Fatal Deviation

I was once seen walking around with one shoe on, upon being asked if I lost a shoe, I responded "No, I found one." This transexisential thought-process was a result of watching this film.

How James 'Jimmy' Bennett hasn't went onto further his career in Hollywood is more to do with his beliefs that he wishes to remain in Ireland and boost the Irish film economy.

All the classic ingredients of an amazing action film are contained in this mementous masterpiece: amazing CGI effects that were partly done on a Commodore 64, insane stunts, a beautifully narrative and the jaw-droppingly stunning Paudie Greene as the leading lady who, for some factual movie trivia, actually came 12th in the Limmerick Rural Lovely Gurls competition in 1997. It even stars Mickey Graham. The seminal pop-singer and 'Nice One' from Boyzone. Mikey shows why he replaced Colin 'Feckin' Farrell in the line-up and shows he can compete with anyone in front of the camera.

This film was touted for the foreign film award at the Oscars and rightly so.

From now on I will no longer be wearing my Megadeth t-shirt, but will be wearing the Fatal Deviation t-shirt I got for signing up to the fan club.

Thank you, Fatal Deviation....the lessons learned from this film can, if watched by more people, boost this country's economy single-handedly out of recession and allow me to continually drink Dark Destroyers while watching this film.

1998's Fatal Deviation is an Irish direct to video martial arts film written and starring tike sized fighter, James P. Bennett, im going to be frank, this movie is what I call "A beautiful failure" this movie is horrible in every facet, The acting, the soundtrack, the stunts, the story, the dialog, and the film quality are all at best laughable, but with all this ridiculousness it finds...zen if you will, much like other films in its category (at least to me) The Room, Troll 2, Hobgoblins, and The animated Titanic films, Final Deviation transcends horrible film making to the point that you are forced to enjoy it as you belt out laughing... I suggest everyone watch it but only if you are in the mood for a funny and down right silly time (its free on youtube).

Fatal Deviation (1998) 8/10 (for all the wrong reasons)

A strong effort by Martial Arts enthusiast James Barnett and his pub friends despite having no budget and no knowledge of how to light or edit a movie, nor about how to capture sound.

A solid 7.

I don't know how the Irish martial arts cinematic scene is doing, these days, but I would not be surprised if the last 17 years have not been enough time to recover from this debacle. To be certain, FATAL DEVIATION – apparently the first Irish martial arts film – is a no-budget feature that deserves some slack given its obvious limitations, but I just couldn't find any fun in it to justify a higher rating. This is a simple movie made with the most basic means, but unless you like "bad" films for the sake of badness, I can't recommend it to you.

The story: A young martial artist (James Bennett) returns to his hometown to avenge the death of his father at the hands of a murderous drug lord (Michael Regan).

The only substantial thing the film has to its credit is its lead star. James looks great and has some cool moves, and I was genuinely surprised to realize that he's had nothing resembling a solo career since this picture...but then I remembered that the world already has a Jean-Claude Van Damme. Admittedly, no Caucasian karate star can avoid being compared to Van Damme, but both Bennett and the filmmakers go out of their way to make this as much of a JCVD homage/knockoff as possible. Bennett's character (1) must avenge a family member, (2) enters a tournament, (3) is trained by a master, (4) performs the splits, (5) performs helicopter kicks, and (6) must topple an unbeatable opponent.* Aside from such general resemblances, there are several blatant lifts from HARD TARGET, and man! – does it ever look silly to see these guys trying to ape John Woo's style without a penny to their name.

However, the vast majority of the film is unambitious to a fault. On one hand, I commend the filmmakers for knowing their limitations and keeping the plot as basic as possible, but on the other, it's disappointing that they did not exploit the creative freedom intrinsic to indie filmmaking a little more. But perhaps I am asking for too much, because these guys really don't have much to work with: there isn't a skilled actor among the cast and the technical limitations of the filming equipment are apparent in every poorly-lit and color-blinking shot. The fight scenes are the only aspect captured with anything resembling flair, but despite their quantity, few fights are filmed well enough to stand out and few fighters other than Bennett have enough screen time to make an impression.

Despite its short runtime, FATAL DEVIATION has a meandering pace that makes it a chore to watch, and the odd pop-polka soundtrack certainly did not help me pass the time faster. Simply stated, this movie is no triumph. While I would be delighted to see James Bennett headline another feature, I desperately hope for any kind of a budget for the poor guy.

*Credit to the original "Van Damme Checklist" belongs to Jason of Amazon.com.

I think I read somewhere that this is the first Irish martial arts movie ever - I'm guessing it probably has the distinction of being the last as well. It stars James Bennett, who is Ireland's answer to Tonny Tulleners. His acting level makes Van Damme appear like Richard Burton but I am guessing he was hired more for his martial art moves. It does have to be said though that the fight sequences are absolutely ludicrous and the hero has a mysterious mentor who seems to be a magical monk from a forest. The film itself has been shot on video and, consequently, it truly looks appalling. Story-wise, like this genre in general, its generic in the extreme - its sort of like Kickboxer or something. Ultimately, it is kind of interesting seeing what an Irish martial arts action movie is like - it's sort of like a low end chopsocky flick...but worse. But fair play to them, they made a movie.