A Force of One

I saw this when it opened back in '79. I actually saw Bill Wallace fight the week before and Chuck Norris was in his corner. I had just started studying karate about a year earlier so I was psyched about seeing it. I have to disagree with a few people's opinions about this movie. While no one would EVER confuse this with Academy Awards material; for what it is, it's not bad at all. In fact, it can be downright enjoyable! As for the fights, a lot of people have been putting them down, especially the ring fights. I thought that they were, for the most part, outstanding. You have to remember that back when this was filmed, the concept of "fighting the camera" to bring the audience into the fight was a relatively new concept and was very effective for its time. Granted, it's been WAY overused since then, but remember that this was 1979. So just keep in mind it's time and limitations and I think that you can really have a blast with this one. I do.

In all fairness, being a Chuck Norris vehicle, this isn't a bad film. It's quite a well made product, devoid of Chuck's sub standard acting, surpassed by the rest of the interestingly chosen cast, Neill exceptionally good as s female cop, and Gulager as a weary lieutenant, who unfortunately we don't see enough off in this. It has a cool start off as we dolly with a skateboarding teen (a drug courier) down the city streets of day, two cops trailing him, on their own accord as they want they collar. Instead they walk straight into death as a faceless karate assassin kills them in pretty painful ways. Bring on Chuckie who again, is not really acting, but can bring heart and reality into this role, like others.... unintentionally, I presume. As you can guess, woman cop Neill falls for him. The batch of Gulager's crew undergo karate training, to take on these powerful forces, but when the faceless villain, messes with Chuckie's teen friend, who's like a son, with great potential for the martial arts, it's now a fight to the death. Although it does lack action in long spaces of time, where it tends to sag here and there, as not living up to Chuckie's action quota, here we actually got a real Chuckie movie, and this is one of his I've always liked. The deadly showdown awaits too.

A pair of Los Angeles narcotics police runs afoul of a group of distributors protected by a masked Kung Fu enforcer who will stop at nothing to ensure the flow of drugs. Enter Matt Logan (Chuck Norris) a Vietnam vet now world famous kick boxer making a run at the title. The police consult Logan and are eventually able to get him to help train the other members of the narc squad in Kung Fu. Logan takes a look into the case and finds out that police corruption and ex-war buddies may some how be involved.

Chuck Norris movies (for the most part) are usually good fun. A good many of Norris' earlier films are good solid action flicks, not necessarily classics but fun nonetheless." A Force of One" is a fun film but is severely dated. However it moves at a good clip and the action scenes are pretty decent. Many of the usual clichés are on display and good olé' Chuck has his way with the bad guys.

"A force of one" is more serious than the other Chuck Norris movies, but it's also very dull. The actors are above average, but the fighting sequences does not deliver much to applaud for. Seems more like a criminal than an action-movie. (4 out of 10)

Like my previous Chuck Norris film review, I also saw this one at a local drive in with a couple of neighbors. I can't remember too much of it, but do remember that it was entertaining in regards to a corrupt police investigation of some kind, something involving drugs, and, of course, martial arts.

It was one of Chucks better flicks, and he showed some chops in the acting department, but I can't say that the film stuck with me all that much. Regardless, it was somewhat impressive. Ironically enough the one thing I remember about going to see this film was the preview for "The Villain", a western spoof.

There's not much in the way of plot in this thing, but it has a decent enough emotional story. If you're into martial arts, and want to see Chuck Norris early in his career, give this film a try. Not a bad watch.

Enjoy.