Heatseeker

Keith Cooke, the cult superkicker who many people would have loved to see in more movies, achieves something of a career pinnacle with HEATSEEKER – the only starring vehicle he's had as of this writing. Disappointingly, this high point does not exactly constitute a highlight: consistently flawed despite a decent premise and an explosion of physical talent, the film just barely manages to scrape a decent rating through sheer sweat and grit. I don't recommend it, but the B-movie aficionado in me won't allow a lower ranking.

The story: In a future when organized combat is waged by technology-enhanced cyborgs, the single 100% human fighter (Cooke) is forced to enter a deadly tournament by a ruthless corporate agent (Norbert Weisser).

Cooke is in great shape and shows off all his best taekwondo moves, but his character is bland beyond all likability. He and the rest of the performers are at the mercy of a script that directs its energy into unwanted venues. The crux of the story is the kidnapping of the lead's manager/fiancé: Tina Cote was one of the movie's few opportunities for some dramatic worth, but her character spends most of the feature being mind-controlled and molested by the villain in a far-fetched plan to get bad guy fighter Gary Daniels to fall in love with her and be a better competitor. Cooke's character is left almost completely in the background. It's an oddly joyless story, plagued by an epidemic of white characters with Asian names: Daniels is called Xao, fighter Chad Stahelski is called Chung, and in what I assume to be a purposely ironic liberty, Norbert Weisser's character is called Tung and spends the movie adorned in teashade sunglasses.

The fight content becomes the picture's last opportunity for entertainment value, and overall, it succeeds (though to what degree diminishes as viewers' expectations rise). A whopping 20 full-length fight scenes almost guarantee that there will be at least some matches for anyone to enjoy, and the cast includes a nice selection of on screen fighters like Thom Matthews, Burton Richardson, Jahi Zuri, John Machado, and Richard Cetrone. I was pleased to see that significantly less slow motion and obstructive editing has been utilized than the norm for director Albert Pyun's movies, though the choreography tends to be bland and the pacing of the matches is far from dynamic. While not nearly matching my hopes, the Cooke/Daniels dream matchup is decent, though my favorite fight of the feature is a winning effort for Pyun regular Earl White .

There's a bit of B-movie abandon to just keep things entertaining enough throughout, including an odd scene in which Cooke is beaten unconscious by some thugs for no reason before having his clothes stolen by children, leaving him to run naked through Manila. Maybe experiences like that limited the man's willingness to submit himself to the whims of a director, but whatever the reason why ol' Keith never received top billing afterwards, you can be assured that the ranking of his credit does not indicate the quality of this movie. I better post this before I rethink my generosity

this could've been a martial arts B movie classic. But if I didn't know better, I'd swear this was made from a video game. Sadly it's that bad. That said, I've studied martial arts a long time and the choreography was interesting enough to keep me watching. That and Keith Cooke is no joke. He's the real deal and he's been around a long time though he never had a big enough vehicle to really exploit his talent.

I give it a 5 because I'm a martial arts junkie and a huge fan of cyberpunk. Even sucky cyberpunk like Johnny Mneumonic. However the movie was a letdown in that it really didn't establish the cyberpunk theme. Too bad because the premise is great. A totally human fighter enters a tournament of cyber enhanced fighters. But in fact they could've taken the cyber stuff out, and you'd have the same exact movie pretty much. Oh well, for a late night movie on Sci Fi I can't really complain I suppose. :D

In the future scientifically enhanced fighters do battle at a tournament arranged by the Corporations who developed the technology.

With a bigger budget, a better cast and a more capable director, Heatseeker actually had some potential. Unfortunately, it is poorly acted, badly photographed, and there is a dreadful music score. The sets could also have been much better. The only thing going for it is some halfway decent fight sequences. But this isn't enough to warrant even one star.

I have enjoyed some of the directors previous efforts. Nemesis 1 and Cyborg are great films. This is not.

Gary Daniel's looks great but the script is tired and unoriginal. The cybernetics are practically none existent except a couple of cheap make up appliances.

The ending seemed so rushed it leaves you thinking! Wtf just happened!? That's it!?

A wasted opportunity to have cyborgs fighting each other in a Bloodsport style competition. But the cyberpunk aspect is none existent. Just a martial art, computer game style back n goth with cheesey sound effects. Cheapest sets ever and some of the campiest baddies ever.

Not even good in a retro camp way.

Avoid.

No budget, no actors, and a plot that has been used so many times that it is threadbare. Red-and-blue oozing neons tries to hide the fact that this is all done in cheap sets, as most video fodders. Avoir this.