Cold Harvest

Gary Daniels (who is he?) is stunning as a martial arts kung fu/cowboy gunslinger/bounty hunter who becomes the hero saving the wife of his killed brother. The action - shootouts and fight scenes are incredible though not original. The acting sucks big time but that's not the point. This is one hell of a roller coaster ride. Enjoy.

Well...

This is obviously a low-budget action film. It's too highly derivative, though, to be interesting for any reason unless maybe you're interested in the further adventures of someone involved in making it. The actors weren't just mailing it in, so I give them credit: they did as well as they probably could given the boring script and low budget. Whoever did the sound effects made a humorous decision to add them to virtually every sudden movement in the entire movie, destroying any fleeting illusion of realism which might have tried to slip between the wall-to-wall physical impossibilities of the action scenes. Well, actually, there were some extended "dramatic" scenes, like where Oliver (or was it Roland? I forgot which was which already) watches his dead brother's wife bathing and is so inspired by her beauty that he tells her simply "You have a nice back." Of course, with writing like that, whatever wafts of realism might have tiptoed past the sound effects and the action sequences would have been dropped dead cold in their tracks by a head-shot like that line, in the same fashion as some of the hapless victims of the overeager gore effects team succumbed to their inevitable -- read "predictable" -- deaths.

Just two more examples should suffice to illustrate the quality of the writing. First, the two main characters face off with guns, then both throw away their guns at the same time to "finish this like men" (which is actually what they say when they do it). Uh huh. Real smart, "men". Then they go on to an even sillier final "final showdown". I'll leave a shred of suspense in it for you should you decide to see this turkey and spare you a description of that face-off. But my favorite part was the handy provision of a small array of GARDEN TOOLS (including a pitchfork -- gee, wonder if/how that will play into the action? *yawn*) right outside the villain's OFFICE. In the hallway. Yeah, you know, nothing says professionalism in the evil boss industry like some garden implements close by. Remember, there's no sunshine in this post-apocalyptic world.

Hmmm... bah, thinking and this movie do not mix.

The video rental and sales industry has for some time given birth to a whole mess of independent and low budget action films. While most are forgettable, a few rise above the pack by offering something that big-budget Hollywood films do not. In the case of Isaac Florentine's Cold Harvest, we see the continuation of a long tradition of bringing Western martial arts action to the small screen. Florentine brings his Eastern-inspired action, lightly peppered with a certain over-the-top playfulness to the well-tread, post-apocalyptic genre and throws in a dash of Spaghetti Western sensibility. As a B-movie, Cold Harvest is a cut above thanks to director Isaac Florentine's emphasis on quality martial arts action. Akihiro Noguchi, one of Florentine's cohorts from his Power Ranger stints offers competent choreography.

The concept of a bounty hunter/hero in a frontier post-apocalypse is a challenging one to pull off successfully with any budget. The few past successes like Escape from New York, The Road Warrior, and Six-String Samurai all had more to offer overall. But solely on the grounds of martial arts content, Cold Harvest, along with Jean-Claude Van Damme's Cyborg (1989) are leaders in this over-played sci-fi category. Gary Daniels fans won't be disappointed.

The script for "Cold Harvest" is anything but inspired. We've seen the post-holocaust setting many times before, we've seen the same kind of creeps this movie has in other movies, and the dialogue is unexceptional. (And what does that title mean? It's never explained.) Other faults the movie has includes Gary Daniels. In this movie and in others of his I've seen, he simply can't act.

Still, there is still some pleasure to be found in the movie. Although this was clearly a very low budget movie, it's clear that the production team squeezed every penny out of their limited funds. The photography and lighting is very good. The movie does go by at a fairly brisk pace. And Bryan Genesse and Tony Caprari make amusing and colorful villains. But what's really good are the action sequences. I've seen other movies directed by Isaac Florentine, and I can tell you that he sure knows how to make exciting action sequences, including the ones in this movie. If you're a B movie fan, you'll probably find enough good stuff in this movie to make it worth your time.

What do you get when you mix Hong Kong-inspired fights and stunts, John Woo-type shootouts, spaghetti Western-like faceoffs and post-apocalyptic settings ala Albert Pyun? You get "Cold Harvest", except that this ambitious mix is not as interesting as it sounds. Gary Daniels is fun to watch, especially in the fight scenes, and Barbara Crampton does a surprisingly good job in her role, but why do they have the main villain, who turns out to be an awesome fighter, fight only once (at the end), and kill people with his guns throughout the rest of the movie? If you're a fan of Gary Daniels (and I'm slowly becoming one myself) check out "Bloodmoon" first, as it has more fights and a fantastic villain (Darren Shahlavi). (**)