Extreme Vengeance

Over the years, I have seen this same story many times, albeit with slight variations: A crime boss is put away in jail for 10 years. He gets out and plans to get revenge on the cop who put him away...

The usual stereotypes abound: The crime boss has an Italian name and runs a syndicate. He is ruthless. He smokes cigars. His hoods do all the dirty work for him. He has tons of beautiful models who take long swims in the pool of his mansion. And the cop who put the crime boss away is a good man. Too good, in fact. As a whistle blower in his own department, he had to leave the police force and go underground.

The usual things occur: There are car chases, shootouts, martial arts, and lots of rough-em-up scenes. The bad guys look bad, and the good guys look good! If only real life were so easy...

Still, there are a few twists in the story that were not expected. I was pleasantly surprised when this happened. The story also makes sense; it is not illogical or have plot holes. The bloodshed is also not excessive.

The acting and camera work are really quite good, better than expected for such a low-budget movie. There is a problem with the sound. It seems this is where funds were limited. It is perfectly audible, though. It just sounds too much like it was done in a sound stage, which fails when the location is outside like on the beach.

One extra treat in this movie: There is a fairly long scene with the exotic dancer Mésmera. Though she is not essential to the story, she is (fortunately) given a lot of air time.

The entire movie was shot in Los Angeles. For those of us who live here, it is a nice trip down memory lane to see 1990 again.