One of the best – and most underappreciated – movies of Rutger Hauer’s illustrious career…
Amongst many others, Wanted Dead or Alive is great for two main reasons. One, it is a true standout action performance from the late and great Rutger Hauer. Who might forever be remembered for his Roy Batty role in Blade Runner, but UAMC fans will forever love him for classic action performances.
The other is for those who have seen Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, because Rutger Hauer in Wanted Dead or Alive is basically the Ultimate Action movie version of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Rick Dalton’s fictional television western Bounty Law.
Ha, we’ll trace that out a bit more below.
But all you need to know is that this Rutger Hauer actioner slaps. It slaps hard in the action, in the great performances and the feels, man. And it’s just overall awesome.
So, regarding the Rick Dalton connections. Rutger Hauer in Wanted Dead or Alive exists because of a similar serialized western TV show to QT’s Bounty Law, a little show called Trackdown…
From Robert Culp as the Texas Ranger bounty hunter Hoby Gilman television western Trackdown, to Steve McQueen as Josh Randall in the spinoff original Wanted Dead or Alive, to Rutger Hauer’s turn as a 1980s cop-turned-bounty hunter in the thematic off-shoot as McQueen’s character’s son Nick Randall – it’s a very traceable line between classic western cinema and ultimate action.
In a way, we have Hauer putting on the cinematic shoes of what the 1980s filmmakers and producers would imagine Rick Dalton to be at the heights of their modern action movie-ness.
And man, the presentation of Hauer as a renegade ex-cop bounty hunter who lives in an action movie star man-cave is pretty spot on. It’s as if you had the successful journeyman bounty hunter of the West, but living in modern society enough to enjoy the spoils of all his bounty hauls.
Hauer splits time between his giant warehouse bachelor pad (complete with basketball court, shooting range, and arsenal of weapons) and his love boat where his girlfriend apparently resides at his leisure.
We are also introduced to the loneliness Hauer has for his profession. Not actually a man of the law bound and protected by his colleagues, but also one of the truest “wild card” characters which the actual lawmen send out on the job, despite the obvious risks for Hauer.
And the risks in Wanted Dead or Alive are great. Not only does Hauer need to stop a major terrorist attack, he also has to overcome some significant setbacks of those who he cherishes (no spoilers – but damn!).
We also have Gene Simmons as the main perp and one of the better ones I can remember from this late-80s era. No, he doesn’t use his two foot tongue to menicaley lick anyone, but he’s cold and a great foe pretty much to the end – which did lack a bit for final showdown sake.
Up until the final killing blow that is. Which ends up being one of the strongest points of a great final act and overall, just an awesome Western-action Hauer send off.
We all know that action movies are awesome. They have cool fight scenes. Great chases. And lots of explosions. They also have badass and larger-than-life action movie stars as their heroes. And they do cool stuff like flying kicks and really hard punches that knock people through windows.
But we also all know that action movies don’t quite hit now like they used to. They were at their best – and their most ULTIMATE – in the 1980s and 1990s. Action movies were everywhere! The marquees outside of movie theaters were filled with giant letters spelling out names like S-C-H-W-A-R-Z-E-N-E-G-G-E-R, S-T-A-L-L-O-N-E and V-A-N D-A-M-M-E.
Ultimate Action movies have Ultimate Action movie heroes. They have good guys who do good things, but also bad things when they have to do it. But they also always do awesome things. Things like shoot rocket launchers at helicopters. And drive their truck through storefront windows. And make bricks explode with their fists.
Ultimate Action movies are best for watching with friends. They’re also best on like a Friday or Saturday night with some cold beers and pizza. Or whatever other stuff y’all might want to get. The best Ultimate Action movies are the ones where you can yell and laugh and slap hands with your friends like Dutch and Dillion in Predator when the cool stuff happens.
You probably already know and enjoy watching Ultimate Action movies. But if you don’t, you should. Here’s a brief primer on what some of the best and most awesome of the Ultimate Action movies that there are out there.
When talking about Ultimate Action movies, ya gotta talk about Chuck Norris first and foremost. Next to Bruce Lee, he might have been the actual best fighter turned action movie star ever! Plus, for a while he rocked one of the most badass mustaches known to man.
Invasion USA is absolutely one of Chuck’s best performances. While some other ones of his movies like The Delta Force or The Cuttermight be great too, Invasion USA is perfect for Ultimate Action movie get-togethers. The movie has everything! Chuck kicking ass. Chuck taking names. Chuck dual wielding Uzis while sporting a badass Canadian tuxedo. What more do you want?
Many of us who really like Ultimate Action movies also really like Ultimate Western movies too. This makes sense, because Clint Eastwood and the like were stone cold killers in many of the classic Westerns.
But it’s also cool when you have, like these Western movies but also now they’re badass 80s action movies. Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man is just that. It’s Mickey Rourke (as Harley Davidson) and Don Johnson (as the Marlboro Man) in a good ol’ fashion buddy cop style actioner.
A lot of people are familiar with big name Ultimate Action movie stars like Schwarzenegger, Stallone and Van Damme. In particular JCVD, who is well known for his kickboxing movies like Bloodsport and Kickboxer. A far lot less know all about Loren Avedon and his excellent kickboxing powers.
Nowhere will you get to see this in action better than this is in Loren Avedon’s The King of the Kickboxers. Like only Van Damme or maybe Jeff Speakman could, Avedon takes on the terrifying Billy Blanks and delivers one of the most action-packed, and perhaps greatest final showdowns of all time.
You might have to dig a bit through some old VHS vaults or thrift store bins to find this one – (I did). But if you can get your hands on this rare action classic, you’ll have yourself a damn good time watching it. Scorpion stars Tonny Tulleners, if you read the back of the VHS will tell you, is endorsed by Chuck Norris as the only man who has ever bested Chuck in real battle.
Tulleners in Scorpion is like Stallone in Cobra. In that he’s about as ultimate of an Ultimate Action star as they come. Great fight scenes, great dialogue and one-liners, and all the glass-shattering awesomeness that the VHS cover promises.
You don’t have to just be a fan of Oklahoma Sooner football to be a fan of The Boz. And while his sports stardom days are over, we here at the Ultimate Action Movie Club would love to see Brian Bosworth keep on with his Ultimate Action movie career.
Stone Cold was the man’s first attempt to transition from gridiron to the silver screen, and despite some dumb critics it did in fact do well enough for Boz to also get to star in the equally as awesome One Man’s Justice aka One Tough Bastard in 1996.
Stone Cold though is perhaps your best bet to be introduced to The Boz in ultimate action and it’s simply put, a great and badass action movie watching time.
Chuck Norris is Bound by Honor, to help train a up-and-coming Eddie Cibrian…
Logan’s War: Bound By Honor is a later era Chuck Norris outing, that was released in 1998, right in the middle of his TV dominance with a little show called Walker,Texas Ranger.
While Norris plays more of a supporting role in this, it is still an above average revenge actioner that is certainly worth watching.
Norris plays the uncle of a boy named Logan, who’s dad was an attorney that got in trouble with the mob. As a result, Logan witnesses his parents getting killed and vows revenge. He is still a young boy at this point though, so Norris takes him in and ends up becoming a mentor for the boy.
The film has some pretty cool training and sparring sequences early on and during this, there is a time jump to years later and Logan is now an adult, played by Eddie Cibrian(Third Watch/Baywatch Nights/The Cave).
Chuck Norris passing on ultimate life lessons over a cold one.
Logan (Eddie Cibrian) leaves the nest and becomes a hero himself as an Army Ranger. It shows him on one rescue mission and then he comes back home to fulfill the promise he made to himself. He gets in good with the mob family responsible for the murder of his parents and it goes from there.
As I mentioned, Norris really only has a supporting role in this, but he makes the most of it. We see him in the first quarter of the movie as does the training stuff, a couple quick scenes in the middle and then in the film’s exciting finale.
The film has a made for TV kind of feel, but it is executed well. I feel like this was an attempt to make Cibrian the next action star and while he didn’t really follow that path, this one proved to be a great showcase for what he could do in that department. I don’t believe he is a black belt in anything, but you wouldn’t know it, as the fights are believable and the kicks he throws are pretty damn good.
Before I get to the film’s finale, I also have to highlight one of the other parts of the story. While doing his thing to get in with the mob, he sees this young boy and his mom getting abused by the father and of course he eventually takes care of that. He also shows the boy a few moves, just like Chuck showed him years before. A nice coming full circle part of the story there.
The film’s finale sees some of the highest profile mob bosses coming in from all over. Just as Cibrian is about to become a ‘made’ man, he reveals who he is. From there we get an action packed final act, as Norris somehow finds out exactly where he is and shows up to fight alongside him at just the right time.
The kill count is built up in a nice mix of bullets, fists and feet. Cibrian has a particularly nice fight with one of the main mob guys Jeff Kolber (Desert Heat/Sons of Anarchy). While Chuck has a Good Guys Wear Black flashback as he does a jump kick through the windshield of a car driving at him! The film is worth seeing just for that alone!
You will see some familiar faces among the rest of the cast as well, including James Gammon (Point Blank/Wyatt Earp), Joe Spanno (Apollo 13/Ticker), RD Call (Waterworld/Last Man Standing) and Vince Cecere (Analyze This/Shootfighter II).
While Logan’s War: Bound By Honor is nothing groundbreaking, it will still please Norris fans and if you ever wondered how Eddie Cibrian would be as an action star, this is your shot!
One of the best ways to honor the legend is to rock one of our UAMC approved t-shirts featuring the Chuck-ster. Pulling from popular designs with our partners at TeePublic, we have some of the best top Chuck Norris t-shirt to showcase. Check them below!
If you’ve seen Chuck Norris in The Hero and The Terror, then you know. If you haven’t, you just don’t know yet. This Cannon Films classic absolutely slaps with pure Chuck awesomeness. Rep the vintage VHS with this badass ’80s inspired tee!
Not a day goes by that any man, woman or child doesn’t want to let the world know about the ultimate greatness of Chuck Norris. And no better way to do it than by repping this classic “Go Chuck Yourself” shirt!
Think you’re the king of the Chuck Norris Facts? Well this is one one-liner which you didn’t see coming. Also, did you know that the Chuck Norris Jokes came indirectly from the Walker, Texas Ranger lever from Conan O’Brien? Read up while you’re at it!
True story, the Chuck Norris Fact on this T-shirt actually happened! Chuck Norris threw a grenade so hard and so fast that it wiped out a whole battalion of alien space marines. That’s right. It happened in space! Be sure to get a shirt to let your friends know that Chuck was there!
We all know that Chuck Norris doesn’t age. Seriously, he’s still 36 years old and ripped like a horse. But that doesn’t mean his MOVIES don’t age. They do, and Chuck’s famous Invasion USA has aged better than the finest of wines. So put on your Canadian tuxedo and dual-wield your uzis while rockin’ this classic Chuck shirt!
It’s true ya know! You can and should thank Chuck Norris for every breath you breathe. Every single one! Not just because Chuck could take those away from you in the flutter of an eyelash. But because Chuck doesn’t let the air push him around. Get yours today!
More Chuck Norris Facts for ya! And again, these aren’t Chuck Norris Jokes or Chuck Norris empty threats. These are bona-fide facts! Don’t believe us? Try asking Chuck Norris. See if he’d show you how to kill two stones with one bird! Get yours today!
G2: Mortal Conquest brings the blades, babes and beatdowns!
By now UAMC readers, you know what a big fan I am of Swiss martial artist, Daniel Bernhardt. I’ve already reviewed ultimate gems like Bloodsport 3 and Bloodsport 4, Perfect Target and The Cutter. While this next one isn’t exactly on the same level as some of his others, it is still a blast, full of swords, fights and comedy; intentional and unintentional.
I am talking about G2: Mortal Conquest. Think Bloodsport and American Samurai, meets Highlander. Pulling things from all the above for a potent cocktail that will leave you wondering what you just watched, but somehow, it will leave you smiling.
For those that are familiar with Highlander or even Lorenzo Lamas’ Gladiator Cop (Fun fact; Nick Rotundo wrote and directed both Gladiator Cop and G2: Mortal Conquest), you will probably be quicker to understand. For the rest of you, try and stay with me.
Bernhardt stars as Steve Conlin, a reincarnation of a warrior from thousands of years ago, who wielded the sword of Alexander the Great. Now in present day, his past battles come to him in his dreams… as he learns more and more of what they are, things heat up when his enemies come back, wanting to destroy him once and for all.
Right away you can tell that the film didn’t have a huge budget, the effects are spotty, but it doesn’t take away from the fun to be had… if you are a lover of these kind of movies like yours truly.
Bernhardt is reunited on screen with the legend that is James Hong. This time, instead of being on his side as he was in the Bloodsport movies, Hong plays the evil villain and he does it so well! This is Hong at his best, folks! He is over the top and hilarious. A scene stealer with his sinister laugh in this one for sure, showing what a legend of the genre he is.
There is a cop played by Meeka Schiro, who Bernhardt saves and they end up helping each other. Do they end up developing feelings for each other? Yes they do and it gets steamy. She gets in on the action out of the bedroom too, blowing away some baddies and having a couple dust ups with Hong’s sexy henchwoman (Bing Shen). Shen unleashes a hilariously bad karate chop of doom that made me laugh out loud.
But other than that, the fights and choreography involving Bernhardt are done quite well as always. A couple of the other main baddies are played by the Kim twin brothers, James and Simon. They were in a number of films together over the years, including Oliver Gruner’s The Circuit and Seagal’s Exit Wounds.
If you are expecting a lot of swordplay, you won’t be disappointed. Many of the fights take place in underground type death matches, similar to Bloodsport or American Samurai. The other fighters in it range from surprisingly good to surprisingly funny. Like I mentioned, Bernhardt does a good job executing the swordplay, but we also get to see some solid martial arts fights as well.
If you are wanting to see his signature kicks, you get to see them here too. Rest assured. One of the most awesome and memorable ones being when he goes against this fire-breathing fighter… he gets his leg caught up in flames, but still manages to roundhouse the guy a couple times! Love it.
Bernhardt does Highlander in 92 minutes of blades, babes and beatdowns that is much better than advertised!
I’m going to preface this article by saying that I’m not the most die hard of wrestling fans. I did watch the WWF from a period between the ages of 9 and 13. And I can say growing up in Texas that my favorite wrestler at the time was definitely Stone Cold Steve Austin. “Jourdan316” was my first handle on AOL instant messenger, lol.
Stone Cold wasn’t just my favorite though, at school, he was everyone’s favorite. The Rock was getting big. The Undertaker was pretty badass. Mankind was funny and awesome in his own way. But for every kid at Lake Highlands Junior High, Stone Cold absolutely ruled supreme.
However, as I can recall and for whatever reasons, wrestling faded out of popularity quickly for most of us around the time we all started high school. Which was unfortunate, because this was about the time that Stone Cold started making his transition into the world of ultimate action motion pictures.
And while a role in The Longest Yard (2005) and his starring debut in The Condemned (2007) were his first big screen appearances, I would have to consider Damage (2009) Stone Cold’s true introduction to the halls of Ultimate Action Movies – and, truth be told, it may even be one of the best wrestler-starred action movies of all time.
Before we get deeper into the film though, and without me embarrassing myself by trying to talk about the man’s legendary wrestling career. I do want to talk about this period in which Stone Cold was attempting to enter the world of ultimate action.
To some, becoming an action movie star might seem easy. If professional fighters or bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme could do it, it must be pretty damn simple, right?
And while the nuances between those actors and their performances are quite extreme if you really look at them, it’s actually more about the eras than anything else. The 80s and 90s were a different time and people wanted their action stars to be a bit simpler in terms of their acting performances.
By 2009 though, the ultimate action movie was pretty much dead, and the only real warriors keeping that traditional alive were those shooting direct-to-video. Damage fell into this category, which for Stone Cold’s sake, was very important.
Damage is a truly great film. It follows a very familiar plot to anyone who’s seen other action movies from the 2000s-ish that isn’t designed to do much more than showcase an action star in street fights.
So, Damage really works for several reasons. It’s a great script by Frank Hannah, solid direction and world-creation by director Jeff F. King, and simply said – just a perfectly put together film by producers Jack Heller, Jack Nassar, Joe Nasser and Dallas Sonnier – that last name being the founder of Cinestate and the highly UAMC-approved Rebeller brands.
But overall, the greatest decisions regarding Damage come from the casting of Walton Goggins (as Reno Paulsaint) and Laura Vandervoot (as Frankie) as the other two main leads to couple up with Stone Cold’s character John Brickner.
Just as Reno and Frankie take John in and help him with his underground fighting career, Goggins and Vandervoot take all the thematic weight off of Stone Cold and provide all the emotional thrust that the movie needs. Allowing Stone Cold to be, well, just a stone cold badass as he learns the ropes, so to speak.
And, bottom line, Stone Cold delivers some kick ass action. They filmmakers also chose to predomintly rely on real fighters for the underground fight scenes, and the results truly look brutal. For someone coming in still very much in the prime of his WWF/WWE wrestling career, Stone Cold lays the smackdown.
As I was watching Damage for the first time, I kept thinking about this one scene from the Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink. In it John Turturro’s Barton Fink is a 1940s playwright turned screenwriter whose tasked with writing a simple “wrestling picture” because Barton knows the “poetry of the streets”.
I feel like Damage is the movie that Barton (spoilers, I guess) is never able to write in the film. It’s simple yes, but seemingly by design. It’s straightforward at first. But does a really good job of bringing out much more story and drama that any video tagged “DTV” online deserve to have in its belly.
And overall – and more so than The Condemned – Damage is truly the movie that signals Stone Cold’s arrival as a bonafide ultimate action movie star who deserves to have his old features re-watched and re-examined the same way we do with Arnold, Chuck, Seagal and Van Damme.
Meet the ultimate madame Van Damme – Gladys Portugues.
MADRID, SPAIN – AUGUST 08: Jean-Claude Van Damme and his wife Gladys Portugues attend ‘The Expendables 2’ (‘Los mercenarios 2’) at Callao cinema on August 8, 2012 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Eduardo Parra/Getty Images)
To Ultimate Action Movie Club fans, Jean-Claude Van Damme is one of the biggest action stars of the 80s and 90s. And while he’ll always be remembered and loved for hits like Bloodsport, Kickboxer and Death Warrant, he’ll also always be known for his troubles off the set and a quasi-ridiculous late 90s era of movies.
These being just as awesome, but not quite as highly regarded. Including Sudden Death, Double Team and Knock Off. But in regards to the man’s personal life, Van Damme is currently married, although he has been married five times to four different women.
Van Damme’s current wife is American bodybuilder Gladys Portugues. The couple have two children – Kristopher van Varenberg (born 1987) and Bianca Brigitte (born 1990). Van Damme and Portugues have been married, divorced and remarried, so the timeline gets a little confusing.
Van Damme originally married María Rodríguez in 1980, divorced in 1984. He married Cynthia Derderian in 1985 and divorced in 1986. Then originally married Gladys Portugues in 1987. His first breakout hit Bloodsport came out in 1988 for reference to his career timeline.
The original Van Damme / Portugues marriage dissolved in 1992 when he had an affair with Darcy LaPier, an actress and model who was also married at the time.
Van Damme and LaPier were married in a ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand in 1994 and they had one son named Nicholas van Varenberg (born 1995).
However, Van Damme is to have reported to have had an affair with Kylie Minogue while filming the video game adaption action feature Street Fighter. Resulting in Van Damme and LaPier splitting in 1997.
Finally though, Van Damme and Portugues reconciled and remarried in 1999 and are married to this day. They are both avid bodybuilders with Portugues having twice placed in the Top 10 of the Ms. Olympia international bodybuilding competition.
The ultimate cult classic is truly everything you’d want in for a UAMC party!
A topless woman kisses her cop-boyfriend goodbye as she moves to the Hawaiian island of Molokai. An exotic and dangerous snake hisses on-screen. Welcome to Hard Ticket to Hawaii. This B-budget Hawaiian parody of action cinema finds a healthy fan following with tongue-in-cheek action and lots of topless scenes.
Hard Ticket hits all the notes that define the genre of action cinema in things like Miami Vice or the James Bond franchise only from the perspective of the Bond girl this time instead of James himself.
There’s the sly assassination attempts (on a skateboard), the lively secondary characters (a matrie’d with serious boundary issues), a seductive night-before-the-final-battle scene, and a lot of contrived plot. The film leans into those beats wholeheartedly and turns them into comedy.
Donna Speir plays Dona, an undercover DEA agent who discovers a narcotics scheme operating on Molokai as she hangs ten with her civilian friend Taryn, played by Hope Marie Carlton. As the two girls venture deeper and deeper into this Hawaiian gangster plot they encounter resistance from the local crime lord Seth Romero (played by Rodrigo Oberon).
They call upon the help of their friends Rowdy (Ronn Moss) Jade (Harold Diamond), and Edy (Cynthia Brimhall.) They must survive skateboard assassins, crossdressing double-crossers, marijuana-smoking Hawaiian goons, a villainous crime lord, and one toxic snake.
The reason this movie works so well is the incredible amount of straight-faced acting everyone brings to this movie. The whole thing would fall flat if every actor wasn’t playing their roles with absolute gusto. Sure there are some genuinely cringey moments but that’s part of the fun. It really ventures into the fantastic when it comes down to the action of the film.
Nothing about the action in this movie makes sense. Jade operates a four-barrel rocket launcher. Taryn casually strolls around with nunchucks that never get used. They use the rocket launcher to kill the skateboard assassin AND the blow up sex doll he was using as cover. In one infamous scene Rowdy uses a razor blade edged Frisbee to kill a man.
It’s the kind of incredulous action that can only garner laughter. After a handful of pitiable scenes with stopping dialogue we need the sheer chaotic joy of the film’s insane action. These are the moments that really help us remember this treasure trove as Ultimate.
Lastly this movie never ceases to supply topless women. In some incredible contrivances the leads seem to never wear bras, or much clothing, or any clothing at all from time to time. It’s a gimmick clearly designed to entice men into the theater. It’s hard for me to say what it really contributes. It’s so contrived it’s quite obviously unnecessary to the movie, but that’s kind of what this movie is about. The oversexed action-stuffed 80’s action flicks we all grew so fond of.
I can’t recommend enough for all you Ultimate Action lovers out there. It’s healthy to have a little laugh here and there. This movie pokes and prods at the absurdities of ultimate action lampooning it to the highest degree. It succeeds in it’s utter mockery of the genre and in being so hyperbolic makes the case for the enjoyment of its predecessors.
It’s just so loony you learn to appreciate the less absurd (which is to say everything) staples of the genre. Still, every success needs a parody and Hard Ticket to Hawaii is the most harmless parody of Ultimate Action I can think of.
Steven Seagal is a great and ultimate American action movie star. And while his hayday was back in the late 80s and early 90s, Seagal did what many action stars did in the early 2000s – he moved into direct to video markets. He also wisely diversified his style and influences. And Belly of the Beast is a great example of Seagal being an early embracer of the rise of Hong Kong Action Cinema with audiences worldwide.
And while no critical darling, Belly of the Beast is very much a highly enjoyable and very awesome ultimate action movie. Let’s take a look!
So, to talk about Belly of the Beast we have to really talk about the film’s director Ching Siu-tung. A seasoned Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stunt performer and coordinator, Siu-tung is perhaps most notable for his action movie choreography in the cinematic masterpiece films Hero and House of Flying Daggers – plus the awesome non-actioner series A Chinese Ghost Story.
Belly of the Beast though was Siu-tung’s first foray into action movie directing, and man did he have a tall task combining forces with the still larger-than-life Seagal. And what we get is just downright awesome! And quite crazy and over the top and just funny in all the right ways.
Released the same year as Siu-tung’s Hero. Belly of the Beast was also the third of a trio of direct-to-video actioners released by Seagal in 2003 (The Foreigner and Out for a Kill being the other two). And truly on the heels of what was one of his last real wide-release motion pictures with 2002’s Half Past Dead.
Seagal had already long passed his skinny cut figure from his debut days in hits like Above the Law. But it’s still fun to see the heavier set Seagal continue his unstoppable rampage in Thailand.
The plot is built around a familiar Taken-style narrative with Seagal’s daughter being kidnapped by a rather convoluted plot of double crosses and CIA spies. What’s fun though is the usual level of respect Seagal’s character earns by… you know, just being Seagal.
In true Seagal form, his character – the retired CIA agent and successful businessman Jake Hopper – is a force to be reckoned with in every scene. And for all the characters who know him, they fear for their lives the moment they find out he’s on the case.
The action, though is top-notch. I gotta hand it to Siu-tung for his creativity and originality in tackling any number of fight scenes and set pieces. There are some pretty exotic sets for the $14 million budget, and while not every scene and thematic point lands for sure, the fights are the film’s energy. And they deliver the goods.
Overall, Belly of the Beast is your built on your standard Seagal DTV fodder, but with the Hong Kong action mastery it actually can be considered great cinema. Along with, of course, it being just downright ultimate action movie watching worthy.
Few have made such an indelible mark within this generation of action cinema as Michael Jai White. And how could he not? Good looking, incredible physique, fantastic actor, great writer, excellent director, and a highly extensive knowledge, and absolute mastery of the martial arts. Truth be told, he is the complete package.
And that is why I, The Cinema Drunkie, as well as the good folks at the Ultimate Action Movie Club have come together today to celebrate the man, the myth, the legend that is Michael Jai White. And we shall do that by naming the Top 10 Ultimate Michael Jai White Action Movies!
Also, there are rules: this list is not only focused on movies that contain MJW as either a main (or at the very least a major character), but also purely on action movies, and movies that showcase MJW best as an action performer, so unfortunately that means no Spawn, no Accident Man, no Exit Wounds, and no Black Dynamite either. Sorry folks. Those are the rules.
But now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s jump into it, shall we? And if you’re looking for more Top 10 Lists to read up on (or argue about with your friends later), here are some more official Ultimate Action Movie Club rankings to check out:
The third entry in the S.W.A.T. franchise (yes, there are 3 of them) goes the Assault on Precinct 13 route, but this time, they have an ace up their sleeve. This time, they have MJW. The Black Dragon injects some much needed life into this franchise, making this entry the best one to date, with non-stop action all around, and White playing the “Badass with the shadowy past” role for all it’s worth.
MJW becomes a new age Mr. Miyagi in this sequel to the 2007 Karate Kid rip-off in which he also made his directorial debut. While the movie is more or less focused on the teen MMA fighters, MJW completely steals the show as the lovable teacher with a heart of ice, while also being the centerpiece for the standout fight scene of the movie where he takes on a group of bad cops… while handcuffed!
So, after this was kind of unceremoniously dumped onto Netflix without so much as an announcement, my expectations were a bit low, but this was surprisingly a highly enjoyable action yarn. And with well choreographed action scenes by the great Tim Man, a decent story, and some fine performances from MJW, Luke Goss, and MMA legend Randy Couture, this underdog of an action flick is a true winner. And remember guys, when MJW says “No means no, motherf*cker.”, you better listen.
MJW steps up from supporting to lead role in the third entry (what’s up with MJW and part 3s?) of this MMA franchise and brings the noise in the best installment of the series yet! Fantastic fight sequences, great direction (by MJW himself) and excellent performances from the cast make this a solid actioner that proves White is as good behind the camera as he is in front of it.
While this unfairly maligned sequel is sooo awesome on its own, MJW’s performance as supervillain SETH elevates to ultimate action classic status, with an epic climactic fight with legendary action icon JCVD that is one for the ultimate action record books.
Awesome shootouts & chases, as well as incredible fight scenes (especially the one between MJW & Tony Jaa) combined with one of the best action casts ever assembled truly make this one of the top action gems of the decade (wink, wink).
With some incredible fight choreography on display, a commanding lead performance from MJW, and a compelling story, Falcon Rising was an excellent introduction to a new ultimate action badass in John “Falcon” Chapman that surely should have lead to an awesome series of films.
Who knew that this sequel to an ok but fairly unmemorable prison boxing movie would lead to not only one the most definable franchises in the history of action cinema, but also to leads MJW & Scott Adkins, as well as action mastermind Isaac Florentine becoming action movie icons? I did… the second the credits started rolling.
Read our full UAMC rankings for the best Scott Adkins movies below:
The absolute zenith of MJW’s action movie career. A movie that transcends its DTV status to be one of the best action movies ever. Phenomenal action, clever plotting, great acting, loveable side characters, despicable villains and a fantastic action hero in Isaiah Bone make Blood and Bone one of the most perfect examples of everything an ultimate action classic should be.
And there you have it. 10 movies that showcase the incredible prowess of the man, the myth, the action legend. There was a reason Martial Arts Icon Ron Van Clief bestowed his own moniker “The Black Dragon” onto Mr. White. And if you ask me, it was well deserved.
So what did you think of this list? And what are your picks for your own personal MJW top 10?? Please leave them in the comments below!
