Sword of Heaven

My review was written in December 1985 after a screening at UA Twin theater in Manhattan.

"Sword of Heaven" is an idiotic action picture that attempts to mix the martial arts ingredients with a touch of fantasy and a lot of B-movie cliches. California-lensed offering is being self-distributed theatrically by home video indie TWE, with its obvious best market being in home video stores.

Tadashi Yamashit toplines as Tadashi, a Japanese cop on vacation in California, where he lends his martial arts expertise to Irish pal Patrick (Gerry Gibson) of the L. A. P. D. Patrick is investigating the murders of millionaires who have been subjected to extortion threats, masterminded by fellow cop Cal (Wynston A. Jones). Cal is using the money to equip a paramilitary force to fight crime, led by martial arts wiz Dirk (Mel Novak).

An extraneous fantasy element is injected into this crime format, as Tadashi helps a pretty prostitute Satoko (played by Mika) retrieve a magical glowing sword, forged 400 years ago by Zen priests from a meteorite to fight the forces of evil. The sword has been in her family's care, but is now possessed by Cal and Dirk. Other major protagonist is Satoko's pimp Cain (hammily overplayed by Joe Randazzo).

This nonsensical storyline, which relies heavily on coincidences, is an excuse for okay chase sequences, dull dialog and rather flat martial arts fights (including a minor final reel appearance by champ Bill (Superfoot) Wallace).

Yamashita is okay physically, but is more convincing when cast a a villain than as a tough guy. The glowing sword special effect is inconsistently applied, appearing in only some shots.

The first hour of "Sword Of Heaven" is disjointed and nonsensical: we seem to be watching the "plots" of two different movies, one about an ancient sword with mystical powers made out of a comet (those powers don't seem to go beyond glowing in blue, however), the other about a serial killer whose victims are mostly rich people who have been blackmailed but refuse to pay up. An Irish police detective is on the serial killer case, and what do you know, his Japanese friend and martial arts instructor at the police academy is the one who has to protect the sword and deliver it to its rightful owner. The first hour is basically filler, but in the last 20 minutes we finally get some decent martial arts encounters as the hero, Tadashi Yamashita, has to fight a succession of henchmen one-on-one and sometimes one-on-two before getting to the main villain. Yamashita certainly has some moves, and there is a pretty neat beheading there as well. Also we get this amusing exchange:

• "Where did you learn all these acrobatics?"

• "Old Bruce Lee movies!"

• "You should be watching 007 instead"

The last 20 minutes almost redeem the movie. (*1/2)