The Stabilizer

Do you like explosions? How about fighting? Well, this movie has both of those. You know the other thing you can't have a movie without: a kick ass motorcycle, the type that bounces off someone's head and knocks them out at the same time. You bet the Stabilizer has one. There's even a classic cliff scene.

All in all, I'm quite proud that I have even seen this movie...and even prouder to have my review be the first one...YES!

I saw this flick way back in the late 80s on a rented vhs. Revisited it recently. Its an over the top cheesy action entertainment. During the era of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis, JCVD, Seagal, etc there was the curly, greasy, poor man's Stallone, Peter O'Brian aka The Stabilizer.

Check out the clothes n the hairstyle man. The Stallone/Cobra look-a-like picture (fishnet tshirt) is priceless man. The villain spitting on it is even better.

A guy on a motorcycle flying through a window, unique way of breaking into someone's home. Motorcycles breaking concrete walls, tires of motorcycles hitting people's head like footballs.

There are fists, feet and arrows flying by. God bless the 80s for such over the top action flicks n for the immediate love making scenes.

The Stabilizer fights tons of thugs with machine guns, dodges torpedoes, dodges bullets, he can scuba dive, he can even fight with his hands tied behind his back. But the best is the chopper sequence. U have to see it to laugh out loud. This movie is non- stop action. The barrel bouncing off of the head, the tires bouncing the head, hero shooting while keeping his arm tilted, etc Did I forget to mention the spiked shoes. The acting n dialogues r atrocious but the action nailed it.

The film is laden with atrocious 80s clothing. Ill fitting blazers, loose shirts, curly mullet hair, triangle shaped earrings, the actress' orange dress n her kicks r a big lol.

It has more car chase, car mayhem, car plunging into lake, explosions, etc than a Michael Bay film.

Was the arm pit scene which resembled buttocks' cleavage done on purpose?

The music during the smooch scene is epic. The film has a man who eats lizards, villain's henchmen wearing sleeveless without having any biceps.

How the mohawk haircut villain's henchman escapes during a fight sequence is beyond me. The film is full of empty cartons, huge empty boxes n hell lottuva empty drums. The empty drums r kept for a purpose by the director. It comes handy to the hero during a fire escape.

The acting is poor, the plot is thin, but who cares? "The Stabilizer" delivers non-stop action! In my estimation, at least 75 out of this movie's 90 minutes feature some form of action - vehicle chases, fight scenes, gymnastics, shootouts, explosions, crashing through walls and floors, etc. The action is outrageous, bloody, funny, destructive, and overall very enjoyable to watch. Peter O'Brian (probably one of the worst actors ever, but that's beside the point) is notable for his unorthodox fighting style, which can best be described as bull-in-a-china-shop. One of the things I really liked about this film is that it gives the women, and there are several of them, a significant part of the action, and they are almost equally as deadly as the men, with or without a gun in hand. If you enjoy Jackie Chan's Hong Kong movies but wish they were more R-rated, you'll probably like "The Stabilizer" as well. It's as unpretentious as an action movie can get. **1/2 out of 4.

From the opening theme (which by the way happens to include women singing Sta-bil-izer), you know this is cinematic gem. This film regards the exploits of one, the Stabilizer in his quest to thwart the villan (Greg Rainmaker) whose nefariousness is capped of by raping the Stabilizers girlfriend and then stomping her to death with his cleets (this is all done off screen while the camera focuses in on a picture of the Stabilizer that his girlfriend happened to have in her room). Not to mention that Greg Rainmaker has also captured a important scientist, with the assistance of the Indonesian Mr. T, and an endless supply of look-a-like henchmen. How will our hero ever prevail, or in this case Stabilize? Well, if Stabilization has anything to do with exploding and or killing everything in site, then the forces of good are bound to prevail. The Stabilizer in this film, rides dirt bikes onto peoples faces, fist fights at least a hundred guys with machine guns, sets fire to warehouses, puts a criminal underling in a barrel which he then roles around in the back of a truck and jumps off a helicopter while shooting it cause it to explode. Not to mention sleeping with the girl who he had just met. Hot. Not five minutes goes by in this film without some form of overt action and or destruction. And as it is conducted by guys with greasy 70's haircuts, well, it just doesnt get any better than that.

This is one of those gems that I am always waiting to find- I found a diamond here! I am pretty certain that this film was released to be taken as serious as any other action movie from the early 80s. But some of the dubbed in dialogue is

hilarious, I am smiling right now as I think about some of the lines. Whatever the case may be, it is an all around entertaining movie that I am glad I added to my collection.

For those who like to watch Italian action cinema from the 70s and 80s, you

probably will get a kick out of this too. The same goes to blaxploitation fans as well. I found myself rewinding and re-watching scenes over again. There are

lots of scenes that will make you want to take a second look. There really is too many things in this film that had me rolling. Troma offers this on DVD now at a really low price. Definately worth it. Enjoy!