Raw Target

I think this was shot in the Phillipines, and that some of the cast and crew were drugged out ex- pats who had worked on Apocalypse Now and never made it home. Many of the same also show up in American Kickboxer 2, including the producer, the star, and one of the editors. But whatever they were on, it somehow works. This film has weird, sometimes funny dialogue, and the action sequences are violent and effective. Everything gels, though it's often teetering on the edge of bad. There's even a fight that crashes through a movie set. It's wild.

Dale "Apollo" Cook is the star. He's sort of forgotten in kick boxing movie lore, hidden in the shadows of even Cynthia Rothrock, but he's not bad at all. His character really does seem like a Yank stuck in some horrible, mosquito infested no-man's land who has to fight his way out. That was probably his experience working on the film, too. I'm not recommending this for just anyone. I think you need to watch it late at night, while in the middle of some crazy binge, and you're experiencing intense clarity about life, and you just can't be bothered by any phony baloney pretentious BS.

This action martial arts flick stars Kickboxing Champion Dale " The Appolo" Cook in one of his last movies, not as good as " Fist of Steel" which was by far his best. That movie also had the American debut of Cynthia Kahn, which helped matters a lot. Not to many of Cook's movies have gotten any recognition, probably due to flooding of these kinds of productions are the time he was involved. The fights in this one are pretty good, I like the Nick Hall stuff although I always confuse him with Chris Cassamasa, who is another good martial artist who played Scorpion in "Mortal KOmbat". Bad filming and sound don't help matters either. Rent it and check your brain at the door of the video store and just enjoy the action.

There are some martial arts films that is solely that. In this film, there's everything in the film: martial arts, drama, comedy, action. Non-stop throughout the film. A martial artist goes to seclusion following the death of his opponent. His brother becomes a police detective years later. The guy who killed his brother, loses his brother after the competition. When he goes to a bar, he meets the owner. He would turn out to be his brother's killer. So the detective, and a DEA Agent working together to stop the guy.

The martial art cinematography was non-stop. There's some comedic aftermath. It has never lost its charm.

3 out of 5 stars.