Sanctuary (1998)

Sanctuary (1998)- * *

Directed by: Tibor Takacs

Starring: Mark Dacascos, Jaimz Woolvett, and Monika Schnarre

Luke Kovak (Dacascos) was literally 'Trained to Kill' - from a young age, he learned all the deadly arts. Now an adult, he goes undercover as a priest. While doing so, he realizes his former organization, the CIA, is after him. After Operation Titan, which involves getting launch codes to missiles, he sees that things have changed and his life is in danger. As of late, he has enjoyed the peaceful SANCTUARY of the priesthood, but now he's going to have to revert to his old, more violent ways. What will happen to Luke Kovak?


[Snoring noises] [Snoring noises ending followed by yawning and the sounds of waking up] Huh...what? Oh, time for another review. This week we're talking about the soporific snoozefest Sanctuary, a cure for insomnia if there ever was one. It's not that Sanctuary is a bad movie, per se, it's just that it's very slow and boring. It's 104 minutes of not a heck of a lot. Sure, anyone would be fooled by the cover, with fan favorite Dacascos holding those two guns. But when you sit down to actually watch it, you realize it's the old bait and switch.


To be fair, while it's not exactly action packed, there are a few light action scenes in between all the spaces where nothing is happening. If the filmmakers wanted to make a moody CIA drama, which it seems that they did, it should not have been marketed as a shoot-em-up action movie. Much like a more entertaining film, Blue Tiger (1994), we think director Takacs and the gang wanted to make something "classier" and closer to traditional Hollywood product. Hence the longer running time, increased dialogue and drama, and 'Lacktion', as we call it.


Naturally, we would have preferred a shorter film with Dacascos getting revenge and beating up/shooting the baddies. He barely does any Martial Arts here, just a few quick flashes in a dispute over a jacket. A jacket! But, on the bright side, Woolvett's hair seems to have improved since Terminal Countdown (1999). There was nowhere to go but up anyway.


There also seems to have been increased emphasis on cinematography, consistent with their ambitions to do something "better" than the average DTV actioner. But a couple of cool colors doesn't make an entertaining movie all around. There's no momentum, thrills, or surprises with Sanctuary. A handful of silly blow-ups can't change that fact. Yes, we were happy that Monika Schnarre was here too, having seen her recently in Fearless Tiger (1991), but...still nothing doing. Sanctuary just doesn't have "it", that certain indefinable quality that engages the viewer.

Produced by Imperial, that standby of video-store action, if you want to see a collaboration between Mark Dacascos and Tibor Takacs from around the same time period that's similar, but markedly better, check out Sabotage (1996).

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Honor (2006)

 Honor (2006)- * *

Directed by: David Worth

Starring: Roddy Piper, Russell Wong, Joanna Pacula, Jason Barry, Linda Park, 

LT Tyrell (Piper) is an L.A. cop and bar owner, and he and his wife Rose (Pacula) are thinking of packing it all up and retiring to Brazil. A guy named Ray (Wong) is the neighborhood baddie, who not only sends out his goons to get protection money from the local businesses, he also stages underground Punchfights. He also has a tragic history with Tyrell.

When the Tyrell's adopted son Gabriel (Barry) comes back from a Special Ops mission, he seems disturbed. The seemingly-ubiquitous Ray forces Gabriel to Punchfight for him, threatening that for every fighter Gabriel beats, that's one member of the Tyrell family he'll leave alone. Even Kate (Park), Tyrell's former partner, is powerless to stop all this feuding and brawling. Will it all be just a matter of HONOR?


Well, it's better than director David Worth's previous effort American Tigers (1996), but that's not saying much. Honor is humorless and dour; the problem with these latter-day Punchfighters is that by this point in time, viewers have seen this type of thing many, many times before. 

By the time the 2000's rolled around, makers of Punchfighters could not just retread the same old ground. They either had to bring something new to the table, or at least make it fun. Shootfighter (1993) had colorful characters that were clearly delineated, such as Boa and Mongoose. Fist Fighter (1989) had memorable characters such as Punchy. Warrior of Justice (1995) is just a spasm of pure insanity dreamt up by the fevered mind of Jorgo Ognenovski. Honor has none of these sorts of attributes. By 2006, what Honor was doing was pretty well-worn stuff.


Not that it's all bad, of course. Thankfully, the filmmakers had the good sense to make it 80 minutes. That was a blessing. Something like Honor should be 80 minutes. It's perfect for that sort of running time, and other makers of these sorts of things should "Honor" the viewers' time like this. So points go to them for that. Plus, it's always nice to see one of our heroes, Roddy Piper.


He gives one of his more serious dramatic performances that we've seen to date. The problem with the Tyrell character is that a nice guy like him isn't going to start busting heads right away. He has a long fuse, which means we have to wait quite a while until we see Roddy unleashed. 

Some people might not like that. However, viewers won't fail to miss the They Live graffiti on the wall, as it's shown twice, rather clearly. And Jason Barry as Gabriel was also rather brooding as the estranged son. Russell Wong stands out as the evil baddie that the audience can boo and hiss at.


The directorial career of David Worth is certainly a mixed bag. While we enjoyed Lady Dragon (1992) and Lady Dragon 2 (1993), and Chain of Command (1994), not to mention True Vengeance (1997), we have mixed feelings about Air Strike (2004). We weren't crazy about Soldier's Revenge (1986) and the aforementioned American Tigers is pretty awful. We've been on the record for years about how we think Kickboxer (1989) is overrated. Honor falls into the mid-range/end of the Worth spectrum. It's not entirely "Worth"-less but it definitely could have used some color or pizazz of some sort.

So, for the Piper factor and the reasonable running time, Honor may be 'worth' checking out for Punchfighting fans. But keep your expectations tamped.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty