Immortal Combat

Without a doubt, this is the best Roddy Piper/Sonny Chiba movie EVER. Not many people know this, but these two great action stars made over 200 films together, although this was the only one released stateside.

That's probably not true. At all. It would be funny if it was, though. Roddy Piper, a wrestler that knew his own acting limits and stayed within them (no "suburban commando" for him. just dumb and violent stuff, thank you very much), stars in this film that is kind of about immortal bad guys. I say "kind of" because this movie manages to veer away from the dumb-but-enjoyable premise of fighting the unkillable for almost two hours and needlessly complicate the matter by involving power-hungry white-collar bad guys. Who cares about the mortal baddies when the immortal have to be killed? Certainly not this movie's target audience: drunk college kids and boys under the age of ten.

My problem is this: former American Gladiator Malibu (Derron McBee) is the immortal bad guy. He has all the acting chops one would expect of someone who has been paid to joust with large Q-Tips on TV. Still, he's a ridiculously cartoony bad guy who makes the beginning scenes fun to watch. Then he's gone for about an hour, until the very end. Huh? Who plotted that? Does the audience care about Roddy Piper's sort-of romantic interest that doesn't get naked? No! Do they care about the non-immortal non-combatant bad guys? No!! Do they want to hear Roddy Piper fake a Southern accent? Well, maybe. It's pretty funny bad.

Sonny Chiba is in this movie, too. He's credited as Sonny "J.J." Chiba an his character's name is "J.J." too. Presumably, J.J. is his real nickname and he plays himself in the movie because the movie is based on events from his life. Sonny has a Caucasian daughter in this movie. There is some sort of drama involving her being surprised that he's not her real dad or something. It's hard to pay attention to all of this movie. I'm lucky to be able to recall even that much. This plot just sucks the interest right out of your body.

Oh, remember the wrestler Zeus? He's in this movie, too. He makes friends with Roddy Piper after he watches Rodddy break a guy's nose for pestering a woman. That isn't integral to the plot, mind you. It is, however, exactly the sort of thing that I imagine Zeus likes in his acquaintances.

'Immortal Combat' aka 'Resort To Kill' has all the sights, sounds and feels of a dtv 90's action flick. Capable b-movie leads in pro wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper and 70's martial arts star Sonny Chiba. Plus notable supporting faces & a fun but stupid story that turns boring, convoluted in a heartbeat. Question becomes are the good elements enough to make the rest worth it. The answer is ... not really.

Cop John Keller (Piper) explains the circumstances under which he & partner JJ (Chiba) were at a private party that resulted in the death of a fellow cop. A serial killer (Deron McBee) is on the loose and the owner of a chemical company Quinn (Meg Foster) is behind him. She's created a compound that allows people to be brought back from the dead and has built an army of beefy fighters to do her bidding. Now they must shut 'em down.

Think 'Universal Soldier' or 'Dead Heat' mixed with 'The Most Dangerous Game' and pad it with tropes of low budget flicks. Ninjas & fighting tourneys. The setup is decent, but believe me and everyone else who says things take a progressive dive off a cliff soon after. There's a one note reporter slash love interest (no nudity), a helpful foreigner and some seriously daft pacing issues.

Piper makes for a likable guy and has real chemistry with Chiba. The latter though is saddled with a downright weird subplot involving his stepdaughter. Foster makes for a chewy villain and allows the former 'They Live' stars to share the screen again. Between Piper firing guns, smashing people and Chiba going full blown ninja (at the end) there's some smiles. McBee conducts a masterclass in overacting, grunting and relishing one note dialog, killing folks.

It's cheese thru and thru complete with squibs & blood work plus a few laughs. If you're fond of dtv action or subscribe to the notion that bad movies can be a fun time there's some merit. It's not the best thing I've seen the late Piper in and the start is certainly stronger than the finish. A few small fixes and it might have been a different story.

Overall, this movie wasn't that bad if you judge it for what it was: an action movie with a lot of fight scenes. Both Piper and Chiba were great in the fight scenes, and had the script been a bit better, the overall movie would have been fairly good. The problem was, too many scenes that were unneeded or outright stupid. For instance, the scene where Ms. Keeler is caught trespassing and Piper comes to her rescue was annoyingly badly written and unnecessary overall. The one surprising thing was the supporting acting was fairly good, with the exception of Deron McBee who needs to go back to American Gladiators. The acting by Piper was quite good, with the best example being at the beginning of the movie in the inital fight scene which was well choreographed, and quite comical with the addition of Chiba. Overall, I can't say it's one of the best movies ever made, but, as an action movie it's fairly good.

Immortal Combat (1994) was another direct-to-video film that starred former W.W.F. pro wrestling superstar Roddy Piper. He's the best of the wrestlers-turned-actors. Not a classic thespian mind you, but he's a charismatic guy who makes rubbish worth watching. The movie also marks the U.S. movie return of Sonny Chiba. He hasn't lost a step and the two action stars make a likable duo.

The story isn't that great and the direction is flat out tedious. But the natural charm of the two stars somehow make this run-of-the-mill action film a fun watch. Saturday night, nothing to do? If this movie comes on the tube sit back and relax. Please, take it for what it's worth.

Recommended.

Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba as buddy cops tracking down a murderous fight club in Mexico gets the good things right, but can't just keep that going all the way. The pacing after the first 15 minutes drops considerably, act 2 is lead at times when the main characters separate and the tone shifts over and over. Meg Foster hams it up considerably to great effect, while Lara Steinick does her best with a tourist with ulterior motives. Tiny Lister doesn't get quite enough to do, there's too many moving parts in general, but there are enough highs to keep you going until you get to a fun third act.

Some great fights and stunts, some interesting story beats too, and the leads are charismatic with a good rapport.