Angel Town

Oliver Gruner is totally unknown to me. My friend showed me this film because he had seen Gruner in, what he called a pretty good sci-fi film, Nemesis. So as we watched this, we found ourselves fastforwarding through the BS drama parts just to get to the unbelievable action sequences. Gruner loves to kick and kick and kick. And kick! haha

Gruner character is a graduate student who is forced to stay in a ghetto close to the one that he grew up in. He finds himself watching after the boy who lives with him because he really wants to join in the Mexican gang that keeps tormenting his family. Instead of joining up, Gruner tells the boy to fight back (against a gang? too crazy). Gruner plays a typical Van Damme character who kills everyone (or maims them pretty bad) and works to rid his block of these gangmembers.

The plot was very cheesy and easy to think of. Gruner is probably not very well known because of his script-choosing if this movie is anything to compare possible choices to. This ghetto is pure hell and I enjoyed seeing the motley crew of characters go through it as if they have a chance against Gruner's character. The music was typical action music (thumping pianos and timpani, swelling guitars) which actually wasn't as bad as I make it sound. The director really needed to keep the action going instead of taking a break every 5 minutes for a tense family moment.

Ultimately, I gave it a 4/10 because it really tried to be an average action film for Oliver Gruner to star in, but the overall feel of the film leaves you wanting more closure on what you just saw.

Angel Town is an excellent example of a bad bad film: not just so bad its good, or so incompotent its funny, but so bad it is really, really bad. The action scenes are boring, the acting is elementary school level at best, and the production values are non-existent.

Olivier Gruner was being promoted as some kind of martial arts champion around the time this film was released here, but I've never heard anything about him since. I'm not surprised about that, really, because he has even less personality than Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal, which is saying quite a lot. Needless to say, Gruner has never made it to the A-list since then.

The editing on this film is attrocious. I think they used the same footage of Olivier and the gangbangers running down the same alley way at least six times. The cinematography is so flat and dry that it looks like it was filmed using an old Betamax video camera from the 1970s. The story is strictly by-the-numbers.

All in all, don't waste your time. Go out and rent a Van Damme or Seagal film instead. At least they appear in films where the director, editor, and screenwriter know what the hell they're doing.

I thought this was a good movie, and even if the acting was bad..If you are a true martial arts fan..Then you should definitely get this movie if given the chance..And just a little more information Is the star Olive Gruner ( Was a kick-boxing Champion at one time). Every martial arts fan should own this movie...I think the action was good..And i have seen this movie and been trying to find it for years and now after all this time iam going to be able to add this great, low budget, martial arts movie to my collection..And even though it does have its down faults It is still one of the best martial arts films I have seen...

Angel Town (1990) stars Oliver Gruner who plays a Jean-Claude wannabe who's on a college scholarship to an L.A. University (does USC have a Savate Team?). He rents a room from a troubled single mother who's son is constantly threatened by a local street gang. They want him to join them but they do a very bad job trying to convince him (daily harassments and beatings). His troubles remind Oliver of his life back home (he too had a trouble past as a youth). When the gang starts to mess with him (they affectionately call him "Frenchie") Oliver goes "Segal" on those tough punks. The movie has a cheap, sleazy feel to it (but it was shot on film). The acting is either horrible (Gruner makes JCVD look like a world class actor) or over the top and the fight scenes are ho-hum at best. Surprisingly, this film is strangely enjoyable. It has an eeriness that compels viewers of bad videos to sit down and watch.

Recommended for bad movie lovers.

Angel Town is an action karate film, you have pegged as an average typical actioner, if having watched Van Damme films, or other B films. But it does you one better, and I think you'll be sort of pleasantly surprised here. Granted, it isn't a great film, but at the end of it, it left me a pretty upheld opinion of a better quality movie. A lot of it, has to do with it's likeable lead, and of course another real life karate fighter, who of course is not an actor. French hunk, Gruner was a good choice for this. He plays an university student, really stuggling for attain good uni accomodation. With very limited choice, sadly, but gladly for many other people, he resides in a East LA, gang controlled neighbourhood. I will say this, as far as gang movies go, this one was pretty scary, and AT, becomes quite an intense, and exciting drama, with some tragedies, which is all too apparent in real life. Acting is standard, poor, but we have some better players like Saldana, who of course falls for Gruner, who's taken residence in her Grandmother's house, and has become more involved in her and her son's life. Another unforgettable, great acting performance is the guy playing the impossible, rude, very judgemental, and intolerable professor. I liked the ending too, though I have seen these endings before, but I really appreciated in this. Low acting ability aside, it would of been good to see Gruner in more stuff. Near the start, before taking off to LA, is one of the most comical, original funeral scenes you'll ever see. Before Gruner's entrance, a Chicano in a car is watching, gang bullying in process, but he only reappears near the end, in the gang fight. What gives?