Lethal Christmas - Feuer in den Straßen

Good action movie. It may start out a little slow the first 10 or 15 minutes, but once Gary enters the riot zone, the movie becomes a non stop action fest! Lots of shooting and fighting to keep action fans happy. The stunts are good as well. The last one in particular is amazing! See the movie. I bet you will be amazed as well. Another winner from PM! Keep up the good work guys!

Gary Daniels stars as a soldier who, with Sugar Ray Leonard dive into gang territory to save the ex-girlfriend of Daniels, seems our English hero's girlfriend(Also English)is the daughter of an ambassador and the IRA are looking to hold her for ransom and well you can guess pretty much what happens next. I saw this a couple months ago on HBO (or was it Showtime, in any-case thank goodness I take notes) and this was pretty much what I expected it to be. Of course the movie was a PM effort so this meant that there was tons of mindless action and plot threads which make no sense, of course all of this is made acceptable by the fact that Gary Daniels is a good martial artist and that the the action sequences deliver the expected punch that you would hope for. However much more disappointing is the lack of Sugar Ray Leonard who only gets one big action sequence. Also on the wasted front are Charles Napier and Patrick Kilpatrick. Good old Patrick Kilpatrick, he's made a living playing these type of roles (From Death Warrant to Substitute IV) and he is always convincing. So basically I give it a two star rating because I derived some mild enjoyment from this title, however it's only for fans of this genre. I can't imagine anyone else deriving much from this movie. Of course I'm a fan of the genre and this while not great, was a pretty watchable movie. Perfect with Beer and Pizza. Then again what isn't perfect with that combo?

* * out of 4-(Fair)

'Riot' stands out in PM Entertainment's catalog. First it was part of a collection of titles the company decided to put more money behind. You'll notice it first as a studio lot subs for a real city street where the heart of the film's set pieces go down. Then the quality of explosions, pyro work is above & beyond for a dtv pix. Solid stunt work too. Shame the story is largely a bore.

SAS Maj. Alcott (Gary Daniels) in the States helping to train troops is called upon when the UK Ambassador's daughter Anna (Paige Rowland) is kidnapped during an LA riot. She's not only being held for ransom, but a well known fashion model and his ex girlfriend too. As the city burns and goes into lockdown, Shane battles thugs by fist or guns at night to both get in, get the girl and then get out.

You get a straight laced government suit role from Charles Napier and in a bit of stunt casting Sugar Ray Leonard as fellow US army man and Alcott's friend Maj. Williams. Unfortunately for second billing he only gets one sole fight scene and pops up at the start and a little towards the end. It's really Daniels film and he does a fine job of what's asked of him. Likable and good with the martial arts. Patrick Kilpatrick is here playing another baddie, but his role and how it ties in is very disjointed.

I wanted a better time with 'Riot' than what I received. Few pieces of unintentional funny dialog, cheesy fake accents and decent fight scenes that'll make you think about 'The Warriors' with a 'Escape From NY' vibe keep it from every being a pain. Christmas theme complete with tunes as dudes get the brakes beat off of 'em is memorable. All this wasn't enough to overcome an uninteresting plot though.

The Story: A riot erupts in a major US city following the deaths of some teenagers at the hands of the police. Shane Alcott, a British soldier, is called in to rescue his former love, the daughter of the British Consulate, who was kidnapped by a gang of hoods. Trapped in the riot zone, Alcott must rescue the girl, stop the hoods & their IRA handlers, who are using the riot to further their own ambitions.

Riot comes from director Joseph Merhi, who has made a whole slew of cheap action films, such as The Glass Jungle, Repo Jake, CIA: Code Name Alexa & the entertaining The Sweeper. Here Merhi uses the background of a riot in order to drive a story about a high-profile kidnapping by hoods employed by the IRA (why the IRA would operate on American shores is something of a mystery). If you want to watch the film expecting riots, you will be disappointed, since the riot scenes are used in the start of the film only. Not to mention the fact that the scenes are played along with Christmas music, which makes the scenes quite funny to watch. As an action film, it is entertaining, with Gary Daniels fighting various hoods & IRA terrorists. But the film falters by not using the riot scenes in the proper way. Grade: C+ Review by M. K. Geist

Yes, it's time for yet more mayhem from those ever dependable guys at PM Entertainment. This typically fun entry stars Gary Daniels as an SAS soldier who is enlisted to rescue the (very beautiful) daughter of the UK ambassador who has been seized hostage by a group amidst the chaos of an urban riot. As it turns out a) the daughter is also our mans love interest (wow! - what a coincidence eh?!) and b) the miscreants who have taken her are actually secretly employed by an IRA faction who have specifically targeted her in order to lure our hero into their sinister trap (wow! - Now if that's not a ridiculously convoluted plot then I don't know what is!) Of course when one sits to watch a PM Entertainment flick one must immediately disregard the concept of intelligent plotting however, rather one should simply switch off ones disbelief, relax and enjoy the ensuing plethora of crazy stunts and action set pieces. Sure enough, director Joseph Merhi doesn't disappoint and delivers some spectacular action goodies here including a particularly dangerous looking sequence involving a group of bikers attacking our hero.

Special mention also to the presence of former world boxing champ, Sugar Ray Leonard who shows that he's still as nifty as ever with those fists of his; His acting however.....um........well, that's quite another story.....