Just Patrick Swayze killing commies in Red Dawn (1984).
Red Dawn (1984), starring Patrick Swayze and an ensemble cast, is an awesome action movie, not just a good one but a great one, from top to bottom, just a fantastic Easter egg of pop culture, referenced in everything from Family Guy to The Goldbergs, it’s had a remake and inspired a generation of creatives from movie makers to video games developers… Now the question is – why?
Because John Milius
Well first of all it’s directed and co written by action movie titan John Milius who helped to bring Dirty Harry (1971), Apocalypse Now (1979) and Conan the Barbarian (1982) to the screen. Red Dawn is an epic movie full of amazing wide screen shots from the get go. Some, quite frankly, iconic. Those Soviet paratroopers landing in the school yard and wreaking havoc grab you and the movie doesn’t let go till the end.
MGM making Milius the director of the project really gave the film a solid foundation, very different from the original concept of the movie which was going to be a little anti-war arthouse movie. Milius’ rewrites on the script are masterful both in plot and in dialogue… The scenario for Red Dawn was in part developed by an USA government think-tank called the Hudson Institute – and that plausibility really comes across on the screen.
As plausible as the nightmare of the movie’s plot is, what the movie is not, is a flag waving jingoistic bit of propaganda and that comes through in the very human and emotionally complex dialogue which is rare for an action movie.
Ultimate Performances
At the end of the day a script for a movie is only as good as the actors that deliver it. It has some excellent actors and in my humble opinion this movie has the best performances of some of the actors’ careers. Every performance in Red Dawn is a perfect mix of emotions and every actor shows the mix of anxiety, panic and the moral choices that these young resistance fighters have to make. This movie is Patrick Swayze’s greatest role as the Wolverines leader Jed.
And Charlie Sheen’s performance as the stoic and pragmatic brother to Jed, Matt, which is powerful, especially in a moment when he has to deal with a traitor in the group.
Lea Thompson’s performance as Erica is one of the most underrated action heroine roles ever, she was taking commie names long before the early 00s craze of action movies with strong female characters. Also the main cast is supported by excellent roles. Everyone from Harry Dean Stanton to Doug Toby, but my action movie awards for best supporting actors in this case are the always entertaining late Powers Boothe as Lt. Col Andrew Tanner and Ron O’Neal as Bella who is probably one of the most three dimensional villains committed to screen in action movies.
What About the Action?
And being as this is an article about action movies on an action movie website let’s talk about the movie’s action… Which is great, one thing you realise is how awesome it is to see non-computer generated antics, the set pieces are so well constructed in Red Dawn, especially a scene where the Wolverines are caught in the crossfire in a tank battle.
The action moves the movie on perfectly and serves the movie in every way. It is is visually impressive, especially the ambush with Mi-24s helicopters helped by Basil Poledouris‘ pounding score.
Red Dawn is a flick that plays with expectations, both with its politics and its place as an action film but this enhances the watching experience. Red Dawn, unlike, many action movies of the 80s deals with themes such as child soldiers and our personal responsibility to protect freedom. It’s a incredible movie, if you haven’t seen it in a while go rewatch it… If you have never seen it – what are you waiting for? Go Wolverines!!!
Growing up in the 80s Ian Young highlight of the week used to be when the mobile video store (a van with some videos in it) came down his street, it was more often than not that he rented these titles so frequently that the tapes disintegrated. He will also roundhouse kick anyone who says Cannon Films’ Masters of the Universe isn’t the greatest film ever made!
On a steamy night in 1984 Los Angeles, Brenda (Linda Blair), her deaf-mute younger sister, Heather (Linnea Quigley), and a few friends are walking the Savage Streets of Hollywood. After a brief confrontation with the Scars – an all-white street gang led by Jake (Robert Dryer), they hatch a plan to steal the gang’s convertible for a joyride. After finding the car trashed, the gang goes after the girls – violently attacking Heather and murdering another friend. Armed with a switchblade, a crossbow and a lighter, Brenda sets out to avenge her friends by killing the Scars one-by-one.
Classic Teensplotation
Directed mostly by Danny Steinmann (writer/director of 1985’s Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), Savage Streets is pure 1980s teensploitation – for better and for worse. As an action movie, the action really doesn’t start until the 58-minute mark – which means you have to sit through a brutal rape scene interspliced with a naked brawl in high school girls locker room, classroom scenes about poetry and biology, the most unthreatening gang of street thugs in history, and a bunch of clunky dialogue about weddings, “getting out of this town,” and “sorry your sister got raped, the police are doing everything they can.”
Scream Queen Action
However, the movie finally picks up when Brenda enters rampage mode – the only part of the movie where Blair is believable in her role as a rebellious teen. Dressed in all black (after a smoke and a bath), Brenda goes thug hunting – using her sexuality to lure them into her web to kill them off one at a time. Anger is definitely her energy. As one of few non-horror movies starring scream queens Blair (Exorcist) and Quigley (Return of the Living Dead – and like every other horror movie ever made), Savage Streets isn’t great, but it is worth seeking out. There are better revenge movies out there, but none of them are as 80s as this one is.
Savage Observations
After being attacked, Heather is taken to “Doctors Hospital,” which has to be laziest hospital name ever filmed. Speaking of the hospital, the medical equipment in Heather’s room is sitting on top of a Craftsman tool chest. Not your typical hospital, I guess.
Early in the film, Red (a thug played by Scott Mayer) is wearing a distinctive razor blade earring. A few scenes later, another gang member is wearing the same earring. Do men share earrings? I don’t remember that being a thing.
For a movie with ongoing rape and murder investigations, there is a complete lack of police officers until the very end.
There’s a character named Rachel (played by Debra Blee) who disappears without explanation halfway through the film.
Linda Blair received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress but didn’t win. She did, however, win a Razzie for Worst Actress beating out Brigitte Nielsen in Red Sonja
Article by Eric LaRose – a Wisconsin-based connoisseur of action, horror and sci-fi movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s. A former journalist and podcaster, Eric wrote the ending to the Toxic Avenger Part 4, but the only person who will back up that claim is his wife.
Let us know what you what you think in the comments!
Before he was James Bond, Pierce Brosnan was Mark Taffin.
For many people of a certain age, Pierce Brosnan is their James Bond. Racking up an impressive four outings as Britain’s most famous secret agent, he truly made the part his own in the 1990’s. Being tall, dark and handsome, combined with an intimidating presence and some Irish charm, meant he was pretty much tailor made for the role of 007. There was a long roe to hoe before he was cast as everyone’s favourite martini drinking sex-pest however. Many movies had to be made first. Before his comedic turn in Mrs. Doubtfire, before his venture into the realms of sci-fi in The Lawnmower Man (which is a much, much better film than you remember it being), Brosnan returned to his home country of Ireland to make a sadly forgotten action-thriller. The name of that forgotten movie? Taffin.
Pierce Bronson’s Burgeoning Career
Before we go any farther, please allow me the indulgence of a brief history lesson. 1987 was a year of highs and lows for Pierce Brosnan. The highs came from the fact that his TV series, Remington Steele, had recently been cancelled. Brosnan had no real issue with this as he found the show to be quite stifling and restrictive to his acting abilities. The lows meanwhile, came from the fact that this very same TV series had cost him the chance to portray James Bond in the rather excellent The Living Daylights. As the story goes, RemingtonSteele had been cancelled after its fourth season, and so Brosnan was promptly cast as Bond to replace the ageing Roger Moore. Don’t feel too bad for Roger though, folks. He would go on to star in 1996’s martial arts epic The Quest alongside it’s writer, director and star, Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Anyway, the fact that Brosnan was the new Bond caused a late surge in popularity for the axed TV series, and so at the eleventh hour, a clause in the Irishman’s contact was activated and he was forced into doing a fifth series. The role of Bond then went to Welshman Timothy Dalton, my own personal favourite 007. Brosnan wasn’t the only one to miss out on a major role because of this kerfuffle. His Remington Steele co-star, Stephanie Zimbalist, was forced to relinquish the role of Anne Lewis in the 1987 masterpiece RoboCop to Nancy Allen. A tough break there for both Brosnan and Zimbalist. Once Remington Steele was eventually cancelled after its brief fifth series, Brosnan was now free to forge his own path once more. Freed from the confines of TV, one of the first films Brosnan would make was Taffin.
Taffin, Mark Taffin
In Taffin, Brosnan takes the lead role as Mark Taffin, a tough guy debt collector in small town Ireland. The film starts in traditional action movie fashion, with a dynamite fight scene. Taffin, accompanied by his fantastic head of hair, enters the restaurant of a gang who have no intention of paying off their debt to the local butcher, and swiftly beats the tar out of all those present. It’s a nice way to start the movie, and shows us right from the get go that Taffin is a no nonsense type of guy. Don’t mess with him or his trendy haircut. Seriously though, late 1980’s Pierce Brosnan has the best head of hair I’ve ever seen on a man.
Anyway, the character of Taffin pretty much set, things soon escalate in the small Irish town. An evil syndicate has plans to build a big chemical plant right on the outskirts of the town. Of course, the townspeople aren’t too happy about this, and so, with no other option, are forced to turn to local hardman Mark Taffin to save the day. It’s really pretty standard stuff and the type of story we’ve see in a dozen different movies before. One man standing alone against an evil gang. Taffin acknowledges its influences pretty early on for the more eagle-eyed viewers amongst us as a High Noon poster can be seen in our hero’s trendy attic conversion home. High Noon is a quality movie no doubt, but can the same be said for Taffin? Well, yes and no.
An Up-and-Coming Cast
Taffin certainly had a lot going for it. For a lesser known film, it boasts a good few well known faces. Granted, none of them, bar Brosnan, had make it big yet, but they’re still there nonetheless. Taffin’s love interest is played by Alison Doody, an actress who would find fame the following year by playing the misguided Dr. Elsa Schneider in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Taffin’s brother meanwhile is played by Patrick Bergin, an actor best known to you for his roles in Sleeping with the Enemy and Patriot Games, but who is best known to me as Dr. Benjamin Trace from Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (a movie which is much, much worse than you remember it being).
They’re not given a whole lot to work with here, but they do a good job with what they’ve got. Another big name involved here is composer Hans Zimmer. Everybody needs to start somewhere I suppose. Unfortunately, the music here isn’t up to the epic standards of the scores he provided for such classics as Gladiator and The Last Samurai. It’s pretty much a barrage of up-tempo, stereotypical Irish music. They add a bit of levity to action scenes, but grow old pretty fast.
Taffin-of-Many-Trades
The actual character of Mark Taffin himself is actually pretty interesting, which is a nice change from the cookie-cutter heroes us action fans often get landed with in our movies. Sure, he ticks a lot of the classic action hero boxes with his martial arts skills, and his bananas hot girlfriend and his red convertible, but, like a Transformer, there’s more to him than meets the eye.
Taffin was studying to be a priest, you see, but dropped out when he realised that the only way to truly change the world for the better was by dispensing ass whoopings. It’s a neat enough backstory, and it differentiates Taffin nicely from other gung-ho action types. He can often be found lazing in his crappy office and reading books on morals and ethics, trying to justify how he lives his life. Good for him. He also goes home every Sunday to have dinner with his elderly mother. What a stand-up type of guy!
Not Quite Bond Action
But, what of the action scenes? This is an action movie after all. Taffin has got you covered here, but again, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. This movie has bar room brawls, car chases, gunplay, and explosions. They’re not done particularly well, but they’re there. The car chase in particular is quite poor. I had no idea that a 1971 Ford Mustang could be driven so slowly. Also, tractors have no business being involved in high speed chases. Fear not though, as there’s enough unintentional comedy here to keep you going between action scenes. Take the rural Irish setting for example. The small town has everything you’d imagine a small town in Ireland to have. Shops. A church. A bar. And an absolutely massive strip club. I got a good chuckle out of that one.
The fact that the local townspeople would be complaining about a big chemical plant opening near them is quite silly too. Ireland was going through a massive recession in the 1980’s with people leaving the country in their droves in search of work. No way would anyone have objected to the opening of a big business in their locality back then. Also, much has been made of Brosnan’s delivery of the line “Then maybe you shouldn’t be living here!” to his girlfriend in the movie. The was he says it is absolutely ludicrous and has become both a meme and a popular radio soundbite in England. Curious about it? Check out the video below and see for yourself. I’ll be waiting for you in the next paragraph.
An Almost Realized Classic
So there you have it. It has its faults, but Taffin is a fun little movie. Based on a novel of the same name, its writer famously had major issues with the casting of Brosnan. He envisioned Taffin as an overweight and unattractive man. Brosnan, with his flowing locks, is neither of these things. Despite this, he still manages to get the toughness of the character across.
Much is made of in this movie of Taffin’s wasted potential. He is a well educated and ambitious man, so why is he wasting his time as a thug in a small village? I feel the same could be said about this movie. There’s a real sense of wasted potential here. It’s good, but it could have been great. As it stands, it’s still a good movie for any lover of action cinema to watch. The setting alone differentiates it nicely from other action movies of the time, and makes it worth the price of admission alone. Check it out.
A childhood spent watching Jean-Claude Van Damme kick people in the face led to Dan Shanahan becoming the well-adjusted human being and all-around nice guy he is today. Having spent the majority of his twenties kicking ass, taking names, but mostly teaching English in Japan, he now resides in his native Ireland. He lives in constant fear that a team of ninjas may have followed him home and now secretly share his house with him.
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The 80s Car-Fu classic ‘Black Moon Rising’ gets our motor running!
I’m going to let you in on a secret from the 1980s.It is one of the best low budget action as well as Car-Fu movies from that period, and starred a bunch of actors that all went on to become A list celebrities.It was written by horror maestro John Carpenter and adapted from the first script he ever sold.The movie is 1986’s Black Moon Rising.
It stars Tommy Lee Jones as Sam Quint – a professional thief for hire who is currently in the employ of the US government, whose been hired to obtain evidence on the dirty dealings of a Las Vegas corporation.You see, back in the 80s you actually had to break into a faculty and physically steal the item in question, then make good your escape. This is where Quint’s plan goes awry when he runs into a former acquaintance and has to make his escape in a hail of gunfire
Introducing The Black Moon
At a nearby gas station in the desert,Quint encounters a couple of naive engineers who are out testing their prototype car called The Black Moon, that goes 300 MPH, runs on water and looks like it’s from other space. Quint is able to hide the evidence on the car just as his pursuers show up yet again
The story then shifts to wealthy businessman named Ryland,played by Man From Uncle’sRobert Vaughn. He has a fetish for surveillance and dabbles in the theft of high end cars.His obsession is Nina, played by the fetching Linda Hamilton fresh off her role a Sarah Connor in the first Terminator movie.When she and her crew steal The Black Moon, this puts her squarely in the sights of one Sam Quint, who followed her back to their lair, which turns out to be a near impenetrable twin towers of a office building.
So Quint forms an uneasy relationship with the nerd engineers who just want their car back, hatches a plan to infiltrate the car theft ring by seducing Nina, stays one step ahead of the henchmen whom he stole the evidence from in the first place as he gets squeezed by the FBI, who thinks he’s holding out on them.
Navigating the Streets of LA
The late night streets of LA form an atmospheric backdrop to the story as Quint makes his move.But not before a couple of car chases where Quint tools around town in his 1990 Mustang GT,a particularly brutal beat down and some tenderness with Nina, as he finally wins her over to his cause.
Quint and Nina are discovered as they finally get to The Black Moon.They are backed into a corner with only one way to escape.That’s to jump The Black Moon between the office towers thirty floors above the streets of LA, which turns out to be the “black moon rising” of the films title. The car jump between two buildings in Dubai from Furious 7 owes much to this sequence, only Black Moon Rising pulled it off in the 1980s with no budget and no fanfare.
When they touchdown, everybody converges on them.Quint gets to go mano a mano with his rival in some good old action movie payback, then hands over the evidence to the Feds and rides off into the sunset to live happily ever after with Nina.
Acknowledge this Action Classic!
The fact that this movie only gets a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes just goes to show how much the current crop of movie goers balls have shrunk since the 1980s, that they can’t acknowledge this as the action classic that this is.This may fall to we members of the Ultimate Action Movie Club. Our mission statement is to rediscover movies such as this then heap on it the acolytes it has been so sorely denied. If you not up to the challenge, you need to turn in your man card. Black Moon Rising got my motor running!
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All the Die Hard movies Ranked from best to worst!
Bruce Willis welcomes UAMC to the party, pal!
All the Die Hard movies ranked!
Everyone knows which the best Die Hard movie is. Anyone suggesting otherwise should be forced to walk the streets wearing a sandwich board extolling the virtues of Die Hard 4.0. But trying to separate the rest of the ultimate Bruce Willis franchise is where the trouble begins.
Are you a fan of Live Free or Die Hard’scyber technological leanings or do you prefer the Cold War throwback vibes of A Good Day To Die Hard – Jai Courtney and all? Or maybe the sight of William Sadler’s naked-yoga-loving villain from Die Hard 2floats your boat? Or perhaps you would rather see John McClane team up with Zeus Carver?
It’s time for the Ultimate Action Movie Club to wade into the debate with a ranking of all the Die Hard movies to date, starting with the worst and working our way through to the best. Yippie Ki-Yay Die Hard lovers!
Far and away the weakest entry in the franchise to date, A Good Day To Die Hard dispensed with any semblance of reality in favour of over-the-top action sequences, lazy, predictable writing and charisma vacuum Jai Courtney. Cast in the role of John McClane’s CIA agent son, his lack of chemistry with Bruce Willis only adds to the lacklustre feel of the film.
Willis, meanwhile, goes through the motions as John McClane, appearing visible bored as he lurches from one outlandish set piece to another. It’s a shame too, because Moscow could have made for an intriguing setting with the right kind of script and a better actor in Courtney’s role. I.e. anyone.
12 years on from the excellent Die Hard With A Vengeance, John McClane returned for this more modern take on the tried-and-tested Die Hard formula. Stuck in development hell after the 9/11 Terrorist attackers prompted the studio to rethink its approach, Live Free or Die Hard is a mixed bag of a movie.
The action sequences certainly make for eye-catching viewing, while Justin Long does a surprisingly decent job of injecting some levity as McClane’s hacker sidekick. However, it’s still the weakest entry to date, with a technology focused plot that already feels out of date and, in Timothy Olyphant’s cyber-terrorist, a strangely miscast villain. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is also woefully underused as McClane’s daughter. Fun but kind of dumb.
Director Renny Harlin was handed the seemingly impossible task of following up the original Die Hard but did a fine enough job in the circumstances. Die Hard 2works well in finding a way to up the stakes from the first film while staying faithful to some of the things that made the first film so popular.
There’s another group of ruthless terrorists, ready to be picked off one by one, while the setting and scope is bigger with McClane waging his one-man war across the battlefield of an international airport. William Sadler is solid enough as the film’s principal villain Colonel Stuart, even if he pales in comparison to Hans Gruber.
Though Bonnie Bedelia’s return as McClane’s wife Holly feels a little shoehorned into proceedings, and the film is a little joyless at times, there are enough surprise twists, memorable set pieces and grim deaths to paper over those cracks.
John McTiernan returned for this expansive and enthralling sequel, which found a way to take the first film’s claustrophobic concept and take it city-wide for a cat-and-mouse thriller unlike any Die Hard film before. Based on a pre-existing script called Simon Sez, it was rewritten to serve as sequel after an initial idea for a Die Hard movie set on a boat was rejected for being too similar to Under Siege. It’s a good job too.
McTiernan delivers a fine thriller, with New York the perfect setting for a big and brash action movie brimming with impressive performances. Samuel L. Jackson’sZeus Carter is the perfect foil for McClane while Willis is excellent too with McClane at something of a low, as a washed up, borderline alcoholic cop. Credit too to Jeremy Iron’s, Simon Gruber. A cold and calculated villain, Irons doesn’t try to upstage Alan Rickman’sHans Gruber, delivering an understated and intelligent performance that underpins much of the action.
The benchmark for modern action films as we know them, Die Hardwasn’t just the film that made Bruce Willis an action star, it’s also the film that showed these kinds of movies could be both clever and funny. A simple concept on paper, Die Hard benefits from the fine directorial hand of John McTiernan, who was fresh from making Predator, and a well-crafted script from Steven E. de Souza and Jeb Stuart.
But all of that would have fallen flat were it not for the charisma of Willis and his opposite number, Alan Rickman, whose Hans Gruber still ranks among the greatest movie villains of all time. Bonnie Bedelia and Reginald VelJohnson inject some emotional heart into proceedings as McClane’s wife and the LA cop he befriends while searching for help on a police radio.
There’s not a single weak link in the Die Hard cast either, whether it’s Gruber’s gang of mercenaries or Hart Bochner’s coked-up Harry Ellis. Imitated by countless films since, but never bettered, Die Hard is testament to the power of good writing and talented actors and filmmakers over big budget stunts. Best of all, there’s not a Jai Courtney in sight.
Let us know what you what you think in the comments!
For anyone old enough to remember, the 80’s were a great time if you were a mad action movie buff. It seemed like every week a new flick would be out with a high body count and a tough, indestructible hero.I wasn’t even a teen when I caught some of these movies on VHS (which is how a great many of them found success after dying in theatres), so I had no perception of what was cool, what was hip and what was considered art. I watched these films on face value – if the cover looked exciting, or the blurb on the back sounded fun, I’d rent it – and most of the time I wasn’t disappointed. Sometimes I got a nice surprise. I’d find a flick I could go back to again and again. 1983’s Deadly Force was one of those surprises.
A Tough Guy Flick
Clearly riding on the coattails of other tough guys flicks like Dirty Harry and Death Wish, Deadly Force carries a familiar plot: a crazed killer is on the loose and a renegade, and somewhat unhinged, ex-lawman is the only one who can stop him. Deadly Force was my introduction to the live-wire that is Wings Hauser. Up until that point, I’d seen Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson take out bad guys, and Clint Eastwood, of course. Their heroes were stoic, silent and refined. Hauser’s hero is all rage and anger. Even at the climax, he tells his ex-wife to back off so he can blow away the bad guy!
Wings Hauser Vigilante
Deadly Force was the first time Hauser got to be a good guy after making a name for himself playing despicable villains (see Vice Squad), and he plays ex-cop Cooper the complete opposite to other tough guys of that era. Sure, he’s got the ex-wife who hates him and colleagues from the force who can’t stand him, but unlike Eastwood’s Callahan, or those characters of similar ilk, we can see why they hated him. Cooper is a mean drunk, and a glory hound, who won’t rest until he gets justice. He doesn’t let a little thing like people’s’ feelings get in the way. He’s a mean a-hole most of the running time, but that’s the point. The world is so harsh and cruel, that only someone like Cooper can get the job done. And boy, he doesn’t take prisoners. And he doesn’t believe in manners much, either.
A True Anti-Hero
Cooper is called into action by an old friend who happens to be an ex-con (another different take on familiar material), well played by Al Ruscio, when his daughter is carved up by a killer the media have dubbed The X Killer,because he brands his victims with an X after he dispatches them.Cooper is barely back in L.A., when his old Captain shows up to warn him off. Things go from bad to worse when a mobster with an axe to grind sends some hoods to beat up our hero five minutes later.
Seems everyone hates Cooper, and probably no one more than his long suffering ex-wife (Joyce Ingalls), who has tried to make a career for herself as a reporter in his absence. Cooper won’t accept that the relationship is over, and constantly hounds her until she eventually realises he’s the man of her dreams, despite his lifestyle and attitude. Cooper is a pretty big anti-hero in this movie, but thanks to Hauser, he never comes off as a total jerk.And towards the climax of the film, when no one will believe him about the conspiracy he’s uncovered, we find ourselves cheering him on and rooting for him.
Ultimate Acting
Like all great 80’s action movies, Deadly Force has a cast full of recognizable faces, none more than B-movie stalwart Paul Shenar, who plays a slimy self-help guru. Shenar, much like Lance Henriksen, made a career out of playing sophisticated scumbags, and his role in this flick is definitely one of the highlights. And his involvement in the plot is another nice twist.
Arlen Dean Snyder, another brilliant character actor, whose name might not be familiar, but whose face surely will be, pops up as the mobster after Cooper. Snyder gets most of the movies memorable lines as the kinky crim who likes chunky women and adult movies. His character is probably about as close as the film gets to having any comic relief, but that’s okay, because a movie like Deadly Force needs to concentrate on the action and thrills, and for a modestly budgeted genre flick, things look and feel pretty good.
Pure 80s Gold
While not of the calibre of earlier Eastwood pictures, D.F. is definitely no slouch. There’s a pretty cool car chase done for real (I miss those days), and there is one helluva running gunfight at the end of the movie that gets bloody. The pic was directed by Paul Aaron, who directed the Norris vehicle A Force of One, and was also Keanu Reeves’s step dad at one point, and his style and set ups get the most out of the low budget. The excellent, toe-tapping score is also pure 80’s gold, and the flick even closes with an awesomely bombastic rock song that could only work on a film as cool as Deadly Force.
Everything about this flick screams 80’s excess, from the vile villains, the gritty locations and over-the-top music. Couple that with Hauser’s unconventional turn as a hero, and the brutal violence, and you’ve got a real winner in Deadly Force! Unfortunately the pic has never had an official DVD or Bluray release. Hopefully one day, a studio like Shout of Kino Lorber will pick it up and give this forgotten gem the love it deserves. Fingers Crossed!!
From a small country town where not many films played, Kent Church grew up on a steady diet of Coca Cola, horror magazines and action movies on VHS. If the movie didn’t have Chuck Norris or Eastwood on the cover, he wasn’t interested. His one core belief: Arnold Schwarzenneger must be President!! And James Woods vice –President…
Arthouse Surrealism Combines with Ultimate Action in The Soldier (1982)
September 19th, 1980 saw the release of The Exterminator, a film by an up and comingfilmmaker by the name of James Glickenhaus that did incredible business. Made for only $2 million, it grossed $35 million during its initial release. Adjusted for inflation, that adds up to $105 million in 2018 money. That’s a lot of guap for a low budget grindhouse style vigilante movie. After The Exterminator’s massive success, Glickenhaus got a call from a financier to make an action movie as long as he used international locations in which said financier already had money placed. Glickenhaus immediately went to work, and the culmination of that was… The Soldier.
Released on August 27th 1982, The Soldier was only a minor success, earning nowhere near the grosses that The Exterminator pulled in. But that’s fine, because as much as I love The Exterminator, I think The Soldier surpasses it in every way. But don’t just take my word for it. Somebody else had to have found the footage impressive, because Glickenhaus’ next movie after this was the Jackie Chan vehicle The Protector. So that’s saying a lot right there. I mean, Jackie ended up hating the finished movie (I love it, though. Who cares what Jackie says?), but he obviously liked what he saw in The Soldier enough to pick him as director for his second big attempt at making an international cross over (The Big Brawl being his first).
But there’s something more to The Soldier than just badass stunts and action. So much more. And that something more is… Surrealism. This movie is so surreal it is practically an arthouse action movie. Hold on… Now that I think about it, this is definitely an arthouse action movie. What’s an Arthouse action movie, you ask? Well, according to Wikipedia, “The arthouse action genre is an emerging film genre in contemporary cinema that traces its roots back to Asian and European films.” Some examples listed were Haywire, Looper, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai,Sorcerer and Drive. I don’t know about Haywire or Looper, but I can fully attest to the validity of Ghost Dog, Sorcerer and especially Drive being Arthouse action. But what about The Soldier? What makes it so Arthouse? Let’s find out!
“Their Leader. Codename: The Soldier.”
The Soldier stars Ken Wahl as a government anti-terrorist agent known only by his code name: The Soldier. He takes on his most dangerous mission yet as he’s tasked with stopping rogue Russian bad guys from blowing up a Saudi Arabian oil field. And that’s pretty much it…
“They’re changing the game in a major way!”
I’ve seen many action movies in my time, but never one more awesomely badass yet so artistically strange (For this type of movie, I mean) as The Soldier. It’s a film that’s simple yet almost avant garde in its storytelling. It’s like Glickenhaus wants you to figure out what’s going on instead of him having to tell you. Just pure storytelling by images, with minimal dialogue. I love that. I love a filmmaker who rejects the “hand holding” style of filmmaking that has been so prevalent in movies, even to this day.
Take the first scene for example. I’m going to try to avoid spoilers as much as possible because I want you to see this movie immediately (it’s just been released on for the first time on DVD and Blu Ray by Kino Lorber), so I’ll be very vague in my description of the scene: It involves a limousine, 3 bystanders, a woman with a baby carriage, a bucket load of bullets flying, and a helicopter. And I promise you, it is the most WTF opening to an action movie ever. Matter of fact, the first 20 mins of the movie are all so incredibly WTF. Glickenhaus creates a puzzle with his scenes, but gives you just enough to put it all together without having to explain it. But you better think fast, because the pace of this movie is absolutely relentless!
“One man. One unit. Renegade agents out to solve a crisis…”
Oh yes. The Soldier moves at breakneck speed, rarely letting up for a second to let you catch your breath. Glickenhaus improves considerably from the deliberately slower pace of his previous movie by giving the audience so many awesome action moments so fast throughout the movie’s brisk running time that it almost feels like one long action scene. It all just beautifully blends together. Glickenhaus really came into his own with this movie, proving himself to be the most underrated action director of his era, and quite possibly all time.
And the way every shot is set up and executed gives the whole movie a dreamlike, almost haunting quality. Especially with Tangerine Dream composing a pulsating, but almost trance inducing electronic score. The movie feels like you’re sitting inside the mind of a 13 year old David Lynch who’s dreaming he’s a rated R version of James Bond. It’s all so awesomely straightforward, yet beautifully weird. You wanna know how weird? Klaus Kinski shows up in a damn near wordless cameo wearing an all white ski suit that Ned Flanders would love, but would piss Homer Simpson off. That’s right. Klaus Kinski. Werner Herzog’s favorite actor himself. And all he really does is have a tense staring contest with Ken Wahl in a cable car. I. Am not. Kidding.
The acting is serviceable enough. Ken Wahl isn’t going to win any awards, but he’s pretty good in the lead role. Tough and effective. Glickenhaus reportedly wanted Tommy Lee Jones for the part, but the studio wanted Wahl. Although I weep to think what could have been had Jones gotten the part, the movie works just fine with Wahl. I have no complaints. The supporting cast isn’t so bad either, with familiar faces such as Alberta Watson, William Prince, Joaquim de Almeida, the aforementioned Kinski (Who shouldn’t really count, because he’s only in the movie for like 3 mins, and says nothing for 2 and a ½ of them) and the late, great Steve James all making appearances.
“The don’t solve problems. They terminate them!”
But… I know, I know. You come here to read about action. Well, you’ve come to the right place, because The Soldier is full of it! The first hour of the movie is a non-stop rollercoaster ride. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but it’s the truth. The god honest truth. This movie just does not stop! Shootouts, car chases, fights with ninjas, ski chases and more slow motion explosions than the climax of a Michael Bay movie. And the stunt work is simply fantastic. You’ll really be blown away by the stuff they accomplished on the low budget they had. There is an especially spectacular stunt that’s caps off an exciting ski chase in the middle of the movie. You actually get a glimpse of it in Shakedown, also directed by Glickenhaus. It’s the movie Sam Elliott is watching in the theater when we’re introduced to his character. But, even that small clip doesn’t do the stunt justice. It’s a stunt that you can only fully appreciate when you watch it in its entirety.
“The Soldier. You don’t assign him. You unleash him.”
The whole movie is like that for that matter. The Soldier truly stands out by refusing to be just like every other movie of its kind. It contains everything you recognize and love about those type of movies and does it its own way. No care at all to even try to fit in. And as an action movie junkie, that’s so rewarding. And we all have Glickenhaus to thank for that. Hopefully, my review has piqued your interest enough to seek this out as well as his other films. Because, in my opinion, recognition for the man is long overdue.
1991 brought us a movie that I thought was way ahead of its time. It was Jason Bourne before we knew who Jason Bourne was. It was called TIMEBOMB and stared Michael Biehn as Eddie Kay, a man leading a simple life as a watch repairman. One night, he runs into a burning building to rescue some people and becomes a local hero on the news. When he gets recognized, some people from no such agency come calling to kill him.
Bourne Before Bourne
Turns out, Eddie lost his memory during an explosion when he had a change of heart about carrying out a political assassination. Eddie is a graduate of a program called Black Bird, which brainwashed former soldiers into becoming killing machines by locking them into a sensory deprivation tank and bombarding them with drugs and stimuli. You wouldn’t be wrong to think this sounds like a certain Matt Damon series of movies. These brainwashing scenes wild have been a fine addition in the Wolverine: Origins movie in explaining how he lost his memory and was transformed into a killing machine.
The Powerful Patsy Kensit
Eddie enlists his shrink’s help in unraveling his past and PTSD flashbacks. Luckily for us she’s played by Patsy Kensit, Rigg’s girlfriend from the second Lethal Weapon movie. Turns out another assassination is being planned on US soil. The target is a US Attorney General who is about to expose our covert ops program. They foil the plot and Eddie engages in one of the best fights in front of a neon sign this side of Highlander and Chuck Norris’ Forced Vengeance, against none other then creator of Tae Bo, Billy Blanks.
Nearly More Ultimate
According to Wikipedia, the producers wanted JCVD or Chuck Norris for the role of Eddie. I think this would have ruined the everyman quality of the story. Who we did get was the scrappy Michael Biehn, one of the best actors that also does action in motion picture history. He was Corporal Hicks in Aliens, the father of the savior of humanity in the first Terminator, and survived starring in a movie with Charlie Sheen in Navy Seals. This was at a time before Liam Neeson showed us that literally anybody, at any age could become an action movie star.
A Rare VHS Find
Time Bomb was like a really great TV movie by today’s standards. The youth of today will never understand the struggle we movie goers went through to get our action on back in the day. These movies never got widespread theatrical release, and if it did make it to theaters, we would up at a midnight show on the seedier side of town. We were at the mercy of small video stores that couldn’t afford to carry it or large chains that refused to do so. Before the internet came on line, movies like this were spread but word of mouth and the borrowing of VHS tapes that sold for $79.95. Today, we get to rediscover movies like this thanks to the magic of the internet and recommendations of lovers of all things physical that get punched, kicked or shot.
This author wishes to maintain his secret identity goes by the name of his favorite comic book hero Iron Fist. When he’s not collecting comics from his childhood, watching action movies or raising his three kids, he works a a police officer, trains Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, Kali and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Needless to say, he takes poor martial arts or sloppy gun handling skills personally. And he lives and trains in Chicago.
Animated Action Packs A Punch in Street Fighter II (1994)
By the early 1990’s, arcades were in a massive decline. Once the haunt of choice for the video game obsessed amongst us, their lure gradually diminished owing to the rise in popularity in home consoles. Why spend your precious quarters in a nasty old arcade, when you can sit at home and game in the comfort of your own home?
But then, in 1991, Capcom released a game that would change all that. Gamers hurried back to the arcades in their droves to bear witness to a game that simply had to be seen to be believed. That game was Street FighterII. Featuring a colourful and diverse cast of characters, stunning global locations, a thumping soundtrack, and intense fighting action, the game was a massive success. From that point on, it was impossible to walk past an arcade without hearing shouts of “Hadoken” or “Sonic Boom” emanating from the machines within.
With a sure-fire money maker like this, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood came calling, and they did in 1994 with their Jean-Claude Van Damme led take on the series. Before this exploded into cinemas, Japan launched their own cinematic take on the franchise: Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.
Video Game to Video Cassette
Of all the different types of video games to attempt to adapt to movies, fighting games may be the most difficult. They’re low on story, and the majority of them lack a central character. Even if they do, that character may be far from your favourite. Sure, Ryu may be the Street Fighter brand’s flagship character, but Guile has always been my character of choice whenever a controller was thrust into my hands. Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie handles this problem quite well.
As the game itself had no real story to speak of, neither does the movie. The threadbare plot of Bison seeking to track down the world’s greatest fighters and brainwash them to become assassins for his terrorist Shadaloo organisation, is simply a means to an end to justify pairing characters up for some incredible fight scenes. The issue of having a primary character is solved by utilising five of the series top characters in starring roles. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile and M. Bison run the show here.
Fear not though, as every Street Fighter II character gets a look in in this movie, including the four newer characters introduced in the Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers game, and all of them get their own kick ass fight scene. Except for T. Hawk. He straight up gets his ass handed to him, but that’s okay because nobody likes that character anyway. Nobody.
All the Trademark Moves
Though the video game series relied heavily on special moves, they’re notably absent for the most part here. Sure, Ryu will throw a fireball and Ken will let loose with a Dragon Punch, but they’re used quite sparingly in the movie. Unlike the majority of action anime, a heavy dose of reality can be found in all of the fights throughout the movie.
Punches and kicks all look to carry some serious weight, and the movie does not shy away from showing us what happens when a particularly nasty one connects. Noses are pulped and teeth are sent flying. Such brutal fights can be attributed to the movie’s producers hiring K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii and the late, great fighter Andy Hug to choreograph all of the fight scenes. Their experience shows and lend the fights a much needed sense of realism in a movie that is otherwise completely off the wall.
Kudos must go to the animators too for capturing the likenesses and fighting styles of the characters so well. Long time fans will easily recognise and chuckle to see many of the characters’ trademark moves, from Zangief’s Spinning Piledriver,Blanka’s Electric Thunder, to T-Hawk lying unconscious on the ground after having the snot beaten out of him. Precious memories.
Epic Fight Scenes
The movie is loaded with epic fight scenes (Ryu vs. Sagat, Ryu vs. Fei Long, Zangief vs. Blanka, T. Hawk vs. gravity), but the best and most brutal by far is the epic confrontation between Chun-Li and Vega. An ominous mood is set just before the fight begins, with Vega creeping through Chun-Li’s apartment while she has her now infamous and much celebrated shower scene. I’m sure many men of a certain age will look back on this scene with fond memories.
Once the fight begins, it is a hectic affair. Vega springs from the ceiling, with Chun-Li rapidly backing away. The fact that the fight takes place in such a confined setting really adds to the frantic feel. All action takes place in close quarters, leaving Chun-Li with no place to run. For a lot of the showdown, she is literally fighting with her back to the wall. This close proximity causes both fighters to use some of their character specific moves from the game, a fact that will delight long-time gamers and go over the heads of pretty much everyone else.
Vega climbs to a higher vantage point, looking for an opportunity to strike, just like he does in the games, while Chun-Li uses the walls to propel herself towards her would-be attacker. It’s fast, it’s frantic, and it’s pure Street Fighter. It must be said that the music plays a major part in this fight scene and is almost a character in itself. The use of the song “Ultra” by German group KMFDM is an exceptionally hard-hitting piece of music and perfectly matches the relentlessness of the serpentine Vega as he closes in on his prey. Watching Chun-Li fend off Vega, her vision blurring owing to blood loss, while Guile and his ridiculous haircut tear up the New York City streets in his souped-up muscle car in a desperate attempt to come to her rescue will have any viewer on the edge of their seats. Truly fantastic filmmaking.
The Sound of Violence
Indeed, the whole musical score for the entire movie is most excellent. It is a soundtrack very much inspired by the grunge scene of the time, so bands like Korn, Silverchair and Alice in Chains all feature heavily on the soundtrack. Watching Ken weave his red convertible in and out of traffic while Them Bones plays in the background is like being Hurricane Kicked a quarter century into the past. Man, I miss the 90s. The choice of music is so important to this movie and really helps in creating the perfect mood for each scene. I hate to go back to talking about the Chun-Li vs. Vega fight again (that’s a lie, I could wax lyrical about that epic showdown all the doo-dah day), but it is a prime example of how the music adds to the aggressive tone of the movie. This is quite easy to prove. Two different versions of the movie exist; a Japanese version and a Western version.
The Japanese soundtrack is filled with more dulcet J-Pop tracks, which give a totally different vibe to the movie. The aforementioned Chun-Li/Vega fight comes across as perhaps more creepy and unsettling in the Japanese version, whilst the Western version just screams out and out carnage. Watching Vega bear down on Chun-Li while the singer shrieks “Give it to me!” is an intense experience. Your mileage may vary, but I much prefer the edition we got here in the west. Beyond the soundtrack, the voice acting is pretty standard fare, with all characters sounding pretty much as you’d expect them to.
I’m no anime purist, so the English voices suited me just fine. This being a 90’s anime, you’ll recognise the voices from a ton of other anime fare, the pool of utilized voice actors utilized being quite small at the time. They all do a bang-up job though. And Breaking Bad’s very own Bryan Cranston voices Fei-Long! How cool is that!? It’s a little-known fact that he did voicework for shows like Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers back in the 90’s, and he adds a real gravitas to Fei-Long here.
Compared to the Live Action Version
And so comes the time when the question must be asked, is this animated classic better than Van Damme’s live action version? It’s really not fair to compare the two, as they’re both very different movies. This anime is a hard-hitting action movie, while Van Damme’s outing is a far more family friendly affair.
Overall though, I’m gonna have to award the victory to Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. It does a better job in handling the source material, does justice to all your favourite street fighters, has epic fight scenes and a rocking soundtrack. At least we can all agree that both these movies are miles better than the ultimate guilty pleasure that is Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Let us all find common ground and take solace in that.
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie certainly left more of a mark on the Street Fighter games that followed it though than wither of the other two movies. The Street Fighter Alpha games, the pinnacle of the series as far as I’m concerned, were heavily influenced by this movie. The origin of Ryu’s red headband (a headband second only to that of John Rambo) is introduced here and became canon for how he acquired it in the games also. The bulkier and more menacing design of Bison made its way into the games also, as did the film’s epic final confrontation with Ryu and Ken teaming up against the evil dictator. Renamed Dramatic Battle for the games, it is incredible fun to team up with a buddy and Dragon Punch your way to victory.
An Ultimate Action Anime
All in all, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is a solid gold classic. It’s certainly dated by today’s animation standards, but I feel that this adds to its charm. The animation and the soundtrack make this an unapologetically 90’s experience, and that’s no bad thing. I owe a lot to this movie. It was the first adult anime I ever saw, and it showed me that I did not have to leave animation behind as I grew older, rather, the animations I watched could become more adult and mature as I did too.
This movie was a gateway to anime for me, and led me to such classics as Ghost in the Shell and Katanagatari, and I’ll be forever grateful to it for that. From the moment Ryu throws his first fireball before the opening credits have finished rolling, you’ll have the feeling that what you’re about to watch is special indeed.
When the chills hit you when you see Bison stalking through his base, flanked by Vega, Sagat and Balrog a scant few minutes later, this premonition will be confirmed. If nothing else though, it’s 100 odd minutes of ass kicking entertainment that anyone, gamer or otherwise can enjoy. Unless you’re a T. Hawk fan.
A childhood spent watching Jean-Claude Van Damme kick people in the face led to Dan Shanahan becoming the well-adjusted human being and all-around nice guy he is today. Having spent the majority of his twenties kicking ass, taking names, but mostly teaching English in Japan, he now resides in his native Ireland. He lives in constant fear that a team of ninjas may have followed him home and now secretly share his house with him.
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Excessive Force is a fun little direct to video actioner from 1993 starring Mr. Terry Silver himself, Thomas Ian Griffith, as an asskicking, mullet rocking, jazz playing badass cop taking down mobsters in Chicago. The movie was intended to make Griffith the new action hero of the 90s. And that was no easy feat. The 90s were literally drowning in a sea of new movies starring guys who were being hyped up to be the “New Big Action Hero”. Jeff Speakman. Gary Daniels. David Bradley. Jeff Wincott. Sasha Mitchell (Yes, even Cody from Step by Step). So many potential new action stars. But Griffith was different. See, the difference between Griffith and a lot of those guys was… he could actually act. He wasn’t Pacino/De Niro quality, but he was a hell of a lot better than his competition, including the main martial arts action guys of the 90s, Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal.
He was also a decent writer, having not only penned this movie, but also co-wrote the story of the movie Ulterior Motives (which he also starred in) and my favorite Lorenzo Lamas movie (yes, I like Lorenzo Lamas movies…), Night of the Warrior. And with a supporting cast like the great Lance Henriksen, Tony Todd, Burt Young, and James Earl Jones, this movie had all the ingredients in place to make it a sure fire classic. But did it work? Let’s find out…
“You have the right to remain silent… permanently.”
Griffith plays Terry McCain, an angry cop/jazz musician/Kickboxer with a chip on his shoulder and a supermodel girlfriend (played by Charlotte Lewis). After an impromptu drug bust, he feels he has enough to take down his arch nemesis, vicious crime boss DiMarco (Burt Young). But the case is thrown out due to his use of excessive force (roll credits) on a witness. Also, after $3 million goes missing from the bust, DiMarco believes Terry and his partners stole it, so he starts taking them out one by one. Now, only Terry is left to stop the bloodshed, but there may be more going on behind the scenes…
Excessive Force goes for more of a stylish, gritty crime drama tone that is reminiscent of Seagal’s Out for Justice and Chuck Norris’s Code of Silence (minus the robot at the end, of course) than the more over the top nature of a lot of 90s action movies that featured a kickboxing protagonist. And it works really well for this particular story. Plus, as he showed in Night of the Warrior, Griffith was pretty good at creating an urban film noir with a Kickboxer for a hero. He also creates a genuine air of mystery, and with a twist coming late in the movie that you don’t really see coming.
The cast is truly the best thing about the movie. Griffith gives a forceful performance that really carries the movie. If it had starred any other person, I don’t believe it would have worked as well as it did. He is supported extremely well by his castmates. Henriksen can play roles like this in his sleep, but he still gives 100% to the proceedings. Todd is great as one of Griffith’s partners, and Young and Jones really give the movie a touch of class. Just so many things in place to make this a bonafide action classic. There was just one thing missing: Livelier Fight Scenes.
“Die with a little dignity!”
While director Jon Hess works wonders with the dramatic scenes, he fails to bring any real flair to the fisticuffs, giving the button mashing style fight choreography zero life whatsoever. Griffith is very impressive physically, especially for a guy his size. But he seems to do the same sequence of moves every time, and Hess just doesn’t find a creative way to make them look like anything other than average.
See, at that time, limited move sets weren’t necessarily a bad thing. You could say Van Damme was limited, but at least his directors brought some oomph to his fight scenes. Here, it’s just: Front Kick, Roundhouse, Spinning Back Kick, Repeat. And it’s shot in such a workmanlike manner. There’s a scene where he’s kicking the crap out of a hit man dressed as a delivery guy. And it’s literally the guy just standing there as Griffith kicks him. Was there no better way to shoot that? Maybe a few different angles on the kicks, with a couple of tight edits to add a little weight to each blow, and some slow motion for good measure? I can understand if they were pressed for time, this being a low budget production whatnot, but lord! And the sound effects are too soft. The punches and kicks sound like couch cushions being hit by wiffle bats half the time. When I watch a movie like this, I want the blows to sound like cannons going off, you know?
The shootouts fare a little better. The opening sequence has a few good movements to go along with the bullet slinging. And some double fisted gunfire to boot. Somebody was watching John Woo movies. There’s also a shootout in a garage that’s pretty cool, especially a really badass moment where Griffith jumps up onto a pole and hangs there while shooting at a car passing below. I like stuff like that. And a confrontation at a farmhouse late in the movie works really well. There’s some good stuff in here.
“Finally, the punishment fits the crime…”
All in all, I enjoyed this. But it is somewhat of a shame that it wasn’t the vehicle that was the one to take Thomas Ian Griffith to the next level of action stardom. He really could’ve been one of the top guys of 90s action, in my opinion. And while Hess’s direction is serviceable and stylish enough, he could’ve done more to make the beat downs look a bit more visually exciting. Maybe if someone like a Andrew Davis or a James Glickenhaus were directing, this would’ve worked a lot better. But I like it as is.
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