Karate Cop

If you enjoy films like "Good Guys Wear Black" or watched "The A-Team" then you might enjoy this little film. It's well worth the $1 you'll likely pay for it at Wal-Mart. It is a cheaply made genre film with no-name actors. The acting and special effects are not great. BUT...it is still an entertaining film.

Karate Cop is definitely a "B movie" but if you enjoy low-budget films, this one is actually quite entertaining. The story is extremely derivative of Mad Max --but who cares? The actors really seem to be having a good time and although the acting quality is all over the map. Filmed on a very moderate (or low) budget, the filmmakers do their best to to deliver a cohesive genre film complete with special effects, action sequences, and even a token "name" actor (David Carradine) in a cameo. Filming was done in and around Stockton, California--mostly in industrial/warehouse areas.

For those who have seen Ron Marchini's film "Omega Cop" (also available for $1 in Wal-Mart) this film is a continuation of that character. In fact, the film's production quality is exactly the same. It wouldn't surprise me if they were filmed simultaneously. Personally I like Marchini. He's no great actor, but neither was Chuck Norris.

Let me start by saying that I enjoy finding and watching bad movies. That doesn't mean that I love them all, but sometimes I find ones I like. This one hits many of the right buttons.

It is hard to say why, but I think mainly because it is really entertaining and light. The actors all seem to be having fun yet are somewhat serious as well. The movie also hasn't got any down moments.

Ron Marichini is fine. I liked Omega cop with him as well. Carrie Chambers is amazing looking. I wish she had been in more movies. The cheap sci-fi wasteland feel works well. David Carradine's scene is funny. Overall it is just a good little B-movie to stick in for some mindless entertainment.

In the future the world has been depleted to an incredibly cheap movie set, where bionic meat-heads live to beat each other up, whether it be in gladiator combat or priceless crystals which look like something you could buy at a garage sale. Oh and are our hero in question (Played not so well by Richard Marchini) must compete in a tournament that the winner gets to have a woman for whatever purposes they wish to fulfill with her. Karate Cop is a title that makes little sense, since while Richard Marchini knows martial arts and is a futuristic law enforcer, being that there is obviously no law in this phony futuristic scenario, can one still be considered a police officer, if you no longer have a public to serve? Such philosophical questions are wasted on useless movies such as this. The main reason we watch this is for the involvement of one said David Carradine, too bad he is barely in it, which of course is a gigantic letdown. Also why do bad Mad Max rip off have to be this putrid? The fight sequences themselves aren't very good but the worst thing about this is just how deadly dull this thing is to watch. Still there is no denying the unintentional laughs that come from the unconvincing sets and special effects which look as if they were filmed on a budget lower than most pornos.

* out of 4-(Bad)

Thinking of the title of this film and the last film I do believe they should have been swapped. This one should have been Omega Cop and the other one Karate Cop, because he was not the last cop in the previous film, but he is here! What do we get, pretty much a film that is sort of a sequel, but at the same time it ignores the previous film's ending altogether. Still set in a strange future where the depletion of the ozone has caused crazies; however, they do not even bother doing a solar flare scene. They also copy Mad Max a lot in this one right down to the sawed off shotgun and leather.

Last we saw Omega Cop who is now Karate Cop he was in the mountains with three very attractive for an apocalypse girls swimming! Well forget that, because either they ignored that scene or Karate Cop is actually gay and decided he like roaming around the city looking at all the leather clad rejects from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome! Another girl needs his help as her totally tall blonde girlfriend dies while taking too long choking someone on a chain rather than watching her back and soon he must find a key component for a teleporter which is always underlined like I misspelled it and apparently not a recognized word even though I've heard the word since 1987's The Fly and which makes absolutely no sense existing in a film like this as I am doubting something like that could be made and things still be awful. Then again it does not make any sense why Karate Cop did not just unload both barrels of his shotgun into the henchman Snaker as that would have saved him a lot of trouble as I'm pretty sure the other dudes would have just left had he killed Snaker from the get go. However, then we would not have seen fat dude and his Thunderdome or rather his narrow fighting trench and super strong henchman that feels no pain from anyone except Karate Cop...

This film is like a lot of those sequels to cheap films in that it does some things different, but you are still watching the same crap with a lower budget so it's not quite as good. In the last film we get Adam West and in this one we get David Caradine because this film has a lower budget so you get a less polished and well known actor. Terror Within had George Kennedy and the sequel had R. Lee Ermey, same concept. They did okay though as far as the action scenes as they were actually about like the first film and there was a better duel at the end than in Omega Cop.

So, this is a sequel that should have been called either Karate Cop II had the first film been called Karate Cop or this one should of been Omega Cop seeing as he keeps saying in this film he is the last cop. All in all, it is pretty much the same film except with less attractive girls the hero keeps picking up throughout the city as he did in the first film. Seriously though, why would he have left the mountains and those women? We deserve an answer as ignoring it insults all of us!

This is a real bad movie. I can live with bad movies, but when it's a bad sequel to a bad original, than apparently the makers choose not to learn. Even when it's your own movie and you're proud of it, you just have to admit that the original was a bad film.

I gave this movie a 3, instead of a 1, but only because they got this movie made and released with practically no budget, which I respect. But this collection of bad acting, bad fighting, no story etc. on tape deserves no better point.

The only enjoyable thing is Michael M. Foley (Lincoln's champion) who seems to enjoy his part (bad as it is) and someone who enjoys his role is fun to watch.

But for fans of sci-fi, there is none. For fans of martial arts, there are no good fights. You may skip this.