I saw a snippet of this movie on YouTube, and knew I had to have it! The DVD was cheap, so for a fan of Cynthia Rothrock it was a no-brainer.
Good movie? Er... not exactly. And then again! We love it for its badness. The acting is, as others have mentioned, on par with a porn movie. The plot itself is actually tight enough - we have a crime story about a crazy martial artist who kills people because he's got a childhood trauma involving his mother. This is an OK plot, and it unfolds quite straightforwardly, unlike what tends to happen in this sort of movie. But elements are very contrived. How come our bad guy just happens to drive by the place where his ex-wife's psychiatrist's pupil's sister is having a fight? Connections, people! Connections! But who cares? The movie starts out being complete, irredeemable, amateurish sleaze. *Really* awful. But it gets a little better once the fight scenes get going. There are some pretty cool sequences now and again. Interspersed with plenty of laughs about the ridiculous dialog ("Big mistake!" and "You're dead meat!") and the hideous, hideous acting. Although, John Miller is not bad. He's got the moves, man! Must be some karate champ. And he hams it up in the final battle, being totally into the spirit of it!
Watching this, one wonders why an endless parade of parody movies haven't been made to lampoon stuff like this. It would be so easy, and sooo funny!
So, well, if you like bad kung fu movies, this one is good for a few laughs. I'll tell you that for nothing! :-)
4 out of 10.
Good movie? Er... not exactly. And then again! We love it for its badness. The acting is, as others have mentioned, on par with a porn movie. The plot itself is actually tight enough - we have a crime story about a crazy martial artist who kills people because he's got a childhood trauma involving his mother. This is an OK plot, and it unfolds quite straightforwardly, unlike what tends to happen in this sort of movie. But elements are very contrived. How come our bad guy just happens to drive by the place where his ex-wife's psychiatrist's pupil's sister is having a fight? Connections, people! Connections! But who cares? The movie starts out being complete, irredeemable, amateurish sleaze. *Really* awful. But it gets a little better once the fight scenes get going. There are some pretty cool sequences now and again. Interspersed with plenty of laughs about the ridiculous dialog ("Big mistake!" and "You're dead meat!") and the hideous, hideous acting. Although, John Miller is not bad. He's got the moves, man! Must be some karate champ. And he hams it up in the final battle, being totally into the spirit of it!
Watching this, one wonders why an endless parade of parody movies haven't been made to lampoon stuff like this. It would be so easy, and sooo funny!
So, well, if you like bad kung fu movies, this one is good for a few laughs. I'll tell you that for nothing! :-)
4 out of 10.