Sur la défensive

Jeff Speakman stars as Jake an ex-cop who is still reeling from the death of a hostage, who he feels responsible for, however he finds a chance for redemption when a group of cops try to provoke a gang war so they can take over the streets in this overall boring actioner. Jeff Speakman may have some good moves but this and his other clunker (The Perfect Weapon) fail to impress. Street Knight is an overall loser, well worth avoiding.

Sloppily edited action flick starring Jeff Speakman as a former cop who gets enmeshed in a nefarious plot to escalate gang violence in L.a. by a group of mercenaries who met in prison. Not nearly enough action, although the big battle at the end helps a bit. Too often, it's just people standing around spouting clichéd lines. Speakman is the only reason to see it. His best film remains "The Perfect Weapon." This one is under-budgeted and not well written. Final effort by Cannon Films, which also featured Chuck Norris in a number of his action films. Instead of the usual car chase in this one, we get Speakman riding a horse, pursued by some bad guys in an SUV. It wasn't much of a chase, but it was different.

Jeff Speakman followed up his solid action fare 'The Perfect Weapon' with 'Street Knight'. A disappointingly bland urban action which has Speakman (an ex-cop) caught between a street gang war (actually orchestrated by a third party), but instead of busting his way out of it. Everyone decided to go down a different path, which goes on to waste his talents (unlike 'The Perfect Weapon'). Instead focusing on dramatic plot cues and a script lined with probing leads and deep conversations for Speakman to sink his teeth into... yeah, not much talent there. Unless you like waiting around for over an hour to see Speakman do what you were originally hoping. When it does happen, after being slowed down by its monotonous story. It's not often, or particularly exciting. Quite half-hearted to have any real impact. So, it's a waste.

Interestingly this was the last film Cannon Films produced before bankruptcy. A forgettable way to go out on.

Jeff Speakman is an ex cop, trying to prevent war between two rival gangs. However, a shadowy group are instigating the war, in order to take over the streets. Why are the actual cops themselves doing nothing to prevent this state of affairs? Because they aren't martial artists, and Speakman is, that's why.

Nobody is going to watch a film called "Street Knight" featuring a martial artist in order to see a heartfelt social commentary on gang violence. They're gonna watch it to see Speakman kick ass, break heads and then kick more ass.

Does he fulfill his ass kicking duties? Yeah, pretty much, and it's the actual fight scenes (including one wince inducing one with mechanic's tools) which somewhat elevates Street Knight above the usual bargain basement crap. Speakman is a competent martial artist and the scenes are well choreographed, which makes this one worth a watch, and satisfying (albeit in a purely switch brain off kinda way) for fans of the genre, or action fans.

Nothing at all special, but a satisfying enough beer/whatever flick all the same. 6/10, bonus point for decent fight scenes.

I have watched this movie well over 100 times. It is a great action movie, if you like this sort of thing. Jeff Speakman rises above the script with his natural ability and his incredibly fast hands, although the rest of the cast is ordinary (especially the girl lead...how boring!). I have sure seen worse action movies from the same era, and a TON of them since ("The Bourne Identity" and it's rotten sequel, for instance). Sure, it's not meant to be high art, but for an action movie with an at-the-time unknown star, it is pretty darn good. I am rather disappointed in Jeff Speakman for leaving a promising career in martial arts movies, but understand he is doing well teaching them instead. Good for him.