Prophet

In the mystical land of B-movies, where martial arts meet sci-fi, lies "Prophet," a 1998 gem that's part brain-bending thriller, part flying fists extravaganza.

Let's start with the pros. The premise of "Prophet" isn't half bad, folks. It's a semi-decent sci-fi thriller that manages to blend tried and tested sci-fi ideas with ancient martial arts. Picture "Premonition" meets "Enter the Dragon," but on a shoestring budget. The action sequences are where this film shines brightest. The martial art choreography is surprisingly well done, delivering a flurry of punches and kicks that would make Bruce Lee proud. Even Don "The Dragon" Wilson manages to break free from his wooden reputation and deliver a performance that doesn't feel like he's reading cue cards off-camera.

But, oh boy, do we have some cons to unpack. First off, let's address the elephant in the room-or rather, the poorly written female lead. It's as if the casting director thought acting talent was measured by cup size. Her performance is about as convincing as a rubber chicken doing Shakespeare. We're not sure if she's supposed to be a kick-ass agent or eye candy, but either way, it's a swing and a miss.

Then there's the story. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good plot twist as much as the next cinephile, but "Prophet" feels like it was written on the back of a cocktail napkin during happy hour. The major hole in this plot was the premise that everyone needs to be eliminated? Who knows! Maybe the writers thought it sounded cool without bothering to explain why. It's like trying to follow a treasure map drawn by a toddler-it leads nowhere, and makes little sense.

Despite its flaws, "Prophet" manages to entertain in a guilty pleasure sort of way. It's like that movie you stumble upon late at night when you can't sleep, and suddenly you're sucked into a vortex of cheesy dialogue and over-the-top fight scenes. You know it's bad, but you can't look away.

In the end, "Prophet" is wild, ridiculous, and oddly captivating. So grab your popcorn, suspend your disbelief, and enjoy the ride. After all, as they say in the movies, "It's not the destination, it's the journey." And boy, is this journey a wild one.

There are few action stars I watch for their acting skills and Don Wilson is certainly not one of them. But if he is put in a picture with a weak and incoherent story and action scenes that are so lame and poorly choreographed, they make you weep, you have one bad movie. Don't watch it unless you enjoy guys shooting at each other at 20 feet with no cover for minutes and missing their targets, Don and his 'partner' parking their car and strolling leisurely although they are closely followed by the bad guys, Don leaving 2 rounds in a gun to allow the murder of an innocent man, just to expose a traitor.

At one point two bad guys corner Don against a wall with a car, but he is fast enough to duck under the car before he is hit. The two guys pull back the car and naturally Don is gone. There is nothing else around, no other cars or hiding places. But the two guys get both out of the car, pull their guns, walk towards the wall and stare at the floor where Don should have been lying squashed. Don of course stands right on the car's roof and shoots them from there.

There are many more scenes that insult the intelligence or strain the patience of the viewer (in fact there are few that don't). So unless you want to make a study of how many mistakes a director can cram into an 83 minute film, avoid this one at all cost.

THE PROPHET is an action thriller with sci-fi elements, starring the one and only Don "The Dragon" Wilson and directed by Fred Olen Ray. With a pedigree of that calibre, how could it possibly go wrong?

The answer is that it doesn't, and THE PROPHET does deliver the goods in fulfilling its aims, but it's not a particularly good movie regardless. Olen Ray has always been a cheapie director and that's no exception here, with little thought or sense having gone into location photography, staging, or storyline.

Still, as an action showcase for Wilson, this could be a lot worse. His acting is very poor but his fight scenes are a lot of fun, and there are plenty of them. Being an Olen Ray movie, the director also finds time for cameos from Barbara Steele and Robert Quarry, but most of the attention is on pneumatic starlet Alexander Keith, who has to be seen to be believed.

I am not a movie critic in part because I don't tend to be critical of movies. If I find the movie even halfway believable, with a plot that is interesting, I am easily satisfied. However, I only continued to watch this movie to see how much more ridiculous some of the scenes would be. For a bunch of characters who are supposed to be highly experienced operatives of various Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, it was amazing to me how badly they all shot. In one scene three agents come into a room and fired automatic rounds continuously for nearly 30 seconds with no target in sight, only to have the hero suddenly enter from a side room and kill all three with a revolver before any could return fine. While the hero is so fast and accurate with a revolver in one scene, he has a shoot out in a train car with another villain and neither can hit the other while emptying their guns. The same is true in another shootout in a hallway in which they are only 15 feet apart. The acting of Don Wilson and a few of the others is passable, but most of the second tier cast is amateurish at best. Don't expect to see Oscar performances in this movie.

i would like to see don teamed up with a hong kong movie crew that way we would all see his potential instead of van damn of the late eighties style... the only other thing that struck me about this movie is that it appears to be quite similar to a certain television series. But apart from that not a bad effort...alot better then his previous films *two thumbs up*