Neonkiller

The first time I saw this movie was a couple years ago. It was at the end of some old tape that had been lost with time. And it only had the ending of it. Some friends and I just happened across it one night and we couldn't stop laughing at it. In fact we liked it so much that I scoured the Internet for the full version of it. I was finally able to buy a used copy of it and have loved it ever since. I would have to say that now this is my favorite movie. Next is Black Belt Jones.

Ah! I've been after this one for years. Nobody's going to accuse Enzo Castellari of being high brow or filling his films with attacks on Roman Catholic dogma or thinly veiled metaphors about the futility of human endeavour, but action wise, this guy's untouchable. Light Blast is no exception. Car chases, gun fights, gore, car chases, explosions, car chases, this film has the lot. Especially car chases.

Thomas Moore (aka Ennio Girolami, the now sadly departed brother of Enzo) is a crazy scientist with an even crazier light weapon that he uses a couple of times (causing folk to melt ala the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark), and is now blackmailing the city of San Francisco. Cop Erik Estrada (King Worm from Adventure Time) is on the case, which mainly involves chasing after Moore's hired goons and graphically killing them, or tailing them using various vehicles to buildings and killing them there, or chasing hoaxers in cars causing death and destruction.

We first see Estrada during a hostage crisis where he turns up in the buff carrying a turkey with a gun inside it. This was the first indication to me that Enzo wasn't taking this one too seriously. That, and when Estrada jumps on the back of a pick up truck, thrusts his badge into the driver's face and says "Follow that car" and does this several times until we see a motorcyclist dropping him off outside of a henchman's place, which leads to the awesome 'fight in a mortuary scene'.

Basically Erik gets into a three way fight with one of Moore's hired goons (hired goons?) and a crazy nurse who kicks him in the knackers about 100 times. Fantastic.

Although there's…kind of not much plot to speak of, Light Blast is jam packed full of the stuff brain dead Italian action fans want to see, so you're not going to hear any complaints from me, because I'm a brain dead Italian action fan. As long as people are shooting at each other or things are blowing up, I won't get confused. This is another winner from Enzo – I've still not seen a bad film by him. Good music too, from the De Angelis brothers.

Massimo Vanni fans take note: Massimo's cameo lasts long as these words, uttered by me during the film: "Ah, there's Massimo. I wonder how long it will take him to get killed? Well, there he goes."

Just another example of Erik Estradas bad acting, this has got to be one of the worst movies I've seen in years. Anti climatic ending and stupid effects.

Erik Estrada who is fresh off from "CHiPs", stars in this cheese of a movie called "Light Blast". Like "CHiPs", he's a cop, but in a different city of California. But unlike Poncherello, Warren is more hardcore. Ponch never got to use his gun, Warren always pack heat! He and his police department goes after a madman who uses a death ray on the city of San Francisco. His then wife Peggy Rowe was astounding. All the explosions in film were common. It could pass off as a 2 part episode of "CHiPs". But this is San Francisco, not Los Angeles. It's a enjoyable film to watch. Who doesn't love Erik Estrada? 4 out of 5 stars.

A bitchy kung fu nurse raising pain and a bulldozer smashing the bits out of the automobile that Erik ("Ponch") Estrada is stuck in may be the only best parts from LIGHTBLAST. Everything else is pointless all the way through. Cookie-cutter action / car chase elements supersede the flesh-to-bones visuals and a science-fiction theme, making this another in an endless string of "cop versus bad guy" action turkeys! Estrada is terribly miscast here. Enzo Castellari fared much better with the underrated, but gritty cult classic 1990: THE BRONX WARRIORS. A great waste of precious time well spent.