Pena De Morte

I picked up this movie because, every now and then, I enjoy watching the bad martial arts films that came out of the 1980s and 1990s. This is definitely one of those films, with a typical story line, bad cinematography, tons of shots that look like stock footage that have nothing to do with the rest of the movie, and the expected over acting.

If you are going to watch this for the martial arts, this is not a very good movie. All of the martial art scenes are very slow and they appear to be very contrived.

The one thing that I was surprised about is that a young, very hot Scott Shaw appears in this film as the bad guy cohort of David Carradine. At least for me, that made this movie worth the watch.

THIS is the pits. From beginning to end, you keep wondering : what the heck is going on ? Who's this guy ? Why are they fighting ? Where is the plot ? IS there a plot ? (Obviously, the answer is : no). The movie is so low-budgeted that they had to use stock-shots inserts from other movies, and the continuity goofs are unbelievable (Come to think of it, the whole movie is a goof). David Carradine is visible three minutes, behind a desk and behind the wheel of a truck. Gary Daniels, who was great in "Twin Dragons", deserves better.

Gary Daniels stars as a kickboxer who is framed by mobsters and his former teacher who tested the drug on him, see this drug does something magnificent and I had to take their word for it, since it's never explained. Still lots of (badly staged) action takes place making this accessible only for Daniels' legion of fans. Capital Punishment, I found sitting in the bargain bin at my local K-Mart, and it was 3.99, of course for such a cheap DVD and cast that offered David Carradine and Gary Daniels together, it looked to be at least cheesy fun. I also expected a prison movie, since it was called, you know "Capital Punishment" unfortunately it was a badly made "martial artist kickboxes the hell out of everyone movie". The problem is we don't know who is who and therefore it becomes a challenge to even make it through the running time. Carradine by the way has maybe 5 minutes of screen time, while the fight sequences are filmed with such disinterest and lack of intensity that this adds up for nothing but the most forgiving fans of Gary Daniels. Although this terrible movie will most likely try their patience.

* out of 4-(Bad)

Sure, this movie is low budget, but that doesn't mean it's no good. Gary Daniels is likable in one of his early staring roles. The fighting is almost non-stop from beginning to end. Don't expect Jackie Chan like perfection though. Don't expect oscar calibre acting either. But, most martial arts movie fans will almost definitely like it. I know I did. Also, the training sequence before the kick-boxing match is awesome!

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome! I'm kidding it's aweful