Firepower: Inferno em Los Angeles

Man is Gary Daniels' acting bad! But man is he a great athlete! They should have given him less dialogue and let him speak more with his body. They did that with Jim "The Warrior" Hellwig, and that guy comes across with a frightening physical presence; however, his long-awaited fight scene with Daniels is short and disappointing. Apart from that, the fight scenes are where this movie shines: the choreography is fast, brutal and well-executed by guys who know what they are doing. It's when the action steps out of the ring that it becomes generic and uninteresting (there IS one plot twist that you won't see coming, but it doesn't really help the film in any way). In my opinion, "Firepower" should have been titled "Death Ring", and should have spent more time in it. (**)

Some movies just don't give a $#!+ They hit your screen kicking, punching, shooting and sleasing....just the way I like'em. It has its flaws and inconsistencies, like failing to look futuristic especially, in the car department. This movie excels in the action department though, with fantastic martial arts on display by people who actually know what they are doing on or off screen. The late wrestling star The Ultimate Warrior is the menacing bad guy and he plays his part well by breaking bones, sword slashing, and headbutting all the while looking like Dee Schneider from Twisted Sister. Chad McQueen, only son of the late great Steve McQueen plays the dutiful cop well enough but I was unconvinced by his performance in this movie's version of the Thunderdome. 6 stars Check it out late at night when you are looking for an escape from reality.

`Yeah, well keep your ‘stick' in the ring. Don't practice on my girls. I need them to concentrate on their jobs, so my business doesn't suffer...'

In the year 2007, crime has risen at an exponential rate. Once highly populated metropolises such as Los Angeles are no longer inhabitable. These cities have transformed into `Hell Zones,' ruled by violent street gangs. Talk about Y2K!

Two brave cops, Braniff (Chad McQueen), and Sledge (Gary Daniels) must risk their badges...and their lives when they enter Los Angeles's `Hell Zone.' Entering the Hell Zone is insanity...escaping from it is impossible. The Hell Zone, formerly called the `Zone of Personal Freedom,' is a safe-haven for criminal warpaths everywhere. This Hell Zone in LA is controlled by a criminal mastermind named Drexal (Joseph Ruskin). For the sake of entertaining his crowds of decadent losers and underlings, Drexal has staged a series of lethal, no-holds-barred matches in the `Death Ring,' where the winner takes all of the glory...while the defeated one shall lose his self-respect (or maybe just his head).

Meanwhile, Braniff and Sledge are obliged to go undercover in a clandestine mission as Death Ring fighters themselves. Sledge is actually having fun roughing up his Death Ring rivals while Braniff finds his martial vows in jeopardy as he himself becomes attracted to a beautiful woman named Lisa (Alisha Das). However, this married cop must remember his priority. Braniff, along with his robust and agile partner, Sledge, must fight for their lives in order to expose an alleged `black market' involving the sale of counterfeit AIDS vaccines. Will these two men triumph against all odds in the Hell Zone alive or will they pay with their very lives?

FIREPOWER is probably one of the most ridiculously contrived thrillers ever. This film is completely inept, with terrible acting and an incoherent plot. The script, full of pathetic one-liners and inane drivel, is also embarrassing enough. Incidentally, to make everything worse than it already is, this film is not quite as exciting as the title promises. For instance, the action scenes lack that poetic style. Sure, we have the heroes and the villains shooting at each other and trying to beat one another, but all of these action scenes lack that flair. There is no sense of excitement involved when viewing these action sequences. Also, the fight scenes lack the brutal realism; instead, they just seem like child's play. The fighters constantly beat, maul, maim, and mutilate each other, yet not a single fighter (save for the ones who are murdered in the Death Ring) seems to be displaying any severe injuries. The one-on-one death matches as well get repetitive. Listless action scenes are just part of this movie's innumerable problems. The dearth of both an intense musical score and smooth camerawork only injures this movie even more substantially...

Although FIREPOWER is an appalling movie, I found one factor which almost redeems this whole unpleasantness: The fact that this movie is amusing, whether it wants to admit it or not. The acting especially is funny. The main adversaries, Drexal and Mendez (Pablo Marz) are more asinine than frightening. You would expect Drexal to be insidious and sinister, but he appears to be more of an ersatz Vincent Price. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs provides some amusing commentary as a ring announcer. Chad McQueen lacks the appeal and charisma of his father, the late (and terrific) Steve McQueen, but you will chuckle at how he tries to develop his relationship with Lisa. As for Gary Daniels, I must attest that he is one of the most impressive fighters ever. Granted, Daniels does have a thick accent, but after seeing this guy showcase his martial arts skills, you would not even want to comment on his accent! If you do, then prepare to defend yourself! (By the way, his accent does happen to distract from the impact of his one-liners.)

The best acting though, is displayed by Jim Hellwig (known to professional wrestling fans everywhere as the `Ultimate Warrior') as the Swordsman, a barbaric character who yells as if he was raised in the jungles. The Swordsman himself, a formidable opponent, only understands the language of violence. Also, I must comment that a lot of these fighters featured in this movie DO NOT know how to fight! As for the action scenes, it is just awesome how the car crashes and explosions can be seen from different angles in this movie! It is just brilliant! The (mostly unintentional) humor keeps FIREPOWER from becoming too lackluster.

It is a complete shame that FIREPOWER could not be a better movie. The special effects looked silly, but they worked, and the plot too held some potential. The sub-plot in particular, about a counterfeit AIDS vaccine seems very promising. It is quite sad that the filmmakers did not take advantage of that opportunity; it would have given the film more substance. Unfortunately, the anemic direction by Richard Pepin and the mediocre cinematography are unacceptable as well. Anyway, FIREPOWER is not worth the time if you happen to watch it by yourself. Instead, gather a group of friends, sit on a cozy couch, and prepare to have fun. Trust me, your colorful comments for this movie will be uninhibited!

RATING: ** out of ****. (For a high amusement factor.)

This movie delivers the goods if you're a true, hardcore action fan. It has lots of flexing, brutal violence, really cool fighting scenes and a typical straight-to-video story. The plot was somewhat interesting, even though it's a typical "dark future"-plot that was so normal for the 80's and early 90's. Gary Daniels is great in this movie. Of the people involved in this movie, he performs the best fighting of them all. I wonder why he isn't more well known among people. He should be right up there with van Damme (and far above Chuck Norris). The story in this movie also has a huge surprise to it, but I won't reveal it here. Watch the movie for yourself instead. Oh, how I just love fighting tournament movies!!

During the 2010s i got deep into all sorts of American martial arts/kickboxing movies and rented, ordered on ebay, found in used market, well basically got my hand on anything i could from anywhere until i felt i had pretty much watched all that was made. Yet i never heard of this one wich i stumble on recently along another one i will surely watch soon as well.

Firepower (what a generic title) stars Gary Daniels and Chad McQueen wich i was not super familiar with beside in the first Karate Kid.

Daniels is one of those underated martial arts actor that usually plays a vilain or a side character. He did star in some movies of that era, but never made it big, probably because his acting was never that great. But he does have the physical moves and presence tough.

McQueen was a bit unconvincing as a "martial artist" and his fight scenes were much less entertaining than Daniels, but he does have a bit of better acting skills.

Now when it comes to the movie itself, well its always funny how movies made in the 90s try to portray a "dystopian futur" of the late 2000s. Watching this in 2025 it always make me chuckle on its own. Police officer here have uniforms that remind you of Robocop, you got the cheesy computer grids of that era as targetting systems, video calls but on old techs, and of course the whole "cities gone so bad there is zones where the police won't dare intervene".

The first part of the movie is a bit hit and miss, as it present to you this world and thats probably my biggest pet peeve of the movie, how the "zone" is basically without any borders and you can come and go at will. Now i seen movies with this concept like New York 97/Los Angeles 2013 where they made some big cities or such a prison and criminals basically operate it as they want, but here its not even a prison, its simply anyone who can enter and leave.

But once the movie really kick in its martial arts aspect in the "death ring", this is when it got a lot more fun for me. There is plenty of fights starring both protagonists, other characters and the vilain "Swordsman" played by The Ultimate Warrior wich was a wrestler in the WWF (now WWE).

Overall i had a "good time" with it because it had been a while i had not watch one of those (at least one i didn't watch before) and it gave me nostalgia vibes of 15 years ago when i started my journey in this subgenre of movies. But objectively reviewing it, it ain't that great of a movie. Some cool fights for sure, but its very cheesy and the story is as basic as it can be.

Still i am happy i watched it and i think it deserve at least a 6 out of 10.