Impatto finale

Lorenzo Lamas stars as Nick Taylor a washed up kickboxer who trains a kid named Danny (Michael Worth) to fight the fighter (Jeff Langston) who humiliated him in this poor fight flick. Final Impact is a movie with a low degree of style and imagination making this one for only die hard martial arts junkies, however even the fightscenes are surprisingly sub-standard, making this a movie with no real worth.

Nick(Lorenzo Lamas) is an ex-kickboxing champion. He was cruelly beaten and to add insult to injury lost his wife to the new champion. Danny(Mike Worth) is a contender and Nick is his idol. Together they pair up to kick ass. But don't think you've got it all figured out. This is a throw back to when movies had a plot and characters were more then one dimensional. The whole cast is top quality. And Lamas is adorable in a cowboy hat and heavy jewelry.

My review was written in January 1992 after watching the movie on a PM video cassette.

Actor Lorenzo Lamas continues to make inroads in the popular kick fighting genre with "Final Impact", a "Rocky V"-styled aging warrior picture.

After impressing in "Night of the Warrior", Lamas is cast as a cynical ex-champ who now manages fighters. Pushy young Michael Worth wants Lamas to pilot his career and Lamas agrees to do so, plotting to use Worth for his revenge against the current champ, Jeff Langton.

At times, the pic has a more serious, even somber, tone than usual for the format, though directors Joseph Merhi and Stephen Smoke include exploitation angles such as sexy female oil wrestlers in the opening segment.

Though he's not a bona fide champ in real life, Lamas brings an animation to his role that's often lacking in belt holders. Worth is a promising newcomer, and Lamas' wife Kathleen Kinmont provides convincing support. There's also a nice bit by Kathrin Lautner as a Las Vegas hooker who reduces Lamas' self-esteem to zero.

The fights, choreographed by Eric Lee, are frequent and unexceptional.

Better than expected. I actually thoroughly enjoyed this low-budget, straight-to-video film. A few surprises, as well. Lorenzo Lamas made a credible hero.

Does anything original happen in this movie? No, you've probably seen it a million times. I think a huge reason I didn't turn this movie off was because Lorenzo played the part so well and it didn't seem forced or out of character if that makes sense. He brings this coolness to the character even though you should dislike him. Besides him there's not a single memorable character in this.

The kick boxer that Nick (Lorenzo) trains is pretty meat and potatoes. He can fight but his acting is like some high school kid doing the bare minimum to pass a Spanish class, shooting for that 60% or so. However the worst actor by far has to be the old man perpetually smoking cigars who is the other fighters coach for Jake the bad guy at the end of the movie.

The sets were diverse, there was a few scenes I was tempted to laugh at how poor the acting was and the cheap keyboad musical scores I'd take points off but all in all, this movie turned out to be better than I thought it would as really I just put this on to fall asleep to.