Le maître d'arme

(1992) The Swordsman ACTION

Straight-to-rental, written and directed by Michael Kennedy starring Lorenzo Lamas as homicide detective Andrew, who has an additional feature. It is that he has the psychic ability to either see the past or the future, depending on the circumstance. Like if he touches just a dead body, then he would be able to see how that person got killed, which is similar to the Christopher Walken character of "The Dead Zone", and if the person is alive he can either see other peoples fate including his own. Which the set up is as follows, where bodies are being found with no real identification, except that they all have one thing in common, that they were all killed by a sword. It is later learned that an illegal underground dueling operation was being practiced, which if the persons were to win a specific amount of matches ends up winning a sword belonging to Alexander the Great. Except that Alexander's sword was stolen from an old exhibit museum funded by a wealthy donor by the name of Stratos (Michael Champion), leaving with one security guard killed in the process. In other words, he would pay goons to steal his own sword intended for a display at a museum funded by him just because he also happens to organize an illegal underground dueling operation which he tries to entice Andrew to join. What's dumb is that theirs no stakeout, nor is Andrew going undercover wearing a wire to convict this guy for attempting to kill the manager of the museum, Julie (Claire Stansfield) or even a suspect with other peoples deaths. So the police would have Andrew and his partner watch her, since some people was trying to kill her before for stealing the sword, and may come back to finish the job. And of course, both Julie and Andrew click. If you've seen the (1977 film called "The Duellists", starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, you will see how realistic those fights in that movie were in comparison to the fake looking sword fights in "The Swordsman". And as a guy who loves action movies, this movie is quite bad, even for someone who is as athletic as Lorenzo Lamas.

The stage curtains open ...

"Two blades. Two men. One walks away."

Over 30 years ago, when I was in my early 20's, I was home alone one night with nothing to do. I had already watched the videos I'd rented, but I wasn't tired enough to go to sleep yet, I wanted to watch one more movie. I surfed the cable TV and came across HBO or Cinemax, or something like it, and this movie, "The Swordsman", was being advertised as coming up next. Sounded good, so I dimmed the lights back down and lost myself for a couple of hours.

It is the story of a clairvoyant cop, also an accomplished fencer, named Andrew Garrett (Lamas), who is assigned protective watch over a museum curator who witnessed the theft of a special sword - the actual sword said to have belonged to Alexander the Great. She has connections with a man named Stratos, who runs a fencing club - but more importantly, an underground swordplay ring where if you lose, you die. Troubled by visions and dreams of an unceratin future, Andrew follows Stratos into the depths of his exclusive fighting club in hopes of finding the answer behind the theft of the sword, as well as his clouded future.

I loved seeing Michael Champion take on a main charater's role in this film. I always remembered him in supporting roles in such films as "Total Recall", "Toy Soldiers", and "Pink Cadillac". I felt he did a good job as Stratos. Lorenzo Lamas was one of those actors I never really followed, but he had a good screen presence in this movie, and was convincing in his part. It had a made-for-tv feel to it, even though it did get a big screen release.

For the time I saw it, I loved the underground fighting aspect of it. However, it takes you on some dream sequences that were kind of weird, out of place, and hard to follow in parts. Overall, the story is pretty bland and serviceable at best. It is good for late night viewing when there is nothing else on, and nothing you'd want to rush out to buy, unless you are a huge Lamas fan. Not a recommend, but worth a watch.

Not one of Lorenzo Lamas' best movies, but watchable. Predictably fights joined together by story with sex thrown in. It could have been better. I wouldn't liken it to Highlander at all except that they both contain sword fights - although the fighting music made me think of HL. If you want to see the outtakes, watch the sequel 'Gladiator Cop' which seems to have been put together almost entirely from the cutting room floor. The story is different enough to separate this film from other such 'B' grade movies which struggle to have a story at all. Will it make you truly believe in re-incarnation (which always seems to be of the famous)? I doubt it.

With the right cast where we don't just have Lorenzo and the pretty female lead this may have worked out better as the plot is enjoyable, not award winning by any means but I enjoyed this more than the Highlander movie with Sean Connery in it.

The whole time I'm watching this I kept wondering if Lorenzo's hair was as long as the character, if anything it kept giving me Samurai Cop type flashbacks. Though this is a far superior movie to that too.

One thing I didn't care for was the bad guy in it. It makes sense at the end but I felt they could have cast someone more menacing. If you're into low budget 90s films or martial arts films where the plot isn't complex and there's a decent amount of action you may enjoy this. At best this is a typical Lorenzo Lamas 5.5 out of 10.

The Swordsman finds Lorenzo Lamas cast as a LAPD detective who is having some incredibly realistic dreams involving him in an ancient setting participating in a duel. When he gets assigned to a robbery/homicide where the sword of Alexander The Great is stolen those dreams take on an even greater clarity.

When he's not a cop, Lamas has fencing as a hobby and an illegal fencing club with duels to the death holds the key to both Lorenzo's dreams and the robbery.

What that is you'll have to watch the film for should you want to. Let's say that chief villain Michael Kitchen has a really long time grudge against Lamas.

I agree with the viewer that this film is a really bad ripoff of The Highlander. It's all kind of dumb, but Lorenzo does have his fans and you'll get many opportunities to see him in stages of undress. That's a good enough reason as any to see this film.