Hard Hunted

Deep down inside, Andy Sidaris has his heart in the right place. He is one of the few American directors who seem to like - and take seriously - the "gorgeous women in action roles" genre. Too bad he doesn't have the talent to back up his ideas. His three obsessions in "Hard Hunted" are girls, guns and various means of transportation: about half of this movie is taken up by BORING scenes of people travelling by plane, helicopter, car or boat. The whole film seems somehow lacking in energy, as if Sidaris and everyone else involved was simply going through the motions. The only real pleasure is seeing the beautiful Roberta Vasquez in action mode - she has more to do here than in "Do or Die". (*)

Andy Sidaris movies are hard to differentiate. They all seem to follow the exact same template – action movies starring a host of playmates as ass-kicking special agents who are also not slow to remove their tops. Hard Hunted is more of the same. The success of the films in my eyes is always down to the women. The action movie element of the film is as rubbish as it always is in a Sidaris film. There's copious amounts of gun-play, fights and exploding helicopters but it's always very third rate thrills. In Hard Hunted the story revolves around the whereabouts of a small jade Buddha statuette that contains a nuclear trigger. The villain – played by Roger Moore's son – is after it and the babes try to prevent him from getting hold of it. And that's all you really need to know.

The girls are very nice to be fair. There are seven of them and they all find a reason to take their top off at some point. Every one of them is gorgeous to be perfectly honest but special mention should go to Ava Cadell and Becky Mullen, who play respectively, well, Ava and Becky. As a T&A film Hard Hunted is a success, as an action adventure it's completely lifeless.

My review was written in July 1992 after watching the film at the Planet Hollywood screening room in Midtown Manhattan.

One of the better entries in the "Malibu Express" series of action films, "Hard Hunted" is a quality mix of stunts and T&A. Opening in Arizona where it was partially filmed, pic should score in pay-cable and video. Filmmaking team of writer-director Andy Sidaris and producer Arlene Sidaris have created a brand name with seven features concerning a team of Hawaii-based female secret agents. First of these, "Malibu Express" with Sybil Danning, has been playing almost continuously for seven years on pay-cable.

"Hard Hunted" benefits from return appearances by most of the actors from earlier films in the series, including star Dona Speir in her sixth straight assignment. Partnered once again with Roberta Vasquez, she's thrust into this adventure while on vacation in Arizona.

The duo becomes unwitting pawns in villain R. J. Moore's quest to retrieve a jade Buddha containing a device that's used in atomic bombs, stolen from a Chinese lab.

The feds supporting the women are summoned to Hawaii to battle Moore, but the film ends in a stand-off with protagonists to settle the score in the next film in the series, "Fit to Kill".

Not withstanding some campy dialogue and Sidaris' trademark gratuitous nude scenes featuring lovely models, "Hard Hunted" develops a more serious tone than its predecessor films.

Particularly engrossing is the first reel or so in which newcomer Mika Quintard teams with stunning Carolyn Liu (introduced in the last film ("Do or Die") to steal the jade Buddha in action-packed suspenseful footage.

Other highlights include well-staged stunts involving a miniature attack helicopter manned by Moore's chief henchman, Al Leong, familiar as one of Brandon Lee's most imposing adversaries in the current release "Rapid Fire".

While initially used as alluring decoration, the women in Sidaris films are now quite convincing as action heroines, with both leads Speir and Vasquez solid in this department.

Roger Moore's son R. J. Moore makes a suave villain in his American feature debut, while Gregory Peck's son Tony is also in the cast as head good guy.

Filmin on numerous sites in Hawaii, Arizona and California belies the pic's modest budget.

Seventh in the "Bullets & Babes" series, has Lil Sidaris taking the directorial efforts off his daddy's hands. However it seems he doesn't have the directorial expertise that his father had pretty much honed by the time and the film suffers from it. Yea all the ingredients are there in spades, but there's something missing in this installment and it just didn't seem as fun as previous ones in the series. The plot be it what it may, has the L.E.T.H.A.L. chicks dealing with a nuclear trigger and averting tragedy once again or some such silly thing. Plots Commantary; Behind the scenes featurettes on "Hard Hunted" & "Return to don't really matter in these films. I loathed the singing (yes singing) portions of the film.

Eye Candy: Cynthia Brimhall, Ava Cadell, Carolyn Liu, Becky Mullen, Mika Quintard, Dona Speir, Donna Hamilton, Roberta Vasquez all get topless

My Grade: D

DVD Extras: Introduction with Andy and Julie Strain; Director's Savage Beach"; Joe Bob Briggs Interview; footage of an all nude Julie Smith; Production Stills; Sndy Sidaris filmography; web-links; Theatrical Trailer; and Trailers for 11 other Sidaris films

Easter Egg: an extra 23 seconds of all nude Julie Smith can be found hidden in the third Trailers menu

Well, this was the first Andy Sidaris movie I ever saw, and after seeing it I want more! This is a very underrated movie.. I can't see how anyone could dislike this one. Sure, the people who made this movie aren't big artists, but they know how to make a fun and entertaining movie.

I would compare this movie to the new Charlies Angels film, except this has 7 girls, and they all get naked! Theres lots of explosions and gunplay, sure, the lack of budget shows in them badly but that adds to the fun.

Although Dona Speir is top billed in the movie, Brimhall, Vasquez and Mullen are the hottest of the bunch. Oddly the only girl who is not so well endowed gets killed early in the film...

I would recommend Hard Hunted for everyone, at least to those who watch something like Temptation Island just to see boobies. This is much more fun than that, I promise.