Firepower

Firepower is the kind of film that fits right in with the wrestling crowd. It's story is average but the action is top notch. You even have an ex-wrestler in the film. The fights are well done and Chad McQueen does an OK job in his role as does the rest of the cast. It is definitely for late night crowd.

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.

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.

This is one of those films that falls under the category of "so bad it's good". This is a piece of pungent cheese of the sort that shows up regularly on MST3K, rife with laughable acting and wafer-thin plot. It takes place in not-so-distant future Los Angeles, where a desperate metropolis has tried to deal with rampant crime by creating a "Zone of Personal Freedom" in the middle of the city, where basically anything goes. Of course, this doesn't work, and a shipment of AIDS vaccine is hijacked and taken into the Zone. Two tough LA cops go undercover to find it, and the plotline is quickly lost as they become fighters in this weird Thunderdome-like gladiator tournament run by the guy who (surprise) stole the vaccine. Terribly bad, but a whole lot of fun to watch and laugh at. Two bright spots are martial arts action hero Gary Daniels as the only cop in LA with an Australian accent, and Jeff Hellwig (pro wrestling's Ultimate Warrior) as a tournament combatant. He's only got two lines in the whole movie ("Get me out of here now!" and "Arrrrrgh!") but he delivers them better than anyone else in the film.