Firepower

What can a say. Firepower is the personification of B grade action that is very entertaining. For lovers of the action genre this movie is a must have for your collection, especially if you are a wrestling fan also.

I stumbled across the movie whilst researching Gary Daniels filmograghy on this site. After reading on fans review of the movie and its villain I knew I had to buy it.

Chad McQueen is OK in the leading role and while he comes across as a poor mans version of Tom Sizemore, he does a solid job which his father would be proud of.

Gary Daniels as always come to the table with a great physique and good fighting sequences. HOWEVER, the show is stolen by one man...The Swordsmen. Without doubt The Sworsdmen (Ultimate Warrior) is the greatest villain to ever grace an action movie. While his only words throughout the film are 'Arggghhhh' he delivers them better than anyone and his on screen presence in undeniable and rivalled by none.

The only bad thing about this movie as that the The Swordsmen wasn't in more scenes. When the Swordsmen is not fighting in the 'deathring' and decapitating others with his fists and blade, he is walking around the 'Hellzone' shirtless, only wearing an apocalypitic leather trench coat. Sooo intimidating and cool it has you screaming for more.

Go see this movie now...Arggghhh

This is one of those films that falls under the category of "so bad it's good". This is a piece of pungent cheese of the sort that shows up regularly on MST3K, rife with laughable acting and wafer-thin plot. It takes place in not-so-distant future Los Angeles, where a desperate metropolis has tried to deal with rampant crime by creating a "Zone of Personal Freedom" in the middle of the city, where basically anything goes. Of course, this doesn't work, and a shipment of AIDS vaccine is hijacked and taken into the Zone. Two tough LA cops go undercover to find it, and the plotline is quickly lost as they become fighters in this weird Thunderdome-like gladiator tournament run by the guy who (surprise) stole the vaccine. Terribly bad, but a whole lot of fun to watch and laugh at. Two bright spots are martial arts action hero Gary Daniels as the only cop in LA with an Australian accent, and Jeff Hellwig (pro wrestling's Ultimate Warrior) as a tournament combatant. He's only got two lines in the whole movie ("Get me out of here now!" and "Arrrrrgh!") but he delivers them better than anyone else in the film.

Firepower is the kind of film that fits right in with the wrestling crowd. It's story is average but the action is top notch. You even have an ex-wrestler in the film. The fights are well done and Chad McQueen does an OK job in his role as does the rest of the cast. It is definitely for late night crowd.

So directors, explain yourself. Why did you call this movie firepower when the story has NOTHING to do with firepower, huh???

With that out of the way, this movie sux. The basic story is that the cops have made a 'zone of personal freedom' in the middle of LA, where there is no police assistance provided. But, those crafty criminals (i thought it would have been pretty obvious), they commit crimes and then run and hide in hellzone. So anyway, one time, the most feared gang leader, the swordsman (ooooohhhhh) is arrested and then his crooks break him out of jail in a bloody attack on the police station. Then, these two cops decide they have no choice but to go in after them.

This is where the movie loses it completely. Why the hell do they need to go in after the crooks into hellzone? Basically, they arrive, see a fighting ring, watch for 10 minutes (the audience is treated to the whole 10 minutes of fighting), and then completely forget about their mission of revenge and decide that their only option is to enter the death ring competition and FIGHT! Apparently this is to infiltrate the baddies (like ANYONE cares, its actually legal anyway), but they achieve nothing as they have numerous oppurtunities to get the baddies. So basically, the ENTIRE movie is fighting. Yep, they soon jettison the story and have non stop death ring matches. I guess i should have seen it coming with a WWF wrestler, but still.........

Anyway, to sum it up i wrote a haiku:

This movie sux hard It has no story and that what a crap movie.

I hope this assists you in making the decision not to watch it (not that you'll be able to find it anyway........)

Some movies just don't give a $#!+ They hit your screen kicking, punching, shooting and sleasing....just the way I like'em. It has its flaws and inconsistencies, like failing to look futuristic especially, in the car department. This movie excels in the action department though, with fantastic martial arts on display by people who actually know what they are doing on or off screen. The late wrestling star The Ultimate Warrior is the menacing bad guy and he plays his part well by breaking bones, sword slashing, and headbutting all the while looking like Dee Schneider from Twisted Sister. Chad McQueen, only son of the late great Steve McQueen plays the dutiful cop well enough but I was unconvinced by his performance in this movie's version of the Thunderdome. 6 stars Check it out late at night when you are looking for an escape from reality.