Martial Outlaw

This is a pretty good martial arts movie. The story is good as well. Jeff Wincott is a decent actor and a really talented martial artist. The fight in the gym is awesome, definitely the best fight in the movie. The other fights are good too. The only problem is the movie ends too suddenly without enough closure to the story. Other than that the movie is good.

This is one of those rare movies kind of hard to come by. Not too much attention is being given to movies like this by DVD and bluray companies and I just hope they release more titles like this one. It is a great b production martial flick. Jeff Wincott and his brother are both cops being after the Russian mafia. They are both great martial artists, but one is also secretly cooperating with the mafia boss and taking bribe. I give this movie 10 stars because it has all I would look for in a mid 90ies b production, good never-ending fights, excellent plot and no nudity to take your attention away. This is probably Jeff Wincott's best movie.

This is a video classic. No matter which video store I go into, I can usually find it. The action is non-stop and the stunts are pretty good. Not much in the acting or dramatic department but who cares when the action is this hot. Jeff Wincott (from the Miami Vice knockoff "Night Heat")plays an FBI agent trying to track down a Russian drug kingpin while trying to deal with his ailing ex-cop father and crooked LA cop brother. Wincott's made a name for himself doing these straight-to-video martial arts flicks like Cynthia Rothrock and Don "the Dragon" Wilson. This is his best. Some of the others are "The Last Man Standing" (not the Bruce Willis film) and "Open Fire".

DEA agent Kevin White ( Jeff wincott) has followed the movements of drug-dealing ex-KGB kingpin Nikolai Rodchenko (Vladimir Skomarovsky) from Moscow to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, where Kevin crosses paths with his older brother Jack, a maverick LAPD cop (Gary Hudson) who attempts to become involved in the operation, placing both brothers' lives at risk from a group of dangerous Soviet martial arts experts.

Slightly predictable yet an involving slice of high kicking mayhem with a good story and an interesting angle of two contrasting brothers in their approach to law and order, but the main attraction here is the plethora of fights, plenty of spin kicks and roundhouses - Wincott, who has a slight resemblance to Lee Van Cleef, is very skilful in his moves. He isn't a bad actor, either, though Gary Hudson as his duplicitous brother has a meatier role.

If you have never seen the movie 'Office Space', there is a scene where the main dude says "I'm gonna go home and watch kung-fu. Do you watch kung-fu?" after deciding that he could care less about work. Several hours ago, I was faced with the same situation: Do I study for my exams, or do I some watch kung-fu movies? Well, after some consultation and noticing the un-watched copy of 'Martial Outlaw' sitting on my desk, I came to the conclusion that I would be better off watching some kung-fu. That would come to be the best decision I've ever made.

Jeff Wincott plays Kevin White, a DEA agent, master of the ways of arse kicking, and not-quite-yet a master of the snappy comeback. On the trail of a Russian drug-lord named Niko (Vladimir Skomarovsky), Kevin ends up back in his hometown of Los Angeles, where his brother Jack (Gary Hudson) is a cop, and also master of the ways of arse kicking. Jack is quite jealous of his little brother: Kevin went to college, Kevin is a better fighter, Kevin is a higher paid and higher ranking cop, and Kevin has a more impressive physique. OK, the last one was a guess: Kevin removes his shirt at any opportunity, while Jack stays clothed for the whole movie. When Kevin arrives in town, Jack sees an opportunity to make a deal with Niko and walk away a millionaire.

The box makes a point of stating that 'Martial Outlaw' is "from the makers of 'Martial Law'" which might explain why the plots for both movies were... almost exactly the same. That's right, tweak a few details and 'Martial Law' becomes 'Martial Outlaw'. Awesome. Naturally, both the plot and acting in this are as weak as Jeff Wincott is ripped, but that is to be expected when watching a direct-to-video martial arts film. In fact, Gary Hudson sounds suspiciously like Bruce Campbell, the king of b-movies, through most of the film...

The action scenes are somewhat impressive, given the nature of the film. Small action movies are generally entertaining, but 'Martial Outlaw' could fool you into thinking that it came from Hong Kong in the 80s / early 90s. The fights aren't THAT good, but for a small action movie, they are well choreographed. Unfortunately, they degenerate into the pure silliness mastered by Hong Kong movies from the 70s. Still is more entertaining and better choreographed than nearly anything with a big budget that has come out of Hollywood recently. Awesome.

David Carradine is nowhere to be seen in this movie. On the other hand, Al Leong can be spotted doing his generic Asian bad guy thing. I guess an Al Leong appearance is always assumed for any American action movie.

'Martial Outlaw' is an entertaining action movie, but the only people who should watch it are the small group of action fans who have even heard of it. Bad plot and acting, along with rampant silliness would turn most people off - 6/10

Awesome count: The word 'awesome' was used twice in this review.