My review was written in September 1987 after a screening in Washington Heights.
"Sweet Revenge" is an utterly routine action picture from the Roger Corman stable, reminscent of the Filipino-lensed films he cranked out for the old New World in the early 1970s.
Nancy Allen (pre-"Robocop") toplines as an L. A. reporter doing an undercover stgory on a white slavery ring, who is abducted by the ring's henchpersons Lotis Key and Sal Landi and taken with three young would-be models to the Far East lair of Cicero (Martin Landau, playing the sort of smu baddie used to foil weekly on "Mission: Impossible").
In the midst of numerous escapes and chases they are befriended by Boone (Ted Shackelford), a soldier of fortune involved in smuggling counterfeit Chanel No. 5 to the U. S. Pic sags considerably midway through as the leads take time out to help a pirate friend of Boone's.
Direction by Mark Sobel is by-the-numbers, with numerous explosions proving to be the action highlight. A hurried climax kills off each villain one-by-one, leading to a soggy, sentimental coda of Allen reunited with her missing daughter at the airport back home. Acting is okay, with tv star Shackelford physically right as the reluctant hero.
"Sweet Revenge" is an utterly routine action picture from the Roger Corman stable, reminscent of the Filipino-lensed films he cranked out for the old New World in the early 1970s.
Nancy Allen (pre-"Robocop") toplines as an L. A. reporter doing an undercover stgory on a white slavery ring, who is abducted by the ring's henchpersons Lotis Key and Sal Landi and taken with three young would-be models to the Far East lair of Cicero (Martin Landau, playing the sort of smu baddie used to foil weekly on "Mission: Impossible").
In the midst of numerous escapes and chases they are befriended by Boone (Ted Shackelford), a soldier of fortune involved in smuggling counterfeit Chanel No. 5 to the U. S. Pic sags considerably midway through as the leads take time out to help a pirate friend of Boone's.
Direction by Mark Sobel is by-the-numbers, with numerous explosions proving to be the action highlight. A hurried climax kills off each villain one-by-one, leading to a soggy, sentimental coda of Allen reunited with her missing daughter at the airport back home. Acting is okay, with tv star Shackelford physically right as the reluctant hero.