s hard to be much cooler. As for director Muroga, this was his first film, and he followed it up with two movies that found their way to American DVD: Score (1995) and Junk (2000). While both of those movies have their moments, Blowback 2 is arguably the more all-around satisfying experience, and a good place to start with Muroga nonetheless.

Muroga certainly succeeds in making Manila and other parts of the Philippines look hot and humid. It seems everyone is sweaty and flushed in this movie. That brings us to the villain of the piece, the fan favorite Mike Monty. Here, he really, really, REALLY looks like largely-hated New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. We guess that goes a long way towards bolstering his bad-guy status. He just resembles Bloomberg so closely, it’s a laugh riot: “Oh no, Bloomberg’s on the rampage!” And aside from “Bloomberg” being in this, Blowback 2 offers some nice surprises to keep you on your toes, especially the (yet more Spaghetti Western-inspired) ending.

Asia Shock did a great job with the VHS of Blowback 2. They were one of the few companies releasing subtitled VHS tapes of exploitation cinema. 

We’re so used to watching shoddy dubbed versions, this came as a nice surprise. It’s great to see they actually care about the material. That being said, it doesn’t seem like this was one of their more widely distributed titles. Regardless, if what you’ve just read floats your boat, Blowback 2 should be worthwhile viewing.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty