Kommando Todesformel

Well, the cast of this movie certainly has great cult value: Jim Kelly, George Lazenby, Harold Sakata. The movie itself, however, is not as much fun as it could have been. Kelly still has the moves, but while some of his fighting isn't bad, it is spoiled by the unslick presentation (lighting, framing, etc.). Sakata is, for me and many others, an iconic presence: his Oddjob is arguably the best henchman in the entire Bond series. However, his role here adds nothing to his stature, in fact it probably detracts from it. Lazenby's participation is minor. The film is poorly directed, and obviously drawn-out at the climax. Worth a look for its cast, but don't expect too much. (*1/2)

Death Dimension (1978)

** (out of 4)

A mad scientist known as The Pig creates a bomb that when it explodes it can freeze anything close to it. Detective J. Ash (Jim Kelly) is asked to try and track down the people behind it before it falls into the wrong hands.

Al Adamson was the master at creating ultra-cheap movies for the drive-in circuit. He could make just about any type of genre and more times than not he was able to mix the various genres into one crazy little film. He created some good movies like Dracula VS FRANKENSTEIN as well as countless really awful ones. DEATH DIMENSION is pretty much cheap non-sense that fans of the blaxploitation and martial arts genres should enjoy.

Obviously, if you're walking into an Adamson picture, you shouldn't be expecting high art or a quality picture. Basically what you want to do is just sit back, turn your brain off and just enjoy what's in front of you. Storywise the film is certainly a mess and it rarely makes too much sense but if you're a fan of Kelly and his martial arts style then there are plenty of fights here. The fights certainly aren't going to rival ENTER THE DRAGON but they're fun enough for this type of action picture.

There's obviously nothing ground-breaking here but for a cheap drive-in picture it at least has some energy and some charm.

Life. It is a strange merry-go-round. Events and situations can change a man. A near death experience, the birth of your first child, a new found skill. For me, it was this movie. Suffering manic depression from the loss of my job and recent death of my beloved wife, I stumbled into the video store whacked up on Prozac. "Help me!" I said to the confused Video Store Clerk. "Only one thing can help you now" the teenaged Messiah said, as he slipped me a copy of the 1978 Masterpiece "Death Dimension". I liken this movie to having your first beer when your fifteen, cold, refreshing but with an underlying tone of naughtiness, with a bit of pizzazz thrown in. What can I say.... Myron "Bruce" Lee? You are a God. You make Jet Li and Chuck Norris look like a couple of half-baked sissies who couldn't rip wet toilet paper in half. Thank god Christopher Walken shunned the role of Captain Gallagher or our pupils would not have been treated to the precision like pistol whippings of Georgie Laze. Wrapping up this cultural melting pot of actors is the Giant of Afro-American cinema, Jim Kelly. He rips on to the screen like a young Fred Astaire, and dances his way in to our hearts. Not since "Casablanca" has A black-Kung Fu teaching cop, Australian detective and Taiwan-born sidekick so deliciously melded together to form an acute crime-fighting team hell-bent on stopping a Korean obese man from instigating the destruction of the world. Death Dimension? More like `Out of this world' Dimension, this movie deserves to be placed along side other classics such as `Gone with the Wind', `Ben Hur' and `Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol'. Wow, Al Adamson, you've blown us all away again, if you don't stop this soon I'll never get to wash my soiled underpants. 5 thumbs up.

Pure comedy. I hired this film from a video store as a kid in the late 80's. Along with brothers and friends we were looking for dodgy 70's films with afro's, car chases, gun fights and most importantly a 'twangy' 70s soundtrack. We were not disappointed. We still talk about this film today. There is one scene where a character called 'The Pig' holds a turtle above a woman's breast and declares 'one bight of your tit and you have to cut head off before he let go'!!! (Said in dodgy Chinese accent - same guy who played Odd Job in Bond movie). If you are looking for laughs, get this film. Terrible plot, awful acting, hilarious fights and an amazing script!! I just want to get my hands on this again!!!

There is something about this Z grade martial arts flick that might make you want to take a shower after you watch it. A seedy, sleazy feel pervades every frame, and if you know about the LA scene of the 70's, and what was going on at the time, it feels even sleazier. Iconic martial arts master, and the "King of Cool," Jim Kelly made a handful of these movies, after his appearance in the very successful "Enter the Dragon," starring Bruce Lee. A lot of fans were disappointed that Kelly's ultra-cool character is killed off so early into that film, because we wanted more of this guy. And movies like "Death Dimension" give Jim Kelly a chance to show his stuff. Among these films, all of which are memorable and great in their own way, "Death Dimension" stands out as one of the cheapest of the lot. Filmed in the Nevada desert, and the glitzy Reno casino strip, on a very small budget, the movie still manages to be atmospheric and entertaining. Featuring a cast of cheap looking women who look like they were borrowed from a hardcore porn movie, as well as some truly mean looking men. There is an evil Haitian thug with a scarred face that will make your skin crawl. He likes to beat women and slice people's throats with his razor-like pinky ring. And the king pin scumbag is just called "The Pig," and he is truly a pig, in his skin tight polyester shirts bursting under the strain of his sweaty, big body. when Jim Kelly is on screen though, everything comes together, and we are reminded just why we are watching. Kelly's martial arts skills are finely tuned and hyper-energetic; the man is truly incredible to watch. Here he is partnered with Myron Lee, a Chinese undercover agent, and the two work very well off each other, kind of like the pairing of Conan and Subotai in "Conan the Barbaian." Some highlights include scenes of Jim Kelly walking around the neon-saturated Reno strip at night. The man is just so cool in everything he does. As far as the plot goes, well it concerns some evil bastards trying to get their hands on a machine that can freeze the weather in a concentrated area. It sounds a bit like the plot from "Black Samurai," another Kelly film that is actually better than this film. Anyway we don't watch these films for their brilliant story lines, do we? I recommend this movie for fans of exploit cinema and martial arts movies of the 1970's. It's good, sleazy fun.