Angel of Destruction

An action B-flick, shot in the Philippines, and showcasing the talents of '90s starlet Maria Ford. She plays a woman investigating her sister's murder who finds himself up against mafia goons and a hulking serial killer with a penchant for misogyny. This trashy low budgeter was shot in the Philippines and contains surprisingly satisfying and crunchy fight scenes alongside gratuitous nudity throughout, a topless fight scene included. The actor who plays the murderer, a very tall blond chap, gives a horrible performance but certainly has an imposing screen presence and the film certainly makes good use of it.

This movie is overacted, and it's great! If you like watching B movies this is a great one. The line that sticks in my mind and will stick in yours once you see it because of the ho-hum delivery "did your father rape you?" as if she is asking if stamps still cost $.32. This is an example of a film that if the actors were replaced with mainstream actors would cause the film to suck, but the way it is so overly done makes it funny and entertaining. If you feel like making fun of a movie this is the one to rent.

Unlike the reviewers below (who are probably just looking for a larger set of knockers on display), I am GLAD Maria Ford took over the lead in this film. She plays tough undercover cop Jo Alwood, who is out to avenge her sisters death at the hands of a serial killer. This serviceable exploitation story is a staple of the Roger Corman studios (look way back to the early 70s and TNT JACKSON), but this film would not be half as entertaining if not for the infinite talents of the leading lady.

Aside from just being a gorgeous and sexy lady, Maria is one of most talented, most watchable B-movie actresses of all time. As adept at high kicks and convincingly kicking sleazy male butt as she is at dramatic moments AND delivering her Clint Eastwood-style bad-ass dialogue, one must wonder...Is there anything this lovely lady cannot do well? Ms. Ford is terrific with or without her clothes on and carries this entire picture from beginning to end. It is a true shame she has seemingly retired. I know she will be sorely missed by late night cable and video watchers. Does anyone know what happened to her?

The film in general? Well, I can promise you you won't bored! There's action, blood, lots of laughs, good one-liners, nudity, explosions, music video sequences, severed fingers and much much more.

Not a great film, but enough to waste a few hours pleasantly. usual storyline featuring a seriel killer and a high kicking karate kidette who is out to revenge the murder of her sister.

Maria Ford as the lead is OK and her fight scenes are adequate but not great - she even high kicks 5 guys topless at one point...but my beef with this is why her and not Charlie Spradling, who plays her sister, who dies early on whilst remaining fully clothed throughout! After all Charlie has a much better bod than Maria!

Anyway. Worth a rent but not a buy.

Spoilers included:

First things first, this is not as "good" movie by any stretch of imagination, but it's so campy and Maria Ford is so sexy in the lead that it holds tons of entertainment value.

It starts with one guy and a woman heading up to an apartment. He tells her he's left something in the car and she flashes her breasts out and says "You better be quick". That is just the start of the nudity, and the start of how silly this movie gets. This guy proceeds into a room of around 7 guys and proceeds to attack them, and says to the last one standing "You left me and my men in Angola, I didn't like that." or something along those lines and proceeds to throw him out a window.

It then moves onto showing 2 "controversial" female performers on stage. Shortly afterwards, Delilah (the main performer) receives a womans finger with an odd looking ring on it. She presumes it's a death threat, and hires female cop Brit Alwood as her bodyguard. However, the hit-man that her boss has hired for her, has followed Delilah to the location of Brit Alwoods office. After the 2 girls have left, Brit gets a phonecall from her sister Jo (Maria Ford) and she's thrilled to tell her that she's been hired as Delilah's bodyguard. However, while deep in conversation the hit-man comes in and strangles Brit on the phone cord. So now the work of the hit-man Robert Kell is PERSONAL! As usual, there has to be some personal insult against our hero(ine) to make a revenge movie.

After Delilah finds out Brit is dead, she decides to hire her sister Jo (Maria Ford), as her bodyguard. Meanwhile, Jo meets Aaron, Brit's ex boyfriend/partner and just notices the ring logo resembles that of a local sleazy bar. Together, they visit the bar, and Jo asks the barman for info, he's as you predicted, rude and unhelpful, she then asks a customer who tears the sheet of paper up. She explodes at this guy, and what follows is a hilarious barfight of a sexy blonde taking out a bunch of redneck thugs. The fight scenes aren't very convincing as she successfully takes out guys far bigger than herself with no problem, but it's great fun to watch and it is more believable than garbage like Charlie's Angels!

So later on, a bunch of guys appear at the door of Delilah and her performing parters house, while Jo is in the bathroom just getting ready for sleep. Just while their arriving, she catches on and proceeds to take them down while TOPLESS. I loved this scene, it really made me laugh VERY hard. The sheer silliness of it, and the fact it's so obviously exploitive.

In between her and Aaron checking out Robert Kell's hideout from the help of a mercenary friend of his and Aaron getting the crap beaten out of him by Kell, Kell kidnaps Delilah and blackmails Jo into going onto the stage naked or else Delilah dies. Oh please!

So afterwards, we get another bunch of guys failing to take out Jo, this time in a gun battle, in which her boss who hired Kell to get her killed dies. Afterwards, she heads to the house of Delilah and Reena (her performer parter) to find her tied to a chair, she then tells her where Kell has taken Delilah, which is to an old disused prison. What follows is a bunch of inept guys who fail to use their weapons properly and Jo finally reaching Kell, and Aaron checking himself out of hospital in order to help Jo take down Kell. In a brief fight between Jo and Kell, she comes off worse and then Aaron shoots at Kell, while Delilah unties herself and hits him over the head with a plank of wood. Now dazed and weak, Jo spin kicks him a few times, knocking him down a large drop and sending him to his death and says "That was for my sister." Yep, not a cliché in sight.

Overall, this is NOT a good movie but it sure is fun. The acting is over the top, the production values are simple, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. However, it gave me a great laugh, partly to see a sexy blonde bimbo taking out a bunch of redneck thugs, and partly because it was so stupid and campy. However, for a Corman flick it could be so much worse.

I'll let you work out a rating from your point of view. If your stuck in on a Friday night while all your friends are out and this is on TV, then go and watch it. If you're ever bored and there's nothing else, hell, just watch it. It'll be the greatest fun you've had looking at your TV screen in a while. If you've got something big planned on a night it's on TV, then don't bother.

I still can't figure out what rating I'd give it, it's badly made, silly and rather predictable, but it's fun, and I suppose that's all that matters in the end.

I'd love to see Maria Ford do more stuff like this!