Action
movie time again, this time we delve into the low-budget TV action
genre with a film so action packed that the explosions will make you
tremble, but there's naff all plot. Anyway check out my review for
HARD JUSTICE after the jump...
So
this unemployment lark has given me some time to catch up with and
discover new films, well a majority of the 40 films I've watched
since Jan 1st aren't exactly new, most are either 70s, 80s
or 90s films, some are foreign language some, some are English
language, but the point is, that with so much free time and access to
youtube, I've discovered films i'd never even heard of but found I
had no time constraints so I watched them. But this isn't about an
80s action film I found on Youtube, this is about a 90s action film I
bought from Australia. It's a U.S film starring martial arts actor
David Bradley, no not the guy who plays Walder Frey in Game Of
Thrones, although seeing him do martial arts would be funny, nope,
this David Bradley is a former world Karate Champion who took over
from Michael Dudikoff for the American Ninja films produced by Cannon
in the late 80s and early 90s, another of those franchises that
followed the likes of Kickboxer, No Retreat No Surrender and
Bloodsport. Bradley has some pretty awesome ass kicking skills, and
much like the underrated Jeff Speakman, can actually string words
together in a way most actors are supposed to.
Any
way this film was directed by Greg Yaitans, a TV director who's
directed everything from Nash Bridges, V.I.P and Lost and won an Emmy
for House M.D, and he does show some considerable skill behind the
camera, especially during the action sequences, but I hear you say,
what film are you talking about? Well, the film in question is HARD
JUSTICE, a DTV actioner from 1995.
Let's
take a look at the plot of this. Nick Adams is a hardcore ATF agent,
after a botched raid on a weapons smuggling ring results in the death
of a civilian, Adams is told to take a break, but after word that a
very close friend had been murdered while undercover in a prison,
Adam's convinces his superior to let him
go undercover in the prison to investigate the murder. Once inside,
Adams comes up against Chinese gun runners and a sadistic warden (are
there any other kinds?). Adams discovers that the warden is in
cahoots with the same Chinese gangster who Nick arrested at the end
of the opening warehouse raid who has just been transferred to the
same prison. From behind bars, Nick has to thwart the warden and his
partners from unleashing the guns onto the American streets, while
trying to survive a prison he has no reason to be in.
Plot
wise, Hard Justice is a generic actioner. This type of plot has been
seen countless times before, hell I think the plot of Death Warrant
is the same but it's been a while since I saw that so don't quote me.
It uses every cliché in the book, evil warden, triads, gun runners,
prison riots, sadistic prison officer...everything is a cliché. No
lets look at some of the problems with the film. This part will
contain spoilers but you ain't watching this film for it's insightful
plot and oscar worthy acting, you're watching this film to see shit
explode. So, bare in mind that it took two, count them, two writers
to devise a script for this film, first problem, the entire opening
sequence, the gun battle/raid on a warehouse is lifted almost
entirely from John Woo's Hard Boiled, even down to what Bradley is
wearing, what gun he has and how he makes his entrance. This was an
issue because remember, two people wrote this, it took two people to
rip off Hard Boiled. Second problem; the size of the prison cells,
they're fuckin' huge, big enough to stage a fight scene in, they look
like those holding cells where hookers are kept in cop movies when
you walk into a police station. Problem numero uno; the black guy,
now that ain't racism on my part but the movie uses the cliché of
the black guy being able to get you anything you need, he's a low
rent Morgan Freeman from Shawshank Redemption and his character is
woefully underused. Problem number 4; It's revealed that Nick's
superior is actually running the whole gun smuggling ring from the
prison, why the fuck did he allow a hard core, badass, play by his
own rules, top ATF agent to enter the same place he's smuggling guns
from, what did he expect would happen, surely he should have sent him
to somewhere like Siberia, as far away from the guns as possible and
finally, problem number 5; Why the holy fuck of fuckin' christ, would
you smuggle guns from a fuckin' prison, a place full of hardened
murderers who are more than ready to kill someone if they found a
gun, it's like smuggling drugs from a meth clinic. It's really really
fuckin' dumb. So those are five of the films biggest problems, it
does suffer from other issues but those I minor in comparison, stuff
like wooden dialogue, some issues with editing but those can be over
looked by some of the stupidest mistakes a movie could make....and it
was written by two people.
Now
onto the good shit. The action is crazy good, awesome stunts, well
choreographed fight scenes and some epic gun fun. The opening, while
being totally ripped off from Hard Boiled does include some brilliant
gun action, explosions and stunt work, the scene where Adams is
wielding a shotgun and sliding along a conveyor belt taking out
people as he rolls is pretty cool, every ten minutes there's a fight
scene, seriously, every ten minutes he gets into a punch up with some
of the Chinese gangster in the prison, at one point he even comes up
against Toru Tanaka, the big Hawaiian fella who usually played an
Asian henchman or bodyguard in a lot of those Nu-Image/ PM
Entertainment flicks of the 90s. He's in it for about 30 seconds and
sadly it was his last film, he's the guy who played Subzero in The
Running Man.
Finally
we get to the last 20 minutes, a full on prison assault with Adams on
the warpath armed with every gun possible, trying to escape, take out
the bad guys and save a woman, who I think was supposed to be his
wife (?), the writers pretty much took the finale of Hard Boiled,
took it out of a Hospital and placed it in a prison. Adams opens
fire, killing anyone who gets in way. Bodies go flying people explode
and Charles Napier wanders through the cell blocks firing two
Mac-10's while shouting something about power. Then there's the
helicopter fight and a finally the Helicopter/bus chase / shoot out.
The last 20 minutes really do make up for a pretty dumb movie.
But
saying that, it still kept my attention for 91 minutes, there was
never a dull moment, it moved fast, the action was strong and Greg
Yaitan's direction was pretty damn good. It's never going to win any
awards and it's certainly never going to become a cult classic but
for fans of OTT action movies that don't star Schwarzenegger or
Stallone and if you can over look a plot that blatantly steals from
much much better films, it's kinda fun. It's a bit hard to come by
but I managed to get a copy from Australia for a couple of quid so if
you want to check it out, that's your best route...
 |
| three stars for action only |
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