Kickangels

On the hunt for vintage T&A flicks, I came across 'Angelfist' on a list. I was intrigued as it looked unique standing out from all those screwball comedies, hot lady cops, prison flicks, love trysts, missions to get laid and countless bikini romps within the genre. It's low budget thru & thru and while the action I hoped for isn't great the obvious doses of female skin are here in a paper thin story that's serviceable.

When her kickboxer sister Kristie (Sibel Birzag) is killed while competing in the Philippines, tough LA cop Katara "Kat" Lang (Cat Sassoon) goes down there looking for answers. Inserting herself into the tournament, she finds out her sister was witness to the murder of an American Army Colonel having took photos and there's a conspiracy at the heart of the country's civil unrest. Can she get those pics, win the tournament and stay alive?

I naively hoped 'Angelfist' could deliver the required nudity, somehow be a female equivalent to 'Kickboxer' in terms of decent production values and fight sequences. I know, I know. The fight choreography is weak. I had forgotten for a moment that even a cheap b-movie can spring for a decent movie box. No one here is really a skilled martial artist and there's very little gunplay.

However it's not without charms. There's some awful dubbing, cheese grade acting, woefully inadequate villains (some of who run around dressed like ninjas) and gratuitous shower scenes. Not to mention the silliness of Kat in action as a LA cop and saying she's a black belt in taekwondo like that's a legit fighting style. They marketed her as a World Karate Association North American Champion (hint: its made up).

Produced by Roger Corman and helmed by Philippines director Cirio H. Santiago, 'Angelfist' half delivered like I sheepishly wanted. I'd later learn this was the director's blueprint for very similar movies with his specialty - female topless fight scenes - a treat and the late Sassoon is easy on the eyes. As is Melissa Moore as a rival fighter who once posed for Playboy and is probably most well known for her appearance in the cult film 'Samurai Cop'. With an 80 minute runtime things move at a brisk pace and remain titillating if you're game.

Angel Fist was a decent low-budget martial arts movie, I've seen this movie lots. The main attractions are Cat Sassoon & Melissa Moore going undercover and competing in the kick boxing tournament wearing their tight spandex shorts and bathing suits/leotard. I normally watch this movie and fast forward to the fight scenes. I think Melissa Moore just looks so hot in her first match at the tournament, seeing her in dark blue spandex shorts and a yellow one piece bathing suit and in her second match later in the movie she was in her white sports bra and spandex shorts with a black swimsuit thong. As far as Cat Sassoon goes she was just in her sports bra and spandex shorts from her match in the kick boxing tournament to her last match near the end of the movie.

Filmmaker Cirio H. Santiago must have really liked his 1974 martial arts movie "T.N.T. Jackson", because he remade the same basic story in two more movies before his death, "Firecracker", and this movie. I didn't like the first two versions, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that I didn't like this version. It's technically inept, with poorly recorded (or dubbed) dialogue and sound effects. It's also very poorly made elsewhere, with fight sequences that are not only badly choreographed, but directed and edited in ways that suck the little life there is in the combat. As for Cat Sassoon, she doesn't come across well, not looking terribly beautiful (she has freckles all over her face and body), but also acts in a way that often doesn't make her character endearing. The only plus that the movie has is some gratuitous nudity, but it's not as frequent as it should be. Even those who love movies where women kick ass will be bored by this.

OK first of all, lets just say Cat Sassoon, even if she is a renowned martial artist, is no Cynthia Rothrock in this movie. I mean seriously her fight scene are of bad choreography, there is not much "toughtness" coming from any fight in it. I enjoy tournament style movies such as Bloodfist, Bloodsport and co, but this didn't look that good. Then as for the story, it seem more as a bad out of nowhere reason to have Cat's character in the tournament. Seemed so out of nowhere...

But got to admit, the main actor from the male side(that appear in bloodfist) was goofy in a way he was enjoyable, the relation between Kat Lang and him is probably the only thing that seem reel.

But even after all that, got to admit all the T'n'A in the movie, especially the fight scene topless a fellow reviewer speaked about above, made this entertaining, as all the cover girls appeared nude. And even tough the story seemed out of nowhere in a way, i still enjoyed it. I would say that it was an OK film, didn't had the "shit it was awful" mood after it. I was more like "that was correct, could have been way better tough" , especially on the fight scenes, which is the main aspect of a movie like that. So an OK beer + martial arts = fun movie that is going into the collection, but that I'm ever gonna watch again just for the tits... I kind of feel cheap a little bit since Cat Sassoon past out in 2002, but I'm pretty sure she knew when making this that most people would watch it for that....

Perhaps the main highlight of this film is the action and fighting-both on and off the mat. There is plenty of action during the kickboxing tournament sequences, and those are well done. There is also a fairly coherent plot-surprise!-as Cat Sasoon tries to avenge and get to the bottom of her sister's death. All in all, an adequate film with lots of action. See it for that and the lovely Cat Sasoon and gorgeous Melissa Moore.

** 1/2 out of ****