Crisis (1997)

 

Crisis (1997)- * *1\2

 Directed by: Jalal Merhi

 Starring: David Bradley, Tony Milne, Cameron Michell Jr.,  Thorsten Nickel, and Pavlo

"The shoe salesman is on the loose!" - Random Baddie

An idealistic young man named Tony (Milne) is part of a group named Greenworld (occasionally called Greenworld 2000). They're kind of like hippies, but because it was the 90's, they wear plaid flannel shirts. They decide to target Dr. Tom Ross (Mitchell Jr.) They want him to use something called Toxin Retardants. Or maybe they desperately want him to NOT use Toxin Retardants. It's never made completely clear. So the merry band of do-gooders invade Ross's house to get what they want. This doesn't put them in the most sympathetic light.




Things go from bad to worse when a terrorist named Simon (Nickel), his Evan Lurie-esque henchman Snake (Pavlo), and some other baddies take control of things in the Ross household, holding Ross, his wife, daughter, and maid hostage. They want missiles (prounounced in the Evil dialect: MisSYLes). Thankfully for the Ross clan, and Tony, Tony's brother Alex (Bradley) came along on this mission. He goes under the cover of being a shoe salesman, but he's actually a bagman for the mafia. At one point he describes himself as a "cleaner". Despite his job title, Alex must snap into action, stop the terrorists, save the Greenworlders, and the Ross family. Can he do it? Or will there be some sort of CRISIS?

When the first credit onscreen for any movie you decide to watch is: "Jalal Merhi Presents", you can do one of two things. You can either run screaming from the room, flapping your arms wildly, vowing to never enter that room in your house again because the "bad thing" in the room gave you PTSD from the last time you saw it. Or, you could roll with the punches and see what silliness and stupidity is on offer and take a slightly more relaxed approach. Thankfully, we opted for the latter in the case of Crisis. And yes, it's VERY dumb, but it's so darned stupid that you can't really hate it. It's like a not-very-intelligent puppy that follows you home.


It's yet another home invasion movie. They must keep churning these things out because they're inexpensive to produce. Even up to today, as in The Gardener (2021), baddies are still invadin' homes like there's no tomorrow. What keeps Crisis afloat are the constant hilarious line readings - just the way people talk in this film is really funny. There are tons of face-palmingly stupid situations and you just have to laugh. Probably to keep from crying.



We get some nice 1997 phones, TVs, and computers. The score by action-film mainstay Varouje has some pleasantly jazzy moments. At the outset of all this, there are some exterior, possibly stock shots of New York City, including the Twin Towers, so we're led to believe the story takes place there. Then we're treated to cars with Saskatchewan license plates, emergency workers with jackets that read "Saskatoon EMTs", outside the house is a vast, snowy expanse that decidedly does not look like NYC, and there's even a box in the house that simply reads "Saskatoon". If the filmmakers were trying to hide the fact that they were in Saskatoon, they didn't do the best job.


Perhaps distracting from all this is the presence of one Thorsten Nickel as Simon, the lead terrorist baddie. Maybe after the original Die Hard (1988) was such a success, it was written somewhere that every action movie must contain an evildoer with a thick accent, preferably German. Thorsten Nickel could be the new Werner Hoetzinger. And we don't use that phrase lightly. Maybe Christoph Kluppel wasn't available. In any case, he makes his own presence known. There's no counterfeiting THIS Nickel.


And all of this is before we get to David Bradley. He spends a lot of the film tied up to a weight set in the basement. He also doesn't do a ton of Martial Arts. He's disrespected further when, in the end credits under fight choreography, his name is spelled incorrectly ("Bradly"). Bradley does what he can in the face of all this, but he's faced with a tide of low-budget silliness that's easy to get washed away in.



The whole thing is 80 minutes pre-end credits. It COULDN'T have been longer. There's only so much of this stuff anyone can take. We're only human. (Well, maybe Thorsten Nickel isn't, but that's another story for another day). Adding insult to injury, the Platinum Disc DVD promises a quiz as a special feature. We were looking forward to testing our knowledge about weak-looking muzzle flashes, maids that look like Rosanna Arquette, or typing your computer password into Microsoft Word. Alas, there is no quiz. They out-and-out lied. Don't promise a Crisis quiz if you can't deliver.



Okay, now I'm so mad I can't continue. I can't do this anymore (walks out of room and slams door).

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, DTVC!

Kick Of Death (1997)

 

Kick Of Death (1997)- * *

Directed by: David Avellone

Starring: Michael Guerin, Rodigo Obregon, Melissa Allen, TJ Storm, Vernon Wells, and David Heavener

Shane McQuade (Guerin) is an underground Punchfighter/Martial Artist who is dominating the Hong Kong fight scene. When some baddies, apparently led by a Mr. Lee, begin to, let's just say, make life more difficult for the Shanester in HK, he flees to Las Vegas to try to start anew. But his same old woes keep popping back up: he unwisely accepts a ride through the Nevada desert from a shady character named Vinnie Vasta (Obregon), but then Shane assumes his identity when he starts work as a bouncer at a strip club. Romance is in the air with one of the strippers, Angelique (Allen)...or is it? When Angelique is kidnapped, Shane is forced to fight the reigning evil baddie on the scene, Abdul Sabbah (Storm). But will things ever go Shane McQuade's way? And who will deliver the ultimate KICK OF DEATH?



Is this an apartment in a bad neighborhood? Because it sure is LOW RENT. According to Imdb, Kick of Death was shot in 13 days on a budget of $15,000. My response to those numbers: That much? It looks like less. Now, JUST because something is low budget doesn't mean the end product has to be junky. In this case, however, it pretty much is. There are the usual picture quality (some scenes in total blackness) and sound (blurry and muffled) issues, but the main problem is that you just don't care much about any of the characters or what they're doing.



You don't hate Shane McQuade or anything, but you don't love him either. He's like a neutral hero. David Heavener (who also gets a story credit) appears briefly in the beginning as Alderton, a man with blonde hair and an Australian (?) accent. Then there's the other fan favorite here, a real Aussie, Vernon G. Wells. Both guys have glorified cameos, as this, for better or worse, is the Shane McQuade story.

The main baddie is played by TJ Storm, from The Ultimate Game (2001) and many other fight-based outings. Here, he is credited as simply "Storm". He also took credit for the fight choreography. It's not his best work. Maybe he wasn't so proud of it that he needed the world to know it was by TJ. He probably hoped people would think it was by another Storm. Many, if not most, of the fight scenes are awkwardly and amateurishly done. Perhaps it wasn't his fault, but the movie as a whole isn't entertaining enough for the audience not to notice, or find it funny.


Which then brings us to the sluggish pace of all this. Why did this need to be ninety-FIVE minutes? Bad enough it wasn't an even 90, it should have been 79. But 95 minutes. Okay, if you say so, dude. Maybe director Avallone - who never did anything action-related before or since - was trying to emulate the Roger Corman school of thought that scenes of people driving or extended stripping routines make an engaging film for the audience. But at least Corman made 80-minute films. He also tried to keep his top stars in the film for more than just a few brief minutes.


Maybe we're being a bit too harsh on Kick of Death. But even with its meager resources, certain aspects could have been improved. We have seen worse, after all. But bargain-basement productions like this will not appeal to most people. Only die-hards who can't resist a title like "Kick of Death" will actually watch Kick of Death.


Not to be confused with Kick or Die (1987), Kick of Death features the introspective end-credits song, "Your World Will Change" by Darryl Jensen. This should have played at the beginning of the film as Shane McQuade is walking down a dusty old highway, thinking about his life. Then the music changes to heavier, guitar-based metal/rock as Shane fights off wave after wave of baddies (and the punches and kicks actually appear to connect). See, we could have fixed this movie.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Pressure Point (1997)

 

Pressure Point (1997)- * *

Directed by: David Giancola

Starring: Don Mogavero, Larry Linville, Linda Ljoka, Denise Gentile, Mark Keppel, Amanda Reilly, and Steve Railsback 

Sebastian Dellacourt (Mogavero) is a CIA agent that might be on the edge, but it’s kind of hard to tell. After accepting the time-honored “one last job” from his handler Neil Kennedy (Linville), he flies off to Chile to assassinate an ambassador or some such thing. After the job goes awry, Dellacourt, or “Della” as Kennedy refers to him as (maybe it’s not the most masculine nickname in the world, especially if there’s a subconscious comparison to Della Reese) is sent to prison. His terms for getting out: accept “one last job”. Again. Another one last job.

So Dellacourt travels from Wilmington, Delaware to the rural burg of Crittenden, Vermont, in the hopes of taking down a rogue militia masquerading behind a construction company. The head of said militia is the rather droll Arno Taylor (Railsback). While in Crittenden, Dellacourt runs afoul of the local good ole boys and local police officer Samantha Cole (Ljoka) comes to save his bacon. Naturally, sparks fly between them, especially when Sebastian Dellacourt gives his name as “Del Sebastian”. The clever Cole quickly finds him in the crime computers, but the two have to team up to stop Taylor from blowing up a congressional office building in Washington, D.C. Will they do it? Or have the baddies finally found Dellacourt’s PRESSURE POINT?




Pressure Point is from the same people that brought us Radical Jack (2000), and the main claim to fame of both films is that MST3K has mocked and ridiculed them. While Pressure Point may be low budget, and may be a mélange of both silly and face-slappingly stupid in the style that only a DTV movie of this sort can be, at least it got into video stores. There are some genuinely funny moments that were probably unintentional. The main problem, besides the obvious, is that it’s too long. This should not have been 98 minutes. The pacing is well and truly off, because for every “laff” moment, there’s a long stretch where things feel like a chore. The payoff is not exactly equal.

There are some classic clichés on display, such as Linville calling Mogavero “The Best”, and also his utterance of “No More Mistakes”. Movie highlights include the thrilling (?) prison escape and the infamous “dynamite in the microwave” scene. Railsback’s complete character development consists of the fact that he likes apples. His speech about America was pretty sweet, though.

Sebastian Dellacourt also has an inexplicably hot wife named Karen (Gentile), and a nine-year-old daughter named Emma (Reilly). Emma has a stuffed bear named Mr. Paws. Surprisingly, Mr. Paws plays a pretty integral role in the plot. In terms of importance, Mr. Paws’s billing should have been above Don Mogavero.

Mogavero is, let’s just say, an unlikely action star. Typically, they aren’t affectless middle-aged men with thinning hair. It was an interesting choice putting him front and center. There are other side characters worth mentioning, whether it be the annoying Walt (Keppel), or “The Prosecutor” (that’s all she’s billed as), played by Alex Datcher of Passenger 57 and Rage and Honor (both 1992) fame.

Pressure point is like a less-competent Malone (1987). There are also elements of Militia (2000) and Deadly Reckoning (1998) as well (the latter mainly because of the stuffed bear factor). Of course, the specter of Radical Jack is ever-present. Just like in real life.

So, if you’re ready for your brain cells to take a serious beating, enter the singular world of Don Mogavero and Pressure Point. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Shadow Warriors: Assault On Devil's Island (1997)

Shadow Warriors: Assault On Devil's Island (1997)- * * *

Directed by: Jon Cassar

Starring: Hulk Hogan, Shannon Tweed, Carl Weathers, Billy Drago, Martin Kove, Trevor Goddard, and Billy Blanks 

While it may be a bit confusing as to which of the two Shadow Warriors telefilms came first, we're reasonably confident that this is the first appearance of the team consisting of Mike McBride (Hulk), Roy Brown (Weathers), Hunter Wiley (Tweed), and Andy Powers (Kove). The follow-up, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Death Mountain (1999), came two years after this one.

In this initial installment of the two-movie series, our heroes are tasked with bringing down the evil drug lord Carlos Gallindo (Drago), and his goons Fraker (Goddard) and Creagan (Blanks). While they're doing that, they have to rescue the kidnapped American Gymnastics team, who is imprisoned in a cage in a room that's slowly filling with water. Will the Shadow Warriors - a team of friendly mercenaries tasked with missions like this one - save the day once again? Or is it the first time? You're gonna have to tune in if you want to find out...

Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island is very, very similar to the other movie in the series. If you've seen that one, and you happened to enjoy it, you will find more of the same here. For those unfamiliar with these TV films, they are quite lightweight despite the fact that there are fights, guard tower falls, blow-ups and shootings. Somewhere along the way there's a very silly exploding helicopter.

If it was just Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed in an R-rated film going around and taking out the trash, it would have made all the difference in the world - and, sad but true, it would've been a massive improvement. Sad because the presence of Hulk Hogan as the main character kind of gets in the way. Yes, his hair, facial expressions, high-waisted pants, and line deliveries are absolutely ridiculous, and that does provide some enjoyment. But he should have been more of a background character, like Martin Kove or even Billy Blanks are here.

The fight between Blanks and Hogan is as daffy as everything else on display. Also we should mention that the film opens with Hulk doing some form of yoga on the beach and he's into tarot cards and mysticism. Just like in real life. Blanks went from Balance of Power (1996), where he punched steam, to here, where he punches meat. As we said in our review of the other Shadow Warriors film, thank goodness for Shannon Tweed. The fact that she's here helps a lot. Almost saves things, in fact.

Billy Drago plays - you guessed it - the baddie in his customary manner. His classic head-tilt and slimy manner are here once again. Trevor Goddard is a strong presence as his muscle. Billy Blanks should have had more to do overall.

Because a gymnastics team is kidnapped, it may remind you of Blast (1997). Because of certain plot points involving Billy Drago, it may remind you of Delta Force 2 (1990). Combine that with the fact that this is a telefilm meant to air after episodes of wrestling on TNT, and there you have it.

Concluding with our heroes walking towards the camera in slow motion and looking quite serious, are we to conclude that we should take all this goofiness seriously? That may be one of the great mysteries of life, along with which Shadow Warriors entry is which. Action fans seeking something dark, gritty, and adult are advised to look elsewhere, but if you've got a taste for the silly, and you've got nothing better to watch, there's always the duo of Shadow Warriors films.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Back In Business (1997)

 

Back In Business (1997)- * * *

Directed by: Phillippe Mora

Starring: Brian Bosworth, Joe Torry, Dara Tomanovich, Maggie Egan, Guy Torry, Alan Scarfe, Wynn Irwin, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Brion James

Joe Elkhart (Boz) is just a humble car mechanic in L.A. who is a regular caller to the radio talk show of psychologist Dr. Sonia Brody (Egan). He's trying to get over the feelings of anger and aggression he feels after being a good police officer who was kicked off the force after trying to expose some dirty cops. This leads him to re-connect with his old partner Tony Dunbar (Torry), and the current cop and the ex-cop try to catch the evil drug lord David Ashby (Scarfe). Pretty soon, the FBI is involved with them, and Elkhart is involved with fellow therapy maven Natalie Walker (Tomanovich). It all comes to a head with the final showdown between our heroes and the evil Emery Ryker (James). Will Elkhart and Dunbar be BACK IN BUSINESS? Or will they be out of business?




To quote the back of the VHS box, "Named NATO 'Action Star of Tomorrow' for his high-octane performance in Stone Cold, Brian 'The Boz' Bosworth is back in business as maverick ex-cop Joe Elkhart." We didn't know NATO was in the business of naming action stars anything, but apparently they are. Finally, some tax dollars well spent. In Germany, this movie was called Stone Cold II: Heart of Stone - which is an interesting factoid, but really this has less to do with the classic Stone Cold, and more to do with buddy cop action/comedies wrought by 48 Hours (1982) and Lethal Weapon (1987).

The movie is filled with the non-stop banter between Bosworth, who plays a more vulnerable type this time around - you could best call him a lovable lunkhead - and the Chris Tucker/Eddie Griffin stylings of Joe Torry. Don't confuse him with his brother Guy Torry, who makes a splash at the beginning of the film.

There's a lot of silly humor amongst the shootings and blow-ups, and the radio talk show angle was a bit different. The film was made during the height of popularity of shows like Dr. Laura, so why not have Brian Bosworth be a caller on her radio show? It's an interesting combination. The whole sequence at the car auction where Joe Torry dresses up like an Arab Sheik may be a comedic movie highlight, but you know there's going to be some chases or shootouts just around the corner.

Let's face it, this isn't as good as Back in Action (1994), with Billy Blanks and Roddy Piper. You could easily mistake the two. Well, at least the titles. One of the recurring themes on the soundtrack is a drum solo that sounds like the beginning of Hot For Teacher. We were just waiting for The Boz to say, "I've got my pencil..." While the movie has blink-and-you'll-miss-them appearances from Michael Clarke Duncan and fan favorite Wynn Irwin, clearly the boo-hiss baddie is Brion James this time around, and he does it well.



Director Philippe Mora was last heard from on this site as the director of Death of a Soldier (1986), with Reb Brown. He's probably best known for directing 80's horror movies such as The Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (1985) and The Beast Within (1982). He keeps things moving, and while there are a couple of slow moments towards the beginning (the basketball sequence goes on too long), things pick up considerably soon enough.


Sure, it has plenty of the "Stupid" moments we've come to love, or at least expect, but since when is that a problem? It's part of what keeps Back in Business afloat. Apparently it wasn't successful enough overall (despite its tenuous Stone Cold connection) to warrant a series of sequels with EPMD-esque titles.


Fans of The Boz (aren't we all?) and of the buddy cop genre will likely warm to Back in Business.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, The Video Vacuum! 

Body Armor (1997)

 

Body Armor (1997)- * * *

AKA: Conway

Directed by: Jack Gill

Starring: Matt McColm, John Rhys-Davies, Morgan Brittany, Shauna O'Brien, Michael Paul Chan, Annabel Schofield, Carol Alt, Clint Howard, and Ron Perlman

Ken Conway (McColm) is The Best. What is he the best at, you ask? Apparently, Conway is a highly-trained professional toughguy, a sort of likable soldier of fortune, and if you have the money, you can hire him to protect you, beat people up, shoot them, or whatever you may want. Tiring of his latest assignment, protecting a bad guy named Rasheed (Rhys-Davies), Conway decides to do something more positive with his life and his skills. His accountant/sidekick 'Hutch' Hutcherson (Howard) wants him to help guard a Red Cross convoy in Sri Lanka, but Conway demurs, saying he "doesn't know what diseases he'll get". Conway doesn't realize how prescient his words are, as he then quickly goes on the case of a missing scientist, which leads to a sinister virologist named Ramsey Krago (Perlman).

Ostensibly, Krago and his partner Sloane Matthews (Brittany) are looking into the cure for a deadly, Ebola-like new disease inexplicably named Ferris. But something evil is going on, and Conway is going to find out what it is. But time is of the essence, because Conway becomes infected with Ferris and only has 48 hours to live. Joined on his mission by old flame Marisa (Schofield) and Agent Monica McBride (Alt), CONWAY is going to have to act quickly or the evil Krago will get away. Can he do it?

Body Armor is comic-booky good fun. It features exaggerated, larger-than-life heroes and villains, and the women that accompany them. If you're looking for something realistic and gritty, this isn't it. Similar to what The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) is to the Sci-Fi genre, Body Armor is comparable to that in the realm of low-budget action. It's all done with a rather silly sense of humor. Clint Howard is the comic relief character, but a vein of humor goes throughout the whole film, including during some of the fight scenes. Of course, Howard and McColm are the Original Odd Couple. One of them looks a lot like Ben Affleck, and the other...doesn't.

The director, Jack Gill, has mainly worked in the field of stunts for his whole career, and Body Armor is nothing if not a stunt-fest. That would make sense, as it's Gill's only directorial credit to date. He pulls out the stops in that department, as you would think he would, as it's what he knows best. Besides the high-quality stunt work, Body Armor also has a noteworthy cast. 

Besides the aforementioned Howard and McColm, we also have Carol Alt, star of one of our favorites, Crackerjack 2 AKA Hostage Train (1997). With Body Armor, you really get the Alt you want. As much as we love it, in Crackerjack 2 she's a hostage of the baddies. Here, she gets in on the action and continually shoots people throughout the film. Finally, Carol Alt shooting people! It's what we've always wanted to see. Annabel Schofield and Shauna O'Brien provide even more backup in the beautiful woman department. John Rhys-Davies and Michael Paul Chan provide small but memorable supporting roles, and Ron Perlman and Morgan Brittany are an amusing team of baddies. As good as Perlman was in the role, it's also the type of thing Ron Silver excelled at during that time period.

As an antagonist named Krago - which is sort of hard to take seriously because other characters pronounce it like 'Eggo', but then again that was probably on purpose because of the goofy tone of the film - he has virologist goons. That's right, virologist goons. Even though, to the public at least, he is a venerable, white-coated doctor, when Conway starts going after him, he sends his goons to beat/kill him. You don't see that every day. 

Naturally, lots and lots of stunt people worked on the film, notably Kane Hodder and a guy named Mike Justus. Could he have been the inspiration behind the man of the same name from Street Corner Justice (1996)? We may never know, but it is comforting to know that there is a real guy out there named Mike Justus.

Before its final release on A-Pix VHS as Body Armor, the film was known variously as The Protector, Krago's Island, and simply Conway. We can see why they went with Body Armor, as there are a lot of other movies called The Protector, and you really don't want to mess with Ed Marinaro. Krago's Island was bound to be confused with The Secret of King Mahi's Island (1988) and/or McCinsey's Island (1998) - plus that's not a very accurate title to begin with. Conway is a bit plain and doesn't exactly scream "stunt-filled action!", so ultimately they went with the best choice.

While the tone is a bit goofball, and the pacing could perhaps have been a bit more ironed-out, the action, stunts, and lovable B-Movie cast raise Body Armor above many of its competitors.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

TNT (1997)

 

TNT (1997)- * *

Directed by: Robert Radler

Starring: Olivier Gruner, Randy Travis, Rebecca Staab, Bre Blair, Ken Olandt, Kane Hodder, Simon Rhee, Sam Jones, and Eric Roberts

Alex Cheval (Gruner) is a member of TNT, or the Tactical Neutralization Squad. They're a group of Iraq War vets who are sent around the world to deal with sensitive issues that require them to beat up and shoot people. When one of the ops goes horribly wrong, Alex walks away from the group. Now known as an average guy named Mark, he gets a job as an aerobics instructor in a small town in Colorado. He's buddies with the local sheriff, Jim (Travis), and is in a relationship with Jamie (Staab), who has a daughter from a previous marriage (Blair).

Unfortunately for Alex/Mark, his new, idyllic life is about to be shattered. His former compatriots in TNT now work for an evil mastermind named Robert Victor Russo (Roberts), and because Russo doesn't want any loose ends, he turns loose the former TNT boys on Alex. Alex is then put in the position where he has to take on his former comrades-in-arms, highly-trained elite soldiers who want him dead at all costs. They include, but are not limited to, Greel (Jones), Basu (Olandt), and Choi (Rhee). Will Alex Cheval be able to protect his new family and his new life from the assailants formerly known as TNT?

From looking at the cover for TNT, which features a solo, shirtless Gruner, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a Punchfighter. Surprisingly, it's actually not. It's more your standard 90's DTV actioner that starts off like one of those boring "war slog" movies, but transitions to a better scenario where the baddies are trying to get Gruner as he lives his suburban life. 

Sure, there's a certain moment that's highly reminiscent of The Specialist (1994), but there's one thing TNT has that The Specialist does not have: Randy Travis. It was an inspired casting choice, and his speaking voice is as comforting and soothing as his singing voice. Because TNT features a very Radical Jack-esque barfight, we're graced with the presence of a country singer, and it features a former elite soldier trying to start a new life in suburbia, not to mention the similar overall feel, it was hard not to make comparisons to 'Jack.

The barfight takes place at an establishment classily named Bullwinkle's. The daughter character in the movie mentions how they have a rockin' jukebox. One of the toughs Gruner beats up is Kane Hodder, who gets to show off a bit of humor, which is rare to see from him. On top of Bullwinkle's, the name of the gym where Alex works is The Penitentiary. So obviously the business owners in that particular small town have good senses of humor.

While there are plenty of B-Movie names on display, we wouldn't classify this as "Lone Tiger Effect" because TNT isn't bad, it's just a bit too bland for its own good. Eric Roberts, sporting a stylish beard, is just another cast member along with the rest. He doesn't get any particular time in the sun here.

Director Radler, known for Best of the Best (1989), Best of the Best II (1993), Showdown (1993), and The Substitute: Failure Is Not an Option (2001), delivers enough of the action goods so that TNT would find itself on video store shelves and in the cable listings. It doesn't exactly go "above and beyond the call of duty" to entertain us, but it does the minimum and features some of the silly moments we all love.



In the end, TNT is okay, all right, and fine, but it needed a bit more oomph to really make itself stand out from the pack.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, DTVC and The Video Vacuum!

Operation Delta Force (1997)

Operation Delta Force (1997)- * *

Directed by: Sam Firstenberg

Starring: Jeff Fahey, Ernie Hudson, Frank Zagarino, Joe Lara, Natasha Sutherland, and Hal Holbrook

When some evil terrorist baddies led by Johan Nash (Lara) break into a South African research facility and steal vials of both an ebola-like virus and the "anti-serum", there's only one thing to do. Call the Delta Force, of course. Soon, Captain Lang (Fahey), McKinney (Zagarino), Junger (Sutherland), and Maj. Tipton (Hudson) are unleashed to take down Nash and his underlings. Admiral Henshaw (Holbrook) is at the command center to keep an eye on the situation. 

Although the typical Washington empty suits are bickering about what to do, the Delta Force continues on with their mission - until a development occurs that threatens the whole thing. Will OPERATION DELTA FORCE succeed, or will Johan Nash's evil ponytail rule us all? Dare you find out...?

We don't know how or why, but Nu Image continually - almost stubbornly - keeps churning out these run-of-the-mill actioners. It all feels like we've been here countless times before (maybe because we've seen that same train footage in so many other Nu Image movies) but nothing stands out during Operation Delta Force. It's the same-old same-old.


While there is plenty of gun-shooting and good-quality explosions, and it's shot well, somehow a certain spark is missing. A certain je ne sais quoi, if you will. A grounded helicopter blows up, and Joe Lara gets to show off his Afrikaans accent, but somehow that's not enough. 

It does feature some fan favorites, such as Jeff Fahey, Ernie Hudson, Frank Zagarino, and the perpetually-elderly Hal Holbrook. Hudson tries valiantly to inject some sort of energy and presence, but it's tough going. Holbrook is trapped in a Joe-Estevez-in-Money-To-Burn situation where he just looks at screens the whole time. He does tout the new technology of "VidLink", which evidently was like the 1997 version of Skype.


One of the more noteworthy subplots involved Zagarino's character, who, apparently, is a misogynist and doesn't approve of Junger being there because she's a woman. It didn't really go anywhere, but it should have, perhaps in a fight between the two. Interestingly, One of Natasha Sutherland's only other credits was in the Joe Lara TV series Tarzan: The Epic Adventures.


At almost-random intervals, it looks like some older stock footage of planes and such is trotted out. It doesn't even come close to matching the newly-shot stuff for the movie at hand. It seems like at any moment, a graphic is going to come on screen that says: "America's Navy: Join Today!" It didn't exactly liven things up, but it shows we were paying attention.


There are many, many similar films out there that are just like Operation Delta Force. Unfortunately, this is just another one. It's not badly made, but it doesn't engage the audience and there's nothing different, special, unique, or weird about it. It's just sort of there.


It seems like the sort of thing that Cinemax or one of the other pay channels would have shown in the 90's just to fill a bit of airtime, perhaps in the afternoon. Director Firstenberg has done some awesome movies in the past, but let's face it: this is no Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, Cool Target and The Video Vacuum! 

High Voltage (1997)

High Voltage (1997)- * *1\2

Directed by: Isaac Florentine

Starring: Antonio Sabato Jr., Amy Smart, William Zabka, Lochlan Munro, James Lew, George Cheung, Antonio Sabato Sr., Mike Mains, and Shannon Lee

Johnny (Sabato Jr.), Larry (Munro), Molly (Smart), and Sam (Mains) are a bank-robbing gang and they sure do love their guns. Their luck runs out when a particular bank that they rob is a front for the Vietnamese mafia. Now Victor Phan (Cheung) and Harry (Lew), among many other goons, are after them. So is a biker named Bulldog (Zabka). Of course his name is Bulldog. The final showdown occurs at a run-down hotel managed by Carlo (Sabato Sr.) – who will come out on top in this gang war?



In 1998, we were all living in a post-Tarantino, post-John Woo world. Director Isaac Florentine seemingly decided he should try his hand at a mélange of the two directors’ styles, but complete with his own trademark “whoosh” sound effects. Thanks to fight choreographer Koichi Sakamoto and Florentine himself, the fight scenes are well-done and fun to watch. Hence, High Voltage shouldn’t be classified as a Tarantino slog, necessarily, but in the non-action scenes, it gets fairly close.



Yes, there is a lot of inconsequential, post-dubbed dialogue in between the action scenes that viewers probably won’t really care about. But then a, frankly, High Voltage action scene will arrive and things perk up a lot. Thrill’s Antonio Sabato Jr. not only flies sideways while shooting two pistols, he flies frontwards while shooting two pistols as well. There’s plenty of top-notch stuntwork going on and the action setpieces are very enjoyable.



Thankfully, William Zabka screams while shooting a machine gun. The movie overall could have used more Zabka. He sports a very 90’s “grunge” look throughout the film, as it was the 90’s after all (though if memory serves, grunge was fairly well out the window by ’98. That didn’t preclude the inclusion of a song called “Trashgrunge” on the soundtrack, however). 

Also helping things are the presences of fan favorites James Lew, George Cheung, and an uncredited Donald Gibb as a bartender. It was also nice to see Antonio Sabato Sr. join the fray. Interestingly, Amy Smart, as you probably well know, was in Crank: High Voltage (2009). Surely this must mark one of the few, if only, times an actress appeared in an action movie, then, over ten years later, was in another film with the same title (although, granted, it’s a subtitle in the latter case). Still, worthy to point out, I think. 

Featuring a “greatest hits” recap before the credits, not during them as certain Jackie Chan films do, High Voltage has its flaws – pretty much the plot and dialogue department – but makes up for it in the action department. That being said, it was probably one of the best things coming out on video store shelves at the time – the late 90’s/early 2000’s being a notoriously fallow time for quality DTV product. For the action scenes, we say give High Voltage a watch.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)- * * *

Directed by: John R. Leonetti

Starring: Robin Shou, Talisa Soto, James Remar, Deron McBee, Marjean Holden, Litefoot, and Brian Thompson

The good guys, led by Rayden (Remar), have to fight the bad guys, led by Shao Khan (Thompson) before the "merger" of Earth with the baddie lair of The Outworld. That's it. We're not being lazy. That's really it.



Here's a question the filmmakers behind Mortal Kombat: Annihilation must have asked themselves: How do we fashion a 90-minute movie not just out of a beat-em-up video game (because we already did that once before) - but do it again with a sequel? It seems like the answer they came up with was just to feature as many Mortal Kombat characters as they could, and simply by them being there, that would satisfy young people who were already fans of the franchise or simply didn't know any better.

It does seem that the priority here was being true to the game. Maybe they worried that if they didn't include at least brief appearances by all the countless characters that existed by the time Mortal Kombat 3 rolled around, all the 12-year-olds in the audience would revolt or something. So then they just threw a bunch of childish dialogue, plot points, and CGI/green screen silliness at the screen and hoped for the best. 

There are non-stop fights, as you might expect, but it feels like a video game, not so much a movie. It seems like the priority with the casting was to find people who physically resembled the game characters, and then fit them in costumes that followed suit. As our friend Brendan pointed out, it seems like this movie was made by someone who had never made or even seen a movie before, but had existed solely on a diet of video games their whole life.

After getting off to a rocky start, the movie struggles to find its feet, and by the time that happens, you find that the whole outing is just too silly and nonsensical to really hate.

Of course, that hasn't stopped anyone from adding this movie to lists of the worst of all time. Fan favorite actors such as Brian Thompson, Malibu, Robin Shou, and James Remar (who even does some brief Remar-Fu) manage to keep some level of interest, and there does seem to be a kid-friendly message of "believe in yourself!" but the whole outing is very, very ridiculous and is the type of overblown, unnecessary, computer-generated crud that could only have come from the Hollywood system. It seems that that's all they're good for making these days. So, in that sense, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was ahead of its time.

Featuring all your favorite techno hits on the soundtrack, it's hard to imagine exactly who this movie was aimed towards: if you're a fan of the game series, you're bound to be disappointed, and if you're not, and for some reason you just jumped in cold to the movie, you're bound to be confused and irritated. So, for that reason, it must be "the children" that was the target market. So if, in 1997, they could get their eyes off of Power Rangers or BeetleBorgs for a few minutes, they could watch this. 

For everyone else, it might be wise to steer clear. Let’s face it, you don’t go out of your way to watch Mortal Kombat: Annihilation because you’re looking for a Eugene O’Neill-level of drama. You do it to experience the continuing exploits of Ermac.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Plato's Run (1997)

Plato's Run (1997)- * *

Directed by: James Becket

Starring: Gary Busey, Steven Bauer, Tiani Warden, Maggie Myatt, Jeff Speakman, and Roy Scheider








Plato Smith (Busey), along with his fellow former-Navy SEAL buddies Sam (Bauer) and Dominick (Speakman), are just, to paraphrase both this movie, as well as the song by Ensiferum, “warriors without a war”. That all changes when a mysterious woman named Marta (Warden) enlists Plato and Sam to go to Cuba and extract the son of a powerful crime boss. At first they refuse, of course, but then they decide that the money is too good, especially because Plato’s business is failing and he’s going to be evicted from his house. Since Plato is trying to repair his relationship with his daughter Kathy (Myatt), it seems like a good move.

Of course, the job isn’t as cut-and-dry as it seems, and soon Plato is on the run because he was framed for the murder of said crime boss. Additionally, the REAL power behind the scenes, dastardly arms dealer Alex Senarkian (Scheider) is now testing/using/shipping mines all over the world and even has a mine testing facility at a secret, evil compound. 

Things go from bad to worse when Kathy is kidnapped and Sam and Plato are trapped in the testing facility. With only their wits, and outside help from Dominick, will they be able to escape their doom. Will this be Plato’s last run?

Not to be confused with Hitman’s Run (1999) or Da Vinci’s War (1993), Plato’s Run is not exactly a movie you’d put at the top of your “to watch” list. To be fair, it’s better than Busey’s Warriors (1994), and about on par with the other Busey-Scheider team-up, The Rage (1997). It all starts promisingly enough – the power trio of Busey, Bauer, and Speakman are in a Florida bar and almost apropos of nothing, a very silly barfight ensues. But then it slows down and it all becomes a bit more standard. 

Yes, there are action scenes with shooting, blow-ups, beat-ups and the like. And while the movie is shot well, and it’s all very clear, somehow something is missing. Bauer and Busey had good chemistry together, which was all well and good, but the movie needed more Speakman. Certainly it needed more Speakman Martial Arts. 

The plot is unnecessarily complicated. It should have been the big boss, Senarkian, sending out waves of baddies for our triumvirate of heroes to beat up. Instead, it gets bogged down with other things such as land mines, Busey running around a lot, and plot intrigue. The central baddie of Scheider can’t hold all that together.

Of course, we should have suspected all this because we knew two things going in: It’s a Nu-Image movie from 1997, and the director, James Becket, also made Ulterior Motives (1993). For those who may not remember, that’s the unfortunate Thomas Ian Griffith outing that somehow manages to botch the idea of TIG wielding a samurai sword. But that was Becket’s first movie. He should have picked up a few tricks by the time of Plato’s Run. It seems he did not, which is a shame. 

Despite some well-placed humor, and the fact that the ingredients are all there for a successful DTV actioner, Plato’s Run, if we’re going to be brutally honest, is video store shelf-filler. We’re always looking for titles that rise above that sort of station, but, unfortunately, despite its good points, Plato’s Run doesn’t do that.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, The DTVC and The Video Vacuum!

Blast (1997)

Blast (1997)- * *

Directed by: Albert Pyun

Starring: Linden Ashby, Tim Thomerson, Shannon Elizabeth, Andrew Divoff, and Rutger Hauer

Some terrorist baddies decide to take the swim team hostage at the Atlanta Olympics. Sure. Makes sense. The stereotypical eurotrash baddie this time around is Omodo (Divoff). Needless to say, he has an accent and a team of nefarious helpers, and he’s not afraid to use either one. Foiling their plans is humble janitor Jack Bryant (Ashby). Evidently he was an Olympic Tae Kwon Do champion at some point in the past and he took the janitor job just to be close to the Olympics in some form or fashion. 

While Police Commissioner (that’s all he’s credited as) (Thomerson) is doing his best during this trying hostage situation, seemingly Jack Bryant’s only real help comes in the form of a man named Leo (Hauer), who is wheelchair-bound and has Willie Nelson-esque pigtails. Sure. Makes sense. Will Jack Bryant – who doesn’t exactly give Jack Wild a run for his money – defeat the baddies and save the swim team? Will watching this movie be a total BLAST? Or…not so much? Dare you find out?

Okay, we knew going in that this was an Albert Pyun-directed Die Hard knockoff. Our prospects were looking dim, but we decided to forge ahead anyway – as they say, “expect the worst but pray for the best”. Or something like that. We’d love to say that we were pleasantly surprised, but we simply weren’t. Blast is a dull, bland, uninspired and mediocre run-through of clichés. Pyun seems to have a reverse Midas touch – he always manages to take any material he works with and make it dour and gray.

We’ll try and stay positive. The cast is good, which is one reason we decided to throw (well-deserved) caution to the wind and plunge headlong back into Pyun-land in the first place. We appreciated the presence of fan favorite Divoff, but he’s better in Ballistica. Of course we love Rutger Hauer, but it’s necessarily a sit-down role, and not much of one at that. It’s pretty much the same for Tim Thomerson. Our…hero…Linden Ashby is like Matthew McConaughey but without any personality or life. The swim team girls resemble Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Selma Blair, and Shannon Elizabeth. Upon further inspection, we found that one of them is Shannon Elizabeth. 

The Die-Hard-with-a-janitor scenario was done better with Michael Dudikoff (as most things are) in Virtual Assassin (1995). The problem here is that the baddies wear the same clothing as the staff because they were trying to blend in, so it’s hard to tell who is who during the fight scenes. Said fight scenes could have had much more impact if they were just shot better. Interestingly, John Wick (2014) co-director Chad Stahelski gets a thank you during the credits, so we can only assume anything that makes the fight scenes good are because of him.

Unlike other Pyun movies, things actually happen in this film, and that’s to his credit. Unfortunately, what does happen is pedestrian and colorless. He even manages to muck things up by adding those unnecessary and annoying sounds as transition noises between scenes. Why do some directors think this is necessary? Perhaps the best thing about Blast is the Filmwerks logo, which is a lot like the one from MTV News. Before the movie started, we got excited that Kurt Loder was going to throw it to Tabitha Soren, but, alas, that was not to be. 

Perhaps the more apt title for this movie would have been “Bomb”.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, The DTVC!

Champions (1997)

Champions (1997)- * *

Directed by: Peter Gathings Bunche

Starring: Louis Mandylor, Danny Trejo, Jeff Wolfe, Lee Reherman, George "Buck" Flower, Bobbie Blackford, Kool Keith, and Ken Shamrock

William Rockman (Mandylor) was a professional fighter who decided to become a Martial Arts instructor for children after accidentally killing an opponent in a tragic training accident. When Congress outlaws UFC-style underground fighting (is this supposed to take place in the future?), it morphs into something called “Terminal Combat”, a far deadlier sport (and should have been the title for this movie). When Rockman’s brother Ray Rockman (Wolfe) is killed by reigning Brakus/Tong Po-style super-evil baddie The King (Shamrock), well…you might find this surprising, but William comes out of retirement to get revenge for his fallen brother. It just so happens that unscrupulous Terminal Combat promoter Max Brito (Trejo) is staging the biggest contest yet – a multi-billion dollar fight extravaganza broadcast by satellite. He gets fighters from all over the country, imprisons them in his lair, puts chips in their necks so he can control them, and forces them to fight to the death for amusement and big bucks. But they didn’t count on one thing – the scrappy and tenacious William Rockman. He now has to corral the other remaining, non-dead fighters to break out of prison and save the day. Will their fate be terminal…or will they come out as CHAMPIONS?

Watching Champions is the Punchfighting equivalent of what a doctor must feel like when they are observing a patient fighting for life who is hooked up to an Electrocardiograph machine. There are long stretches of a flatline where the doctor must despair that the patient is dying, but occasionally it will spike up, and excitement must ensue that there is life left in the patient yet. In other words, there are some commendable things about Champions, but the movie is too damn long at 98 minutes. This stretches out the better aspects and unnecessarily makes them fewer and farther between. If it were streamlined and the lead weight taken out, this movie could almost be a minor classic. If it were 80 minutes long, we’d really have a winner here.

Okay, so it was the 90’s, Ken Shamrock is involved, and it’s what you might call the “early days” of UFC. Most of the fight scenes are like live-action versions of the classic video game Pit Fighter, but with sillier pants (or lack thereof - see cover above). Most of the fighters and fans shout “Yeeeaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!” a lot. This must be why these underground Punchfights to the death are so heavily traded on “black market VHS”, and/or why George “Buck” Flower is involved (perhaps they gave him an Irish accent here to distinguish him from Randall “Tex” Cobb).

As far as our hero is concerned, it appears that Louis Mandylor is physically shrinking more and more as the movie goes on. If you compare his height to the other people in the movie, it appears he devolves to Tom Cruise-level proportions as proceedings roll on. He also narrates it, presumably for people who find the story too hard to follow. To add more unnecessary plot, it appears he has a history with “The King”, there’s a love interest between him and fellow fighter Kimberly Pepatone (Blackford, a Paget Brewster lookalike who you might remember from “Force”-ful productions like Total Force and The Silent Force), and a fighter who looks as if David Letterman was younger, and a meathead – who also has a love interest. This guy, who we’ll call David LetterMeat, is played by Lee Reherman – a very similar last name to Letterman. Coincidence?

Danny Trejo is engaging as the promoter Max Brito, although it sounds like other people are either calling him “Lance Ito” (it was the 90’s, after all. Maybe Judge Ito promotes underground fighting on the side. What a thought), or “Max Burrito”, which might be horrendously racist. A good chunk of Trejo’s dialogue consists of him giving an extended maniacal laugh. Speaking of which, the “corrupt politician on the take”, subplot – yet another subplot – was one of the better ones and should have replaced some of the lesser ones. 

Another bit of the storyline, that Pepatone is a fighter who takes out her repressed anger that stems from a prior assault on her opponents, could be a movie in itself. It was another strand that was undeveloped, which in this case might be good because we didn’t want Champions to be over three hours long.

At least the fighters are skilled and enthusiastic, and have their own individual personalities. It’s not a mush of meandering meatheads like in later movies of this sort. It all comes to an entertaining and enjoyable climax, which should have come much earlier, because at that point the viewer’s attention has flagged. The sight of Ken Shamrock dressed in not much more than a red wrestling Speedo while screaming and shooting a machine gun amidst a hail of gunfire, explosions, and guard tower falls is nothing short of awesome, but you have to swim the Sargasso sea to get there.

One of the aspects of Champions that adds a level of interest is the fact that rapper Kool Keith is in a couple of scenes for no conceivable reason. He even has an encounter with a confrontational meathead that has “Jesus Saves” tattooed on his chest. So, all is not lost. In other music news, the end credits has a list of bands involved, but no song titles or other information. The list is as follows: Civil Rite, Mother, Try, Faded, Corporate Dick, and Black Ass ID. Maybe they supposed the band names speak for themselves.

In the end, Champions does indeed have some bright spots and noteworthy aspects, but they’re spread awfully thin over an overly-extended running time. The verdict has to be that we would recommend the movie to Punchfighting fans with a lot of patience.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Behind Enemy Lines (1997)

Behind Enemy Lines (1997)- *

Directed by: Mark Griffiths

Starring: Thomas Ian Griffith, Chris Mulkey, Hillary Matthews, and Mon Confiado







Mike Weston (TIG) is an ex-Marine who just wants to forget the hard times and live it up on his boat in Tahiti with his buddies. Unfortunately, when he discovers that his former partner from his mercenary days, Jones (Mulkey) is being held captive in prison so he can be used as a bargaining chip so a sadistic general can obtain some nuclear triggers, Mike Weston suddenly begins to believe in the awesome power of Mike Weston again. Rousing his washout friends from their sloth, they all undertake the mission of a lifetime: to save their friend and stop the triggers from falling into the wrong hands. Also Weston’s sister Kat (Matthews) and taxi driver Phred (Confiado) are along for the ride. What will happen…BEHIND ENEMY LINES?

Behind Enemy Lines - not to be confused with the 2001 movie with Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman (or the 1987 Cirio Santiago film of the same name) - starts out seeming ALMOST mainstream, but then it quickly slides into a quicksand of repetitive stupidity it can’t pull itself out from. If you’ve ever seen Missing in Action (1984) or P.O.W. The Escape (1986) - interestingly also known as Behind Enemy Lines - this is pretty much more of the same, except it came out in 1997, when things were souring in the DTV world.

Thomas Ian Griffith (who we affectionately call TIG) looks a LOT like Ben Affleck in this movie. I mean, a LOT. It was the 90’s after all, and the ‘fleck was on the rise. The fact that it was the 90’s might also explain why there’s a character named Phred. P-H-R-E-D. He even has a large sign on his taxi proudly proclaiming PHRED is coming. All that being said, The movie is slow and unoriginal, with nary a surprise in sight. The dialogue is so overpoweringly dumb, it feels like it was created by - and aimed for - small children. This is an uneasy mix with shooting and blow-ups in the jungle, not to mention the time-honored Prerequisite Torture. So you can have all the guard tower falls you want, but if the spoken dialogue is basically “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah”, the audience feels insulted and cheated.

Another reason the audience doesn’t get hooked in, and thus interested in the plight of the characters, is that there is seemingly a lot of dead time with characters jawing about stuff we don’t care about. The main baddie should have been clearly defined and ever-present, and the whole outing streamlined with less blah-blah and more rockin’ action scenes. We’re not even going to ASK for character development. We realize that might be a bridge too far.

Naturally, it all ends with yet another final warehouse fight, and then disappears off the screen like the smoke from a blown-out birthday candle. And it leaves just as much of an impact on your eyeballs. Sadly, Behind Enemy Lines is just another movie on a screen. It probably sat and collected dust on video store shelves everywhere back in the 90’s. It adds nothing new to the table except annoyance. We really didn’t like it.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, The Unknown Movies and The Video Vacuum!

The Bad Pack (1997)

The Bad Pack (1997)- *1\2

Directed by: Brent Huff

Starring: Robert Davi, Ralf Moeller, Jeep Swenson, Brent Huff, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Roddy Piper, Larry B. Scott, Shawn Huff, Marshall R. Teague, and Vernon G. Wells










In the dusty border town of Los Robles, Texas, an evil white supremacist group led by Lamont Sperry (Teague) and his loyal henchman Sven (Ole-Thorsen) set up shop. I guess if you hate Mexican people, you go to the source, right? 

Well, two brothers decide the only way the destitute community can rid themselves of the baddies is by checking the ads in the back of Soldier of Fortune magazine, and hiring some mercenaries to kill them all. They take a train to L.A. and meet with a man named Biker (Wells), but he refuses their offer. Eventually they find the right man for the job: a one-man fighting force named McQue (Davi). What follows is classic “Assembling a Team” as McQue goes and finds people with special, individualized skills for the mission: Dash Simms (Piper) is the driver, Remi Sykes (Shawn Huff) is the sniper assassin, Kurt (Moeller) is the muscle, etc. This newly-christened (but never actually said out loud) BAD PACK is promised millions of dollars from the cache of the evildoers if they succeed...but will they?

The Bad Pack is a disappointment. With a galaxy of B-Movie stars on display and Brent Huff both in front of and behind the camera, you’d think it would be a no-brainer to make an awesome action classic. Not so much. But they did get the ‘no brain’ part right, as the movie is very, very dumb. It’s filled with stultifyingly stupid dialogue that drags down the whole project. Also, it needed more action. Saving all the action for the big climax is a no-no. Seeing as this is a supposed action movie, you should really have action DURING the movie. Doesn’t Brent Huff, of all people, know that?

There’s something sanitized about it - what little action scenes exist throughout the movie are quick and bloodless, and there’s minimal bad language and no nudity. It’s almost an action movie for the whole family. 

While it was great to see fan favorite Robert Davi in a lead role like this - especially when he’s foiling robbers at a diner with his canefighting skills or popping extended, unnecessary wheelies on his bright green motorbike, we wish the movie overall was of a better caliber and better suited to his skills. And because the whole outing is pure 90’s (of the pay-channel and back-shelf-of -the-video-store variety), there are not one but two scenes of Punchfighting: one with Battle Creek Brawl’s mega-meathead Jeep Swenson (R.I.P.) and Ralf Moeller, and another with Brent Huff and some other guy. Presumably these were the scenes meant to tide us over until the finale.

Marshall Teague, as the main baddie, looks a lot like George Lucas in this movie. And that’s in the scenes when he doesn’t look like Kenny Rogers. This really brought to the silver screen what George Lucas is probably like in real life. Yet another character we didn’t mention thus far, Jeremy Britt (Scott) plays a Black nerd (Blerd?) whose only function in The Bad Pack is that he owns a laptop. He claims to be the guy who “gets them the information”, as if the other members of the team don’t have access to the internet. But it was the golden age of Urkel, so, that decision makes sense.

But that leads us to two terms we coined - first is the Lone Tiger effect, when you think a movie is going to be good because of a stellar cast, but instead it’s a mess because there are TOO many characters and no one gets enough time in the sun. That’s The Bad Pack. 

Also it’s a Lacktion movie: a supposed action outing that lacks action. That’s The Bad Pack as well. Add to that some annoying characters and some light bathroom humor, and our good will is falling precipitously. And it’s all such a waste. The potential is CLEARLY there for a better movie, but it falls flat. Roddy Piper as a DRIVER who only marginally participates in the (of course) final warehouse fight? Are you kidding me? But on the bright side, Ralf Moeller stole his scenes and is quite good in it, as is Shawn Huff (that would be Mrs. Brent Huff).

Sadly, audiences who watch The Bad Pack are Huffing the fumes of the glory of the past work of the participants.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, DTVC! 

Double Tap (1997)

Double Tap (1997)- * *

Directed by: Greg Yaitanes

Starring: Stephen Rea, Heather Locklear, Robert LaSardo, Mykelti Williamson, Kevin Gage, Peter Greene, Terrence Howard, A Martinez, and Richard Edson









FBI Agents Hanson, Hamilton, Burke, and Rodriguez (Locklear, Williamson, Gage, and LaSardo, respectively) are a tight-knit force that tend to hole up in an abandoned warehouse (where else?) as they fight the baddies. Hanson is a fearless undercover agent who likes jigsaw puzzles. A new wrinkle comes into all their lives in the form of Cypher (Rea), a hitman who has not one, but two signatures to his killings: he shoots them twice in the head (i.e., he “double taps” them), and he leaves a white rabbit’s foot by the body.  He’s also heavily into lawn care. 

As the lives of Hanson and Cypher draw inexorably together, other complications arise in the forms of Nash (Greene), Ulysses (Howard), Escobar (Martinez) and Fischer (Edson). Will the team of agents bring down Cypher - and should they? Or will a bunch of people end up dead and stuff? Find out...?

There were a lot of movies like this in the later 90’s. It seems like practically every other movie on a video store shelf from approximately 1997-2000 was a about hitmen, gangsters, or both. In the post-Tarantino landscape, DTV producers figured they could make movies like his on the cheap - and why not, all he was doing was recycling earlier ideas as well. Enter Underworld (1996), Suicide Kings (1997), A Better Way to Die (2000), Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane (1998), Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997), Double Deception (2001), Killing Time (1998), Sworn Enemies (1996), and on and on, ad nauseam. You know the type of movie we’re thinking of - leave a comment if you can think of some more. Well, Double Tap is one of those. Despite the presence of a practically ALL B-movie star cast, this boat is taking on water and sinking quickly. Lone Tiger syndrome strikes yet again.

And because it was the late 90’s, clearly the movie had to be “edgy”. It was a time of Mountain Dew commercials with radically awesome snowboarders jumping out of helicopters as they slammed their ‘Dew. (For those who don’t know, you slam a Dew, you do not drink a Mountain Dew). In this context, we now have Heather Locklear at a scuzzy porn theater, sitting in front of the screen and smoking crack. Hooray. Load it all up with a bunch of unnecessary and pretentious “stylistic choices” like crazy cuts, freeze frames, breaking up the movie into chapters with titles, etc. 

Though it was nice to see Locklear in an atypical role like this, she’s a classic case of  cognitive dissonance - while she certainly does not look like Hillary Clinton, her voice is a dead ringer for Clinton’s. It’s odd to hear that voice come out of the beautiful Locklear. You think at any moment she’s going to flatly, loudly intone something about Bill or “what difference does it make?” But Locklear is just one of many in this ensemble cast, and we believe the show was stolen by someone else. ..

It was also nice to see LaSardo in a good-guy role, which is rare for him. He gets more screen time than usual, and he makes the most of it. This is truly top-notch LaSardo. One of the main draws of the movie is Stephen Rea, also in an unusual role. (does this movie only exist so the filmmakers can brag about some low-grade stunt casting?) Peter Greene plays essentially the same role as he did in the aforementioned Sworn Enemies, and Terrance Howard is a drug dealer or something. While there is no Locklear-Fu or Rea-Fu, there is plenty of shooting and a few blow-ups. The cast does what they can, but its vibe is off-kilter to the point of off-putting, and it has a junky feel to it, and on top of all that, it loses steam a lot. 

We would say it loses focus, but we’re not sure there was ever any focus to lose. But further reinforcing the 90’s vibe is the fact that the score is by Moby. Apparently Goldie or Tricky weren’t available. They must have been making B.U.S.T.E.D. (1999) and City of Industry (1997), respectively.

We were expecting more - a lot more - from director Yaitanes, who had previously directed Comeuppance favorite Hard Justice (1995). We thought teaming him with Stephen Rea and an all B-Movie star cast would equal gold. Not so much. We didn’t think he’d have to trowel over the cracks in the script with a bunch of  wacky editing and cinematic trickery. As we always say, don’t try to be “cool”, try to be good. Double Tap has, to date, never received a U.S. DVD release. We think we know why.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty