Back in Action

The first of two b-movie actioners Billy Blanks & Roddy Piper did in the 90's, 'Back In Action' is a solid ride. Good fight scenes, tons of bullet play, car chases, stuff blowing up in the standard story affair about cops, the mob, drugs & kidnapping people. Sure it's cheesy, don't reinvent the wheel, but heck if I didn't enjoy the trip.

Det. Rossi (Roddy Piper) is part of an undercover drug buy that goes bad while Billy (Billy Blanks) an ex-special forces cab driver tries to rescue his sister who's involved with one of the dealers. The hard nosed cop wants to bring down these men after they escape and ultimately their boss Kasajian (Canadian actor Nigel Bennett). While Billy has to continually come to his sisters aid (whenever she wants it or not) and the two men unofficially team up to settle all scores.

There's a fun dynamic going on here with Billy being the clean, sharp martial artist and Piper being a straight up bruiser who delivers a satisfying wrestling move or two during the flick. They don't see eye to eye at first and there's this reoccurring gag of Blanks kicking the gun outta Rowdy's hand whilst they brawl. Notch up a decent explosion or two alongside the fisticuffs, gunplay too.

'Back in Action' had a box cover back in the VHS dtv days that made me steer clear of it. Now in hindsight, I don't know why I did. It's obviously not of a high budget or housing a fresh story, but the action going down on the streets, alleys, piers of Toronto is fun. Really solid b-movie fun.

Just a minor note: some have said Back in Action was a direct-to-video release in the U.S. which isn't accurate. It was released for a brief run in the Southwest in 1993, playing at United Artists theaters including the University Quartet in Little Rock. Based on my memory, however, the lure of the 35mm prints did not attract huge audiences although I think it made a second week of release at one location as a split run. While Shaprio-Glickenhaus Entertainment did handle the Foreign Distribution Sales, it arranged with United International Pictures (UIP) for the domestic theatrical run in the U.S., probably just for the video store campaign as much as anything.

A vigilante trying to clean up the streets and save his sister from a life of crime, with a maverick cop not prepared to play by the rules. Banks, and Piper, provide a perfect buddy movie.

Their chemistry shows on screen, which is why they would re-united a few years later. The plot is not overly complicated, a simple drugs operation with a powerful overload, mean and incompetent head honchos, and inept muscle, perfect combination.

A good movie for one of those days when you are ill and need to spend the day on the sofa. It is raining outside but Banks and Piper bring a little sunshine to the day.

A detective whose partner is murdered by drug dealers teams up with an ex special-forces martial arts expert who also has a beef with these criminals, on account of them having abducted his sister.

Back in Action, the title says it all. There was a time in the mid 90's when I remember reading a newspaper report that said that there was a crisis in the b-movie world as a result of there being a dangerous shortage of generic action-themed titles left to use. Because of the plethora of action movies between the mid 80's to the mid 90's a huge number of these textbook titles that promised everything while suggesting nothing had been used up. And yeah, well, Back in Action is a pretty good example of one of those forgettable titles.

This is one of those two-strangers-who-don't- get-on-then-do-get-on films. So you pretty much know from an early point where this one is headed. It's another buddy film with lots of testosterone fuelled action. It's very generic overall and nothing really occurs that is particularly unexpected but what keeps it being watchable are the stars Rowdy Roddy Piper and Billy Blanks. Both these leads are proper action stars who do their actual fighting but equally importantly they have genuine charisma and work well bouncing off each other. This still can't prevent this one from being a pretty by-the-numbers effort but Piper and Blanks are definitely good value here for sure.

This is an excellent "B" movie. Blanks and Piper work really well together. The story is decent. But story doesn't count, action does. And there is more than enough action to keep people happy. Blanks and Piper are good in the numerous fight scenes. Overall a really good movie that any action fan should check out.