Beyond Forgiveness (1994)

Beyond Forgiveness (1994)- * * *1\2

AKA: Blood Of The Innocent

Directed by: Bob Misiorowski

Starring: Thomas Ian Griffith, John-Rhys Davies, Joanna Trzepiecinska, and Rutger Hauer











Frank Wusharsky (TIG) is a Polish-American cop in Chicago. A festive evening of eating kielbasa and dancing to polka turns to tragedy when some baddies gun down his brother. Searching for answers as to who the evildoers are, Frank travels to his family's homeland - Poland, of course. Now a fish out of water, Frank finds an ally in lovable Polish cop Shmuda (Rhys-Davies). 

He meets resistance both from the official authorities and the Russian gangsters that are running wild all over Poland, but he does get further help from Anna (Trzepiecinska) - which leads him to the nefarious Dr. Lem (Hauer). Will it be a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top? Perhaps involving, in some way, the medical profession? Maybe you were B.O.R.N. to find out!

Beyond Forgiveness (AKA Blood of the Innocent) is one of the better TIG movies we've seen to date. It's certainly a heck of a lot better than Ulterior Motives (1992). But it's hard to beat the classic Excessive Force (1993). All in all, it's arguably number two in the TIG rundown.

That's because it has a lot of good things going for it. It's got a very enjoyable - dare we say classic - plot of a cop out for revenge and unafraid to shoot/kick/punch anyone who stands in his way, it's got more than a handful of cool lines said by TIG, and, even though this was a Nu-Image production, the whole thing was actually shot in Poland (and not Bulgaria) and has some very nice locations. 

Additionally, there are some quality blow-ups, shootouts, and fight scenes. Griffith is backed up with some top-notch talent this time around with not just Rhys-Davies, who also has some great lines and is charismatic and you grow to really like him, but also Rutger Hauer is here too, don't forget. His presence is enough to reassure audiences that we're watching something of substance. 

Trzepiecinska was more than just the eye candy - she gets in on the action and helps things along. This was one of her only (if not her only) non-completely Polish-made/Polish-language productions. She should have been in more.

It's a little surprising that this was directed by Bob Misiorowski, who we only know from two of his other duds, Blink of an Eye (1992) with Michael Pare, and Derailed (2002) with Van Damme. Beyond Forgiveness is leaps and bounds better than those two. Clearly Misiorowski was in his element here and it's definitely the best thing we've seen from him to date. 

Of course, it helps that there's a classic vegetable cart blow-up and there's sax on the soundtrack. That, and Griffith beats up some Polish meat factory workers. Obviously they want to kill him (?) - talk about not wanting to see how the sausage is made!

Beyond Forgiveness combines a solid revenge plot, nice locations, and quality actors. It even features what you might call a more mature TIG. We really enjoyed it.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Gunblast Vodka (2000)

 

Gunblast Vodka (2000)- * *1\2

Directed by: Jean-Louis Daniel

Starring: Gotz Otto, Mariusz Pujszo, Jurgen Prochnow, and Angie Everhart 

There's an evil Russian baddie on the loose (what else is new?)! In this case, his name is Sacha Roublev (Prochnow) and he's operating a snuff film factory out of Wroclaw, Poland. He's kidnapping girls left and right and forcing them to "perform" in said films. The local Polish cops, including a wild n' wacky guy named Marek...uh...Brzeczyszczykiewicz (thank goodness for cut and paste) (Pujszo) are on Roublev's trail, but they need help. So, naturally, they turn to the one man that can really nail Roublev to the wall: Abel Rothstein (Otto).

Rothstein is a Tel Aviv-born badass who was in Mossad and the Israeli army. He's a tough, no-nonsense dude, and he and Marek are, well, the original odd couple as they tramp their way through Poland trying to put an end to their (snuff) film industry. One of Rothstein's motivating factors is that Roublev really crossed the line when he kidnapped an American woman named Jane Woods (Everhart) who looks exactly like his lost love from back in Israel. Will Marek and Rothstein be triumphant? And who will discover the true meaning of the phrase GUNBLAST VODKA?

If Nothing Underneath (1985) met Taken (2008) in a dark alley at night, had a cameraman that was zonked out on crystal meth, and had a post-dubber who was deaf, you might come out with something like Gunblast Vodka. 

Now, while we didn't think the movie overall was quite as "bad" as everyone seems to think it is, let's be honest. It has some flaws. The frantic antics get tiresome after a while, and the camerawork and editing could be quite headache-inducing. Like a lot of films of this type, it starts to flag around the hour mark. But in this case it reaches a strange mixture of hyper and tired that you don't see too often. And it could have used better lighting.

All that being said, the silly-voiced dubbing provides some entertainment, and the outing as a whole is certainly off-kilter. All the best parts of the film are the ones involving Gotz Otto. Not that that really needs to be said, but let's get it on the record. The movie would have benefitted by having less self-consciously "wacky" scenes and more scenes of Otto beating up and/or shooting people. Otto really does show his range as an actor here, believe it or not, because in Schindler's List (1993) he was an SS guard. Here, he's an orthodox Jew. Otto deserves better material than this, it must be said, but his presence does elevate things a lot.

Sure, the whole thing is unusual and non-traditional (or just "off") but it should get some credit for predating the aforementioned Taken. Rich guys were bidding electronically on the girls who were kidnapped, and Angie Everhart was "Taken". Of course, Prochnow was the baddie as he usually is. For a night of "fish out of water cop in Poland" movies, pair this with Beyond Forgiveness (1994).


While we didn't think Gunblast Vodka was quite as bad as some people say it is, we can kind of see where they're coming from. However, we choose to see the positive: unconventional movie structure, Gotz Otto, and some tasteless humor. Should you run to your local DVD seller or computer and purchase it right away? No, probably not, but if you see it for a dollar at the gas station, you could do a heck of a lot worse.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty