- Mission Terminate | aka Return of the Kickfighter (1987) Review
- Trailer for Indonesian martial arts flick ‘Golden Cane Warrior’
- Real-life fighters run amok in ‘The Scorpion King 4′ trailer!
- Deal on Fire! Crows Zero | Blu-ray | Only $9.99 – Expires soon!
- Introducing the first official ‘Jurassic World’ poster…
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Posted: 15 Oct 2014 11:55 AM PDT
"Mission Terminate" Dutch VHS Cover
Director: Anthony Maharaj Writer: Joe Mari Avellana Cast: Richard Norton, Bruce Le (Huang Kin Long), Rex Cutter, Judy Greene, George E. Mahlberg, Nick Nicholson, Henry Strzalkowski, Dick Wei, Franco Guerrero Running Time: 90 min. By Paul Bramhall My journey that found me watching Mission Terminate was somewhat of an interesting one. Back in 2008, I'd stumbled across an old Tai Seng DVD of a movie called Ninja vs. Bruce Lee. The movie starred one of the many Bruce Lee clones which the studios churned out after Bruce Lee's death in an attempt to make a quick buck, renaming any actor who had even the faintest likeness of Lee to sound like they could pass for the real deal. This particular movie starred Bruce Le (see what they did there?), however it was the cover of the DVD which had my attention, as it featured a shirtless Le brandishing a ridiculously big machine gun and sporting an expression which meant business (click here to view the DVD cover). It looked like B-movie gold, a Bruce Lee clone made out to be a kind of Asian Rambo, what could go wrong!? Much to my disdain, the scene off the cover of the DVD appeared nowhere in the movie, so I angrily set about making enquires to find out exactly what it was that I should be looking for. Thankfully some very knowledgeable people confirmed the image was from Mission Terminate, and proceeded to wish me luck at attempting to track it down. After a couple of initial enquiries which turned out to be fruitless, thanks to a combination of such factors like, well, having a life, I gave up my search. Skip forward 6 years later, and thanks to some kind soul having a much better memory than me, I finally found myself in possession of Mission Terminate, under the retitle of Return of the Kickfighter, and prepared myself for the unknown. Thankfully Mission Terminate is indeed B-movie gold. Directed by Anthony Maharaj, whose filmography contains such other gems as Innocent Adultery, it is in fact filmed entirely in the Philippines, passing for Vietnam, and is everything you'd expect from a mid-80's Filipino B-movie production. The Philippines had a whole host of American B-movie directors making action and exploitation cheapies there during the 80's, thanks to the low cost crews and filming locations, so much so that the Filipino action B-movie almost became a genre unto itself. Mission Terminate does the genre proud, announcing its intentions from the very first piece of dialogue, which takes place between two soldiers and goes as follows: Lieutenant – "I knew we'd get those motherf*ckers!" Marine – "Yeah, bet those suckers never figured we'd trail them back to their mothers wombs!" If only every movie had opening lines like this. The plot concerns a unit of US marines operating in the Vietnam war during 1970, with the movie opening on a raid in a village. After massacring the villagers, the marines steal the villages gold, much to the objection of their Vietnamese translator and guide, played by Le. Skip forward past the credits sequence; it's now 15 years later, and members of the unit are getting murdered one by one. This leads to the former head of the group, now a high ranking military officer, announcing that the only person who is up to the job of finding out the identity of the killer is an Aussie, Major Brad Cooper, played by Richard Norton. Norton is the real deal when it comes to martial arts, and has gone one on one with the best of them, including Jackie Chan in the finale of City Hunter, and Sammo Hung in Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars. Here he's given a rare lead role as the good guy, and most probably due to him not being able to do an American accent; the colonel explains to some disgruntled marines that "he was only raised in Australia, he's American, ALL AMERICAN!" Sadly much more than his accent, it's the fact that Norton sports a rat tail haircut which gives him away as an Australian, an epidemic that still seems to be an acceptable form of antipodean style even in the 21st century. As mentioned Norton is the main character of the movie, with Bruce Le playing a significant supporting role. Another stalwart from Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung's movies comes in the form of legendary kicker Dick Wei, who plays Bruce Le's murderous sworn brother, and is the guy who's killing off the marines in revenge for their slaughter of the village. It's Wei's appearance which indicates that perhaps the plot was just kind of made up on the fly. I mean, his killings of the marines are justified considering what they did, and the colonel is trying to manipulate Norton to find Wei and kill him only because he doesn't want the stolen gold to be discovered. However it then suddenly turns out that Wei really is a bad guy, and that he's working as a trainer at a hidden terrorist camp of ski-mask wearing ninjas hidden in a nearby mountain. It turns out his revenge mission is just a sideline to his full time job as terrorist trainer. The camp seems to be being run by a Middle Eastern terrorist group, indicated only by a guided tour the head of the camp gives to some headscarf wearing gentlemen. Yes the movie contains a whole scene dedicated to a guided tour of the terrorists in training, one of the highlights being that they're so evil that during combat training they have to use real ammo. If you get shot, it's because you're not evil enough and deserve to die, that's their reasoning, not mine. Overall Mission Terminate is a lot of fun, mainly because it's a parody of action movies without being a parody. It displays a level of incompetence which is somehow forgivable thanks mainly to the constant onslaught of hilariously bad lines, and their delivery, and frequent shootouts which never seem to be never more than a few minutes away. Le has clearly had his lines dubbed into English by a local Filipino, and as a result everything he says makes him sound like a constipated Mexican. This is particularly hilarious in his exchanges with the Aussie accented Norton. By the time the finale rolls around, it's Norton and Le, backed up by some good guy marines led by Franco Guerrero, himself a Filipino B-movie legend (check out One Armed Executioner!), against Wei and his camp of ninja terrorists. Amusingly before the showdown starts, the head of the camp pulls all the ninjas into a room and tells them that finally he can reveal their purpose, which is to hold a nuclear power plant to ransom. You can't help but feel that what actually happened is behind the scenes the following conversation took place: Producer – "Ok we're going to film the finale next… does the audience actually know what the terrorists are training for yet?" Director – "Hmmm. Did we overlook that detail!? (Flicks through script) It appears we did. Damn." Once the impromptu terrorist team meeting is over though, the bullets and explosions come thick and fast, with of course some obligatory fists and feet thrown in as well just for good measure. Le and Norton both face off again Wei in a couple of very brief scuffles, but the fun is mainly in watching the endlessly regenerating ninjas get mowed down in hails of bullets. In truth it's probably the same five guys playing the whole army of ninjas, and it becomes quite fun to see if you can identify if you're watching the same guy from the previous scene – there's the guy who always dies by falling down in what can only be described as real time slow motion; the guy who always dies by waving his arms around frantically, even if he's already laying on the ground; and the guy who always yells at the top of his voice whenever he's been shot. If you're a fan of action B-movies, Mission Terminate does the job, made in an era when the macho action movie was still played 100% straight with no winks to the audience, it's all the more entertaining for it. Now if only Sylvester Stallone would realize the same thing. Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10 |
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Posted: 15 Oct 2014 11:50 AM PDT
"The Golden Cane Warrior" Teaser Poster
Directed by Ifa Isfansyah, The Golden Cane Warrior is a period martial arts tale featuring action choreography by Hong Kong's Xin Xin Xiong (best known for playing Clubfoot in Once Upon a Time in China III). It stars Nicholas Saputra, Eva, Celia, Reza Rahadian, Tara Basro and Christine Hakim. The Golden Cane Warrior will be released domestically on December 18, 2014. You don’t want to miss the trailer, courtesy of Film Combat Syndicate. |
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Posted: 14 Oct 2014 02:43 AM PDT
"Scorpion King" Japanese Theatrical Poster
Of special note, The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power features a medley of real-life fighters: "The Ultimate Fighter" winner Roy "Big Country" Nelson, mixed martial arts legend Royce Gracie, Cage Rage World Champion Antonio "Big Foot" Silva, three-time WKO World Kickboxer Champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson (The Whole World at Our Feet), and three-time WWE Divas champion Eve Torres. Also look for appearances by Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Michael Biehn (The Terminator), Barry Bostwick (Spin City), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Ellen Hollman (Spartacus: War of the Damned), M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple), and Will Kemp (Step Up-2: The Streets). Here’s the official plot: The deposed warrior king Mathayus (Victor Webster) embarks on his most dangerous assignment ever as he attempts to bring lasting peace to his troubled land. When he is betrayed by a trusted friend, Mathayus must marshal all his strength and cunning to outwit a formidable opponent who will stop at nothing to destroy him in an epic battle to the death. The Scorpion King 4: The Lost Throne is set for a 2014 release. BREAKING NEWS: Watch the first trailer for The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (formerly known as The Scorpion King 4: The Lost Throne). The Blu-ray & DVD will be releasing on January 20, 2015. Pre-order today! |
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Posted: 14 Oct 2014 12:03 AM PDT
"Crows Zero" Blu-ray Cover
Crows Zero tells the story of characters in Suzuran, a violent high school. A mob boss’s son transfers to the school and teams up with three of his most powerful rivals in a shot to gain power. Roadblocks and tragedy wait along the way, and danger is around every corner. Crows Zero stars Shun Oguri, Kyosuke Yabe, Takayuki Yamada and Shunsuke Daito. Order from Crows Zero Amazon.com today! |
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Posted: 14 Oct 2014 12:00 AM PDT
"Jurassic World" Teaser Poster
Chances are his script will bear no resemblance to an earlier one from The Departed‘s Willian Monahan that floated around the web back in 2007. That draft had a soldier of fortune returning to Jurassic Park with the help of some genetically engineered mini-T-Rexes who obeyed his commands like domesticated dogs. We’re not even making this up! Updates: Nothing ground-breaking but Spielberg has confirmed he will be producing JPIV rather than directing it. He also says it’s too soon to discuss the project. | HitFix relays word that Universal has assigned Rise of the Planet Apes screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver to work on the screenplay. Universal has announced June 12, 2015 as the official release for Jurassic Park 4, which is officially titled Jurassic World. Also, be sure and watch the “pitch” video. | Deadline reports that Universal is in negotiations with Josh Brolin (Oldboy) to join Jurassic World. | Deadline reports that Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket) will be the film’s main villain. | AICN has some concept art for what the brand new and fully operational Jurassic Park may look like. Sorry – no more cool jeeps, JP fans! Here’s a new pack of cast photos, featuring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins, courtesy of Collider. BREAKING NEWS: Take a look at the first official poster. |
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