Final Impact

Better than expected. I actually thoroughly enjoyed this low-budget, straight-to-video film. A few surprises, as well. Lorenzo Lamas made a credible hero.

My review was written in January 1992 after watching the movie on a PM video cassette.

Actor Lorenzo Lamas continues to make inroads in the popular kick fighting genre with "Final Impact", a "Rocky V"-styled aging warrior picture.

After impressing in "Night of the Warrior", Lamas is cast as a cynical ex-champ who now manages fighters. Pushy young Michael Worth wants Lamas to pilot his career and Lamas agrees to do so, plotting to use Worth for his revenge against the current champ, Jeff Langton.

At times, the pic has a more serious, even somber, tone than usual for the format, though directors Joseph Merhi and Stephen Smoke include exploitation angles such as sexy female oil wrestlers in the opening segment.

Though he's not a bona fide champ in real life, Lamas brings an animation to his role that's often lacking in belt holders. Worth is a promising newcomer, and Lamas' wife Kathleen Kinmont provides convincing support. There's also a nice bit by Kathrin Lautner as a Las Vegas hooker who reduces Lamas' self-esteem to zero.

The fights, choreographed by Eric Lee, are frequent and unexceptional.

Very entertaining martial arts film, starring Lorenzo Lamas as a washed up fighter. The cast includes Kathleen Kinmont (Lamas' wife at the time) as his girlfriend and a very young Michael Worth as Lama's protégé, a skilled fighter heading to Las Vegas for the World Kickboxing championship. The filmmakers waste no time in setting the tone, B film nonsense, by opening the film with bikini clad models covered in oil entertaining bar patrons. This film is notable for the entertaining storyline (seen a hundred times before, but always fun), the nice fight scenes, and the very good performances (as far as B films go). Jeff Langton as the evil kickboxing character Jake is the type of villain that makes these films so much fun.

Both Lamas and Worth headed up their own MA films, but there are a few faces in Final Impact that did as well, starring as ring fighters are Gary Daniels and Art Camacho (who would go on to direct many MA films himself). And Mimi Lesseos, who was the lead in several MA films, has a small role as Jake's girlfriend. Joseph Merhi (himself an MA star) co-directs here, with Richard Pepin serving as cinematographer. Both men went on to form the now famous (and defunct) PM Entertainment.

This film is about an up and coming kickboxer, Danny (Michael Worth), who is trained by an ex-champ, Nick (Lorenzo Lamas), who also, it turns out, is a total idiot! And, an idiot with little in the range of acting.

Danny thinks he's ready for the big kickboxing tourney in Las Vegas. While he's good, he's also cocky and has a lot to learn. Nick takes him under his wing and very briefly trains him. Soon, Danny is kicking butt and doing great in the tournament....and Nick, inexplicably, starts acting like a total idiot. Can Danny win the big tournament even though his mentor has less common sense than a tomato?

This film is really good....and really bad. The martial arts are done well and Michael Worth is really good...though way too small to be a light heavyweight and fight with some of these opponents. But it looks good and he's impressive when in action. Lamas, in his limited fight scenes is pretty good. It's when it comes to story and acting it all falls apart. Too many cliches, too many times Lamas' character is an idiot and too little in the way of realism. Still, you don't watch a kickboxing movie because you expect an Oscar-contender! Brainless and enjoyable at the same time. My score of 3 might be a big generous.

Best scene in movie was the final big fight for the championship was very well done. The worst scenes were many.

Lorenzo Lamas stars as Nick Taylor a washed up kickboxer who trains a kid named Danny (Michael Worth) to fight the fighter (Jeff Langston) who humiliated him in this poor fight flick. Final Impact is a movie with a low degree of style and imagination making this one for only die hard martial arts junkies, however even the fightscenes are surprisingly sub-standard, making this a movie with no real worth.