carlos_b84

Due to the controversy involving a defaulted loan secured by the government of Guam, I had a particular interest in getting to watch this movie. More than the usual, being an Albert Pyun fan as I am.

Pyun goes back to the late 80's and early 90's with this movie, the days when he directed wooden martial artists like Jean Claude Van Damme, Olivier Gruner and Sasha Mitchell.

This movie revolves around a former kick-boxing champ turned sports photographer, and his peculiar ability to run into trouble wherever he goes. Funny enough, his name is Max Havoc. Mr. Havoc is sent to Guam for an easy job and to relax. BUt he runs into, first, with two troublesome teen sisters, one smart and one brain-dead (guess for which he fell?), and then with an entire Japanese organization, who's after a stolen jade dragon.

The lead is the Swiss nobody Mickey Hardt. He has the charisma of an amoeba, and his acting skills leave much to be desired. But this is not a dramatic piece, or the tale of an epic battle. This is a martial arts flick and in what regards kicking and punching and beating, Hardt does not disappoint. And despite this, Havoc is a well-natured fellow. Probably the guy every father'd want for her daughter (I just said that? Lame.) There're some strange surprises on the cast. Richard Roundtree ("SHaft") plays Havoc's former trainer now antique dealer. Carmen Elektra tries to "show her place" to Havoc during four scenes, for which she got one hundred grand. David Carradine plays Bill... again. All in automatic. Don't expect any acting shocking you.

Then there are these two sisters. Neither of them can act well and there's this strange lesbic trend in their scenes together. Not as evident as in Bill's...sorry, Carradine's assistants, and way too subtle.

Pyun's directing is normal here. The fights are well-choreographed yet there's an unnecessary over-repetition of the flashback scene that could have been done without. It lacks that special something though.

Far better than some action junk Lorenzo Lamas has done. It has good martial arts, nice scenes, beautiful views of Guam, plenty of girls in bikini, but you'll want to press MUTE when the sisters start talking. It's a watchable flick. For only one watch.

So, I finally got to see Albert Pyun's most recent effort. A strange western about a foreign woman (along with a bunch of local women) hunting down her ex (who happens to have impregnated the daughter of one of them) into a town haunted by a ghost who's sworn revenge over those women.

I was drawn by this film. Firstly, because it's Albert Pyun, and no matter how bizarre the film is, there's always something I find cool in his film. Secondly, the movie was shot in my country, and now checking with IMDb, it has an almost completely local cast.

Pyun abuses of the slow-motion effect in this movie. That and an excess of cutting during the "action" scenes produces annoyance. Other than that, the story was good, and it could have been improved with a better budget (no, I didn't say director). THere're tons of blood, deaths and gore too, which will please fans of horror/slasher movies.

Victoria Maurette, of whom I've noticed in stupid teen flicks, has left me stunned. I didn't know she could actually act, and matter of fact, I didn't even recognise her (again, thanks IMDb). The rest of the actors are OK too, especially the one playing Moebius Lockwood (who looks terrific), but she delivered quite a good performance. Too good actually.

This film should be held in the same light as Pyun's "Omega Doom". It has its resemblances and differences, some more noticeable than others. But they're both unusual, peculiar movies, which depart from standards.

Overall, it's watchable. Not a film to watch again, though. So much for a film which was supposedly the second part of a trilogy started with "Mean Guns", which is a film that I personally have watched at least 20 times, and I'd watch it 20 times more if I had the opportunity.

Albie, get back to that sort of flicks!

After the first two "Highlander" films, Christopher Lambert and Russell Mulcahy gathered again to make this thriller, written by Lambert himself. The story deals with a serial killer who severs off parts of his victims' bodies in order to rebuild the body of Christ. John Prudhomme (Lambert) and his partner (played by David Cronenberg) have to stop him.

Mulcahy's peculiar filming style provides a brilliant background for this film, which is sustained by Lambert, who gives a solid performance, as many of the films he did in this period ("Gideon", "Highlander:Endgame"). One thing is Christopher when acting, other when he's doing "heh-heh" all the time. These two should team more often. It's something which can fail only once... and we all know "Highlander II".

To a certain extent, the movie goes in the lines of "Se7en". However, many post-1994 films did that ("The Bone Collector", to name one). This is probably the best ripoff of all. Most of the bloody images occur during night, which is probably the time of the day in which Mulcahy excels, and it's probably not the best time to watch this film (specially in a stormy night).

Adviseable for all Lambert, Mulcahy, and serial killer movies fans. Unadviseable for all those who heap scorn on Lambert and his films, and purists who hate ripoffs.

Se7en!