The Final Sanction

If you're looking for a picture that sums up everything wrong about director David A Prior, 'The Final Sanction' makes for a perfect mic drop. Very low budget filmmaking continuing his inability to write a decent plot or even shoot an entertaining flick. Extremely boring with nothing juicy to sink your teeth into even if you enjoy bad movies. Brother Ted stars alongside Robert Z'Dar, William Smith in a wasted effort.

The cold war between the US & Russia saw nuclear bombs get dropped so both countries to avert further loss of life agree to let the winner be settled thru a competition between their top soldiers. Court martialed, thrown in prison Sgt. Tom Batanic (Ted Prior) for the US and Sgt. Sergi Schvackov (Z'Dar) for those Soviets. On US soil neck deep in the woods these men armed to the teeth stalk each other like prey as a game of politics, possible betrayal play out.

No action movie is meant to stand up to heavy scrutiny, but David Prior films are on a whole other level. Which means because you're bored to tears you'll start questioning all the things that don't make sense. Too many talking heads scenes, a long build-up to the "battle" and a silly subplot of Batanic having a transmitter in his head. Sergi's fondness for throwing shovels, surviving point blank explosions and that ending ...

I don't need to hide my dislike for Prior flicks as they sell themselves. Cheap, dumb and usually lacking in fun, but you got likable actors in his crap from time to time for paychecks. If 'Deadly Prey' is him at the top of his game then 'The Final Sanction' is in the running for his worst.

My review was written in October 1990 after watching the movie on AIP video cassette.

This futuristic cold war drama is simple and effective, playing as the feature equivalent of a "Twilight Zone" episode. It's a direct-to-video release by the prolific filmer David A. Prior.

His brother, Ted Prior, stars as an ill-fated sergeant sprung from Leavenworth prison to represent his country in a mano a mano battle against the Russian designee, man-mountain Robert Z'dar.

Premise is to resolve an international crisis (the Soviets have launched a nuclear first strike) via battle between single warriors, rather than killing millions of people in war. Of course, the governments are corrupt and by film's end Prior and Z'dar are nearly buddies once they've tired of beating each other's brains out.

Their battling is low-budget, staged in the woods near Mobile, Alabama, but lead's forceful thesping makes it work. Renee Cline is forceful and sympathetic in the limited rule of Prior's advisor and sounding board, connected to him by a communications implant in his head.

The Final Sanction comes close to being one of the worst movies I've seen from the '90s. Stock missle/nuclear blast footage, actors with seeming facial deformities (Robert D'Zar, BLECH. I didn't believe he was even real for the first fifteen minutes), and horrible, HORRIBLE dialog (Sergei loves ALL women!). This is how NOT to make an action movie, kids. When you blow people up, THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DIE. Not just get part of their face somewhat charred. In all honesty, this is prime MST3k material. Rent this movie and watch it with a couple friends to revel in the horror of it all.

There have been times where people have started talking about Robert Z'Dar to me and they panned him. `No, no,' I would say, `Haven't you seen a Maniac Cop movie? He's great!' And while I would warn them away from `Return to Frogtown,' I would advise them to give Z'Dar a chance. If any of those people followed my advice and proceeded to find and watch `The Final Sanction,' I deeply apologize, though no amount of groveling can forgive the odious crime I have committed. I was not aware of this movie's existence and had not watched it. Until now. And I am less of a person for that!

Remember back in the 80's where Hollywood was pumping out movies with Cold War themes? Now place yourselves a few years after that era and you'll find David A. Prior trying to revive the Cold War with `The Final Sanction.' It appears as if America and Russia are at it again, threatening to blow each other up and aren't afraid to take out the rest of the world with them. Someone realizes that this is a bad idea and the two countries agree to fight things out with as few casualties as humanly possible. So they make the plan of each side picking their best soldier and seventy-five pounds of artillery. The two soldiers would then square off in a chosen woodsy area and shoot at each other, their only assistance being a telecommunications link with one person in front of a computer that can tell him where his opponent is at. Oh and the place where they are to battle? Virginia! And here we have some of the biggest troubling questions. If you were the head of a superpower nation, would you trust the fate of the world to one little battle? And one that is virtually unmonitored? Don't you think you would have some neutral country's people monitoring the fight and playing referee? Like the Swiss? Don't you think it would be more fair to pick a neutral place to stage said battle? Like Switzerland? A place with people who neither side would care about if they walked into the line of fire? Again, like the Swiss . . . . Just joking there! Making sure you are paying attention.

The next silly thing here are the fighters themselves. Russian general William Smith chooses Robert Z'Dar, whom he proceeds to put through rigorous mental training. Z'Dar is pretty wicked with throwing small spades, which would do him wonders if the fate of the world were being decided in a gardening contest. A much dumber choice is America's choice of Ted Prior, a military prisoner locked up for killing his entire platoon during a mission. He's a rebel, a loose cannon, a loud-mouthed lunatic, he's the director's brother! Just the person whose hands we should put the fate of the world in! The first half of the movie deals with lengthy introductions of these two characters, as well as some unnecessary subplots involving a United States senator that is just there for padding. I thought the action would never start. When it did, I wished it hadn't. Prior and Z'Dar shoot at each other in the Virginia woods (actually, it was made in Alabama, but never mind that). Then Z'Dar runs away. Then he comes back. And they shoot. And they shoot. And they shoot. And I yawn, yawn, yawn. Never before have I been so bored by shooting. These guys are the best America and Russia can supply, yet they can't hit the broad side of a barn at close range! They hide behind skinny trees that you can shove a plastic knife through! But that's just the icing on the cake. There's some laughably bad moments where Z'Dar is blown up, but he survives with only a burn mark on his big left cheek. Worse than that is where Prior has Z'Dar down after the explosion, gun in hand. One bullet would win the fate of the world, but he doesn't shoot. Instead, thin smoke from the explosion allows Z'Dar to disappear like a magician in the vast area right in front of Prior's eyes! I laughed ‘til I cried. Or vice versa. I won't even bother getting into the silly love-interest for Prior, the shoehorning of a character responsible for Prior's lost platoon, or the terrible resolution.

Obviously this is a bad movie. Z'Dar and Smith fare the best, since their early scenes aren't that bad. Ted Prior is so awful I was rooting for Russia. But writer/director David A. Prior is to blame for the unleashed misery. It looks like he and Ted discovered about $75 worth of unused special effects lying around and decided to make a movie with them. I'm done complaining. From now on, give Robert Z'Dar movies a chance, just as long as they are not titled `Return to Frogtown' or `The Final Sanction!' Zantara's score: 1 out of 10.

Ted Prior. Zdar. High expectations. No delivery. Best part of this movie is the last five minutes. Cheesy zdar trying out his Russian accent. Prior tries carrying this flick with his hard nosed corny lines but alas it sticks. Definately a bad/bad movie. Pass. Next please.