Le tueur

This film is notable as being the final movie of Director Robert Clouse. Clouse had previously directed Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee, and a slew of other low budget martial arts films in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Only a few of these, such as China O' Brien, and The Big Brawl were really that good, so I was keen to see if this would be hos swansong.

Unfortunately, it isn't. It's a poorly cobbled together junkfest with little redeeming features.

The main problem is that this film was supposedly a kickstart vehicle for lead star Britton K. Lee, but the issue is that Lee was also the producer, so he basically made the film for himself.

Now there's nothing wrong with that in itself, but the problem is that Lee is neither a good actor, nor is he charismatic in any way. In previous films, Robert Clouse had Bruce Lee and Cynthia Rothrock in front of the camera - two very strong personalises who came across well on screen. Britton K. Lee has none of thee qualities, and come across as an out of place protagonist, and more like a sidekick who got his own film.

All of this could be forgiven if the martial arts action was good, but it's not. In fact - it's dire. Loads of tight shots with too much slow motion, and some clumsy choreography make this look like a TV episode.

With films like China O' Brien, fight choreographer Nijel Binns created some really cool action scenes with wide angle shots so that you could see the full glory of the fights and the actors skills, but here it just feels awkward and messy.

The film's one saving grace is that it features the legendary talents of Bolo Yeung and Richard Norton (both veterans of Hong Kong cinema,) and it's great to see them again.

They unfortunately can't save what is a dull and meandering movie with bad fight scenes and a boring plot.

Bob Clouse will always have Enter The Dragon, and no one can take that away from him, but his final word in film is not worth bothering with unless you are a super fan of Bolo Yeung.

This movie had it all,great fighters,among them Bolo Yeung and Britton K. Lee and a descent budget,but it seems that the director did everything to ruin it.The movie starts of good,but after that it only gets worse.WHY didn't he have more fight scenes in this movie.Bolo Yeung was only in one real fight scene that I can remember,I hoped to see more of him,because he has one of the sickest styles ever.

Dont let the cover fool you,this is nothing what it could have been.

The acting was bad, and the plot, well i don't think there was one.

Some fat blonde chap who is always dressed in a dinner suit, kidnaps a sort from a nightclub, i think he then kills a copper. pointless fights then happen Kidnapped girl is put in cage on a boat, why? Tough uncompromising martial arts trained cop turns up, speaks bad english and does stuff that does not make sense. Its utter tripe. But he does have a nice car. christ on a bike, this film was a waste of 90 minutes.

An LAPD cop goes after a powerful drug dealer, Richard Norton, following him to Portland, Oregon. The best part of this film is the cop has to face off with Norton's henchmen, the near-mute actor Bolo Yeung (the beefy villain from iconic martial arts classics ENTER THE DRAGON and BLOODSPORT). Watching this early 90s martial arts flick, I think I was most excited to realize it was filmed in Portland, Oregon when I spotted Mr. Hood in the background of one shot, which means Bolo Yeung and Richard Norton were in Oregon at some point! This is only one of two films that lead actor Britton K. Lee appeared in. He's a pretty terrible actor and martial artist, so I'm pretty sure he only got the part because he also served as a producer on the film. Director by Robert Clouse, director of the seminal Bruce Lee film ENTER THE DRAGON, I'd have hoped for better, though outside of that film, Clouse never made another descent film (unless you want to include GYMKATA, which needs to be seen to be believed! I will admit I'm a sucker for THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR though.). Although this film was made in the '90s, it has a strong 80s vibe to it, featuring Jazzercize, loads of synthesizer music, and some terrific 80s hairdos and fashion, which did add to the film's entertainment value, but overall this is a so-bad-it's-good type of action flick that I quite enjoyed, but probably only die-hard Bolo and Norton fans will be entertained by this one.

Robert Clouse, Bolo Yeung and Richard Norton in the credits of working in the movie, what can go wrong? Well, the movie is in a desperate need for a better script and star. Do not get me wrong, Britton got the martial arts skills and believability to be a hero but the script and his acting are severely lacking to give the movie narrative thrust. The only characterization he has got is that he knows martial arts and that he is a cop which leaves us - the audience - with nothing much to root for. Even worse are the villains who are apparently just evil because the movie demands it.

Bolo Yeung and Richard Norton being in the movie should make it quite entertaining because both actors have been in bad movies where they outshine the stars of the bad movies. But they are barely utilized and we are instead stuck with a lot of other unknown actors who are equally as thinly characterized as our main character. Which is frustrating because the movie had potential to be good but it is severely handicapped with a badly written script and flat acting with equally flat characters. Not to mention the movie lacks any sort of tension or ambiance where the music just feels out of place. The plot is also just there where it feels like the writer and director just kind of forgot about it.

The only few good things about the movie is the cinematography, choreography and directing. It is not the worst I have seen but it is certainly a wasted potential.