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Thomas Ian Griffith stars as Jack Blayclock, a private detective who is hired by reporter Erica (Mary Page Keller) to do some snooping on a Japanese businessman, however when said businessman is found dead, Erica and Jack realize that there is far more that meets the eye and the people involved hit close to home for our duo. Thomas Ian Griffith is an actor who on the basis of this movie clearly had more potential than what he amounted to as an action star. I remember saying that Griffith resembled a used car salesman in Excessive Force, but here that sleazy look (Also put to good use in the entertaining Karate Kid Part III) is well suited and let it be said that the biggest surprise with this movie, isn't the action sequences or even what the material goes over.(It's nothing different then what you would find in Rising Sun) Rather the big surprise is just how much this works as a suspense thriller. Indeed the characters are believable, the Japan bashing and the politics depicting such are all credibly handled and when the fight sequences finally do happen they feel more exciting because we actually care about the characters and there are surprises that even this jaded viewer couldn't guess. Sure the main villain is an obvious answer, but the twisty narrative offers a good deal of suspense and the ending doesn't cop out on a downbeat ending. In other words this is a low budget movie with ambition, something often lacking in theatrical pictures of the day. (Even more so now.)Ulterior Motives is one obscurity that is well worth discovering.

* * *1/2 out of 4-(Very good)

This is a really nice thriller. It has the tension and it is really well made. The action even tho its Barely there is amazing. Thomas ian Griffith is a goated martial Artist. The writting is good. It is a unique story and has a lot of twists in it.

The directing is also good.but the thing that is the best are the performances they are just so good and well done. Especially Thomas Ian Griffith so good. Mary page keller also did a fantastic job. Now there are some cons. It does not have a lot of action. It is not a big problem but it would be nice if there would be more fights. We also needed more characters but it had a low budget. Overall you should definitely give it a watch.

Thomas Ian Griffith, the cut price Steven Seagal, stars in this above average action thriller. The story centers around a New York journalist (Mary Page Keller) who suspects a Japanese businessman of selling American military secrets to Japan. To help her get to the truth she employs the services of a private investigator (Griffith) and before long the body count starts to rise. The action scenes are typical for this type of movie but the plot, storyline and characters are well above average. If your a fan of action movies, there is plenty here for you and Thomas Ian Griffith does it just as well as Seagal or Van Damme.

The performances are the selling point here, overshadowing the low budget and routine script. Thomas Ian Griffith handles his role as a private investigator just fine and is well matched with Mary Page Keller as the Lois Lane-like truth-seeking reporter. Connecting the bad guys to the Japanese Mafia is, at least, an attempt to come up with unusual villains. What's unfortunate about this film is that so little screen time is given to Ellen Crawford, who plays the most interesting character -- the "mystery woman." Her fascinating face and persona appears quite prominently in the early scenes but, sadly, only intermittently after that. It's too bad that more of the movie does not feature her. Although the ending is a bit of a letdown, overall I'd say "Ulterior Motives" is worth a look.