Dull. Monotonous. Routine. Boring. Tedious. Dreary. Mind-numbing. I could go on but you get the picture – this cheap, early Chuck Norris outing is lacking in all of the areas that made the later films he made for Cannon so popular. There is no choreography in the fight sequences, no budget, no semi-decent acting, no proper photography, and hardly any stunts or action to speak of. The quality of the video transfer I watched was appallingly grainy, detracting from any enjoyability factor I would have got from the film otherwise, but any way you look this film is a dud. A mess and a boring mess at that. The plot actually reminded me of those old Santo movies. Norris is basically playing himself as a worldwide karate champion who takes time off from his matches in the ring to help out the local police force, searching for the karate killer who butchered their companions.
The clichés are dragged out so slowly that you'll feel like you're trapped in a time warp with this movie. There are the stock characters, from the badly-dressed female love interest to the overacting police lieutenant – although actually Clu Gulager's hilariously mannered performance is one of the funniest things in the whole movie. Aside from Gulager the performances are strictly routine, with Norris himself particularly bad as the wooden lead, not having developed any of the charisma or acting style he possessed in later years.
The action is dreadful, both inside the ring and out. It's one of those films where most things happen at night so you can't really make out what's going on. It helps to disguise various shortcomings as well. The best action is saved for the finale in an extended fight/chase, but even this is a bit of a let down as the guys basically slug it out in a pitch black field until one of them makes a mistake and pays for it with his life. No guesses for who ends up surviving in this movie then. Despite some level of realism and an "on the street" aspect in regards to the atmosphere, A FORCE OF ONE is just so boring that I have no option but to regard it as the worst of the karate man's many films.
The clichés are dragged out so slowly that you'll feel like you're trapped in a time warp with this movie. There are the stock characters, from the badly-dressed female love interest to the overacting police lieutenant – although actually Clu Gulager's hilariously mannered performance is one of the funniest things in the whole movie. Aside from Gulager the performances are strictly routine, with Norris himself particularly bad as the wooden lead, not having developed any of the charisma or acting style he possessed in later years.
The action is dreadful, both inside the ring and out. It's one of those films where most things happen at night so you can't really make out what's going on. It helps to disguise various shortcomings as well. The best action is saved for the finale in an extended fight/chase, but even this is a bit of a let down as the guys basically slug it out in a pitch black field until one of them makes a mistake and pays for it with his life. No guesses for who ends up surviving in this movie then. Despite some level of realism and an "on the street" aspect in regards to the atmosphere, A FORCE OF ONE is just so boring that I have no option but to regard it as the worst of the karate man's many films.