Night Vision

Night Vision is a decent enough B grade action thriller with a fantastic cast. In fact the cast of Fred Williamson, Cynthia Rothrock and Robert Foster is the best thing about the movie and to sweeten the deal Bushwick Bill from The Geto Boys is also in this. With that cast alone, this should be the best movie ever. Night Vision is obviously not that, but there is enough action and trash talking from Fred Williamson to keep me occupied for the duration of the film. Our heroes are cops that are working on a case of a serial killer. This is not on the same level as something Clint Eastwood would star in. Keep that in mind and you will think this is alright. Also, don't expect much martial arts from Cynthia Rothrock. Night Vision is not the best movie of its type, but for it's budget level it could have been much worst. Overall, I thought this was alright. Just keep your expectations low on this one.

Fred Williamson is back in another B movie action flick but this time its along with fellow B movie behemoth Cynthia Rothrock and for the rap fans Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys. If you hadn't already guessed its a B-movie, with B-movie actors, production budget and values. If you don't like B-movies or were expecting Silence Of The Lambs from this team you are barking up the wrong tree, which seems to be common imdb when these movies are reviewed. This is not so much a revenge movie more of a hunt for a killer who is abducting women and couples who are having affairs. Its also a buddy cop movie with Fred being the main character while Cynthia is a the side kick. This is another of her movies where the martial arts is secondary to her acting, so don't expect Hong Kong style action sequences. Sure its easy to pick holes in the story or action however the standard of this movie is not to bad for its genre. The cast had a few surprises and it was entertaining enough. Its the kind of movie you can just switch off to as its not too taxing or violent to watch. Sometimes you just want something that isn't too emotionally draining and fun and this was fine on both counts.

Fred Williamson, one of the two or three top blaxploitation stars. Cynthia Rothrock, one of the two or three top American female action stars. Imagine a film with these two together for the first time! Now imagine THE WORST film that could possibly be made with these two together for the first time. Welcome to "Night Vision". Of course, this movie was made in 1997 and they were both past their prime, but that doesn't mean they didn't have what it takes anymore - they just needed the help of good writing and direction. They got neither here. Rothrock does get to throw a couple of kicks near the end, but this film is so atrocious that you probably won't be awake to see them. (*)

The first clue that should tell you that "Night Vision" is not a good movie is that it was made by Texas filmmakers - Texas has made more than its share of bad movies. The second clue is that it has Cynthia Rothrock in its cast, and no (American) movie with Cynthia Rothrock is any good. The third clue is with Fred Williamson producing this movie, whose Po' Boy production company has made a string of bad movies. Yes, "Night Vision" is indeed a bad movie. In fairness, I will say that for a VERY low budget, the movie looks good. The colors are strong and there is some decent night shooting. And there are at least SOME production values, something you can't say for all Fred Williamson movies (such as with Williamson's "Black Cobra".) But most of the rest of the movie is pretty pitiful. It's a slow, sluggish movie, even in the action scenes. (And speaking of action, why cast martial arts actress Cynthia Rothrock when she gets to do almost no martial arts?) The atmosphere is sterile. Scenes seem to be missing. And Fred is seen in his underwear twice! And Robert Forster is wasted; he made this the same time that he made "Jackie Brown", and I hope he worked on this mess before making the Tarantino movie.

This can't even be called a movie, it was so bad. First of all, it was BORING. I was so bored, I kept waiting for something to happen and it didn't! The music was awful, like something out of a 70's porn flick. The acting sucked. Everything about the whole thing sucked. There wasn't one redeeming quality to this movie. Not even the last five minutes with Cynthia Rothrock doing the usual martial arts bit. Run from this movie!