Streets of Rage

'Streets of Rage' is a low budget dtv flick shades of a vanity project, but it has to be said there's laughs to be pulled from cheesy moments, bad acting. Star, producer, writer Mimi Lesseos - an ex pro wrestler I found out - wears multiple hats. Ex Special Forces, pining to be a reporter who takes in, shelters homeless young kids while kicking butt on the way to taking down a big bad villain and pursued by many male suitors.

Melody Sails (Lesseos) a research assistant for a major LA newspaper is looking for a story that will take her career to the next level. She gets it in street kids and mystery man "Lunar" who charms underage females before pimping them out. In her personal life she's being two-timed by a co-worker, but also rubs shoulders with Det. McCain (Christopher Cass). Continuing to dig the more she has to defend the kids, herself from thugs. Which leads to a chance encounter with Scott Talbot (Oliver Page) who's interested in her for perhaps more than one reason.

Two scenes where Lesseos pounds free booze, multiple helping kids to show she has a good heart. All the men pursue her in romantic fashion and she's no slough in the fighting department. The part where she beats off a home intruder while intoxicated has some humorous dialog for sure. A saxophone heavy music score sounds straight out of a 90's tv sitcom and pièce de résistance of any vanity project the obligatory butt shot. As delivered by - the tried and true favorite of gratuitous female nudity - a shower scene.

'Streets of Rage' is not the kind of trip you should watch at face value. Tune in because you want a story that never stops being equal parts corny and laughable. The fisticuffs are nothing to write home about, but the whole thing clocks in at only 84 mins. Mimi once posed in Playboy for a ladies of wrestling themed pictorial which of course I had to lock my eyes on afterwards. You know ... for scientific purposes.

When I first saw this title, I'll admit I was intrigued because I love films that show strong women using martial arts skills. The lead character knows her stuff, no problem. But, the opening was stupid, and that usually foreshadows how the film itself will be. This movie succeeded in every way of being stupid. The star(also co-writer) of this flick, needs to have gone back to the drawing board, big time! The style of the film reminded me of some of those training videos for company employees. I've seen employee training videos that are more exciting than this! In my opinion, Mimi Lesseos needs to stick to wrestling or doing stunt work. She's horrible as an actress and writer. View this film at your own displeasure.

It's a vanity project by Mimi, so she makes sure to have 3 guys after her, kick loads of butt, and be a virtuous hero to everyone. The problem is she can't act, can't write, can't really fight (although she comes close to pulling a few things off) and the movie was so cheap and badly done that it's almost pathetic. But at least she had the courtesy to do a shower scene, which is odd since it was such an exploitative moment and it was her own movie...

Mimi Lesseos, AKA "Magnificent Mimi", was a pro-wrestler in the 80's who tried to break into the movie business in the early 90's. She didn't quite make it, and films like "Streets of Rage" show why. I can live with the low production values and the largely amateur cast; however the slow, dull script is harder to forgive. The villain's identity is kept a secret for much of the movie (we hear him but only see the back of his head), but it's easy to predict who it is because there is one character who would have been completely pointless otherwise. Mimi is in magnificent shape - she looks really strong - but after two fights in the first 10 minutes, almost AN HOUR passes before she fights again! The fights themselves are mediocre at best, with a sometimes all-too-noticeable lack of contact. Personally, I think she should have added more wrestling-related moves to her repertoire (like the great double takedown she does at one point) - it would have made her style more unique. (*1/2)