Left for Dead

This may be the worst movie I've ever seen, but I'm sure there's worse out there, that's why I gave it a two out of ten.

You can't blame the budget for how much this film sucks. The acting is horrible, I've seen movies on a smaller budget with better acting. The fighting sequences are lazy and the story is non existent. The first 20 minutes of this film is fighting, for absolutely no reason. There are a lot of sequences that just don't' make sense visually as you watch it, they are so absurd and badly choreographed most of you could do better yourselves. There is no plot for about 1/2 of the movie. You can't even play the artistic freedom card in this abomination of a film. I like bad movies too... but this one is hard to laugh at, it just angers you cause you know you could do better with $16,000.

Final Thought: Don't watch this for action, don't watch it for acting, don't watch it for creativity, only watch it cause it overall worse than any movie you've ever seen.

The film the term 'So bad it's good!' was invented for. This film has all the hall marks of a very bad 80's action movie. The kind of film that was frequented by Jeff Speakman, Michael Dudikof and Jeff Wincott. The kind of film you rented because the cover had ninjas and fighting drawn so badly that it looked more like your grand ma than Chuck Norris.

The kind of film where the good guy gets shot, kicked, stabbed, beaten, blown up and yet still manages to take down the bad guys army of 200 highly trained soldiers.

The kind of film that had a name like 'American Ninja', 'The Perfect Weapon', 'Ninja Exterminator', 'Invasion USA', 'Eye Of The Tiger', 'Kick Boxer' and 'Missing In Action'.

The kind of film that I always chose at my local video shop over the higher budgeted star driven studio fair. The kind of film that, well, that I love so much.

Don't get me wrong. Like the films mentioned above (and the many I have failed to mention), this isn't a masterpiece in terms of production value, acting or (sometimes) editing or direction but in terms of bang for buck well this film does what it says on the tin. In spades.

And lets face it I never watched Segal movies for the character development or plot. I watched them because I knew, just for that hour and a half, that I'd get to see some tubby white guy kick the crud out of a bunch of bad guys in inventive and fun ways.

But the strange thing is, for all its faults and over long running time, this film does just what I wanted. It offers an 80's styled action film that is true to the genre and superb fun to watch.

So, in short, if your idea of a good film is Citizen Kane, Remains of the Day or Notting Hill this film is not for you.

If however, like me, you grew up on a staple diet of action movies, body counts and ninjas then you 'Left For Dead' is that rare find… a butt kicking, head stomping 80's styled action romp that makes for almost 2 hours of mindless fun, bloody, guts and over the top martial arts moves.

--eye--

It's funny how you sometimes come across films and how the first time you see a film can colour your perception of it forever. My first viewing of Left for Dead was of a screener copy sent to me for possible inclusion into a film festival I was running at the time.

Unfortunately things didn't bode well at first and the disc kept freezing up in my DVD player, but I persisted and I'm really glad I did as Left for Dead is a lot of fun.

This fast paced British martial arts flick (yes, you don't hear that said every day!) unfolds in the fictional city of Hope (ironic name me thinks!), which is ruled over by the iron fist of Kincaid, a mobster with a touch of class, played by Adam Chapman. His minions are highly trained warriors and no one dares to cross him, until one of his own enforcers (Williams) discovers he was set up by the boss and sets out to settle the bad guy's hash. Williams (a convincing Glen Salvage) is assisted by Kelso (a prize fighter with a personal grudge against the mob), and together they take on Kincaid and his not so merry men.

Shot over a period of 18 months in Brighton and Eastborne, (of all places), this Brit-flick demonstrates that it's not just Hong Kong and the US that can pull off action films. However, its main failing is its toilet tissue flimsy plot, which is simply used to string together oodles of ultra-violent fight scenes, some of which are admittedly well executed and exciting to watch. Director, Ross Boyask is to be commended for his handling of these scenes, which really elevate LFD above many similar flicks.

My main problem with the film, and I'm sure it's makers would agree with me, is with its length - at 105 minutes it's 15 minutes too long and needs to be cut down. There are a few scenes which are unnecessary and could easily be dropped, in particular the introductory sequence and the bike 'chase', although admittedly these do look cool.

In summary then, a fun slice of over-the-top martial arts mayhem that keeps you watching (even if your DVD player is struggling!) because of its audacious set pieces and the level of enthusiasm on show. Oh, and yes I did screen it at my film festival in the end!

Man this movie sucks i'm glad i didn't pay for it (netflix) but i did waste a movie that i could've watched from my que. The camera work is garbage along with the fight choreography these guys don't even make contact! once i saw that glenn salvage guy knock 2 guys down with a lousy hook kick that had NO sound effects i nearly spat my drink and turned the movie off which i did anyways 2 mins later. The muzzle flash's on the guns are poorly added in along with blood which they probably couldn't afford or knew how to make stage blood. The stupidest characters EVER! that one fat idiot with the 2 piece sword that he got off of karate depot that he clearly does not know how to use! i mean comeon doesn't he know he looks ridiculous? i wouldn't even have let them put my name in the credits if i were somehow in this movie. don't waste your time look else where. these actors should hide in shame.

I don't normally DO action or martial arts films. I'm a girly girl. But every so often you have to relent and let the boyfriend watch something HE wants.

'Left For Dead' was it. He followed the production of this in magazines in the UK like Impact and Combat. We had a double bill of this and Richard Jobson's 'Purifiers'.

Comparing the two is like chalk and cheese (although they both share similar actors and stunt men and where made around the same time). One is interesting. Enjoyable. Fun. And exciting. The other is The Purifiers.

Left For Dead surprised me. As I said I don't normally DO action or martial arts films. But this was a fun movie, enjoyable and not badly put together for an independent action film.

If you have the choice of watching one or the other Left For Dead is the one to go with.