The B Action Movie Thread

I'm no expert on DTV movies (leave that to Moltisanti) I can't remember the last DTV movie I saw, I think it was Sworn to Justice starring Cynthia Rothrock, it was pretty good, it actually had decent fight scenes for a US martial arts movie.

Transporter 2 is tied with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as my biggest disappointment of the year; not that Hitchhiker's was that bad, but I expected a lot from it.

I was so disillusioned by Transporter 2 that I had to rewatch the first one to make sure I hadn't been on LSD when I'd seen it. Nope, I still like that film. It had real driving stunts and everything.

That bit with the bomb on the bottom of the car is one of the biggest What The Fuck moments I've seen in years. I mean, really. What The Fuck? At least the hose fight tried to be worth the ticket price.

I agree with you for the most part but Sworn to Justice is one of her best films, no, fuck that, it's the only decent film she's made in the US compared to her HK films.

I thought the fight scenes in T1 were pretty good, not a scratch on Kiss of the Dragon but good nonetheless. Alot of fans knock Yuen's fight scene's but I think he's easily as talented as YWP or Sammo.

But... I remember loving her movies so much when I was 12 years old! Could it be that my memories deceive me?

Anyway, big up to Michael Dudikoff the ninjaniest ninja around.

I think B-action begins and ends with Hard Target, particularly with the wit -

"How does it feel to be hunted?"
"You tell me!"
"You should know better!"

Oh, snap!

I just remember watching her US films to laugh at the fight scenes, I have fond memories of China O'Brien and the sequel seeing out of shape stuntmen get the stuffing kicked out of them.

I think The Rock is an underrated guy. He should be the next Schwarzenegger imho, but likely he's going to end up a new Bruce Campbell: charisma out the ass, but no big mainstream success. And since he's not as "underground" as Bruce, he won't even have the same cult following.

The past few weeks I’ve been checking out a slew of films made by the PM Entertainment Group. They were a production company that spent the 90’s spitting out countless low budget flicks featuring various has-beens and never-beens such as C. Thomas Howell and Gary Daniels in various cookie cutter plots revolving around renegade cops, crime lords, and destined-to-be-killed-off sidekicks played by thespians like Sugar Ray Leonard. They have such imaginative titles as RIOT, THE SWEEPER, and RECOIL and what they lack in originality they more than make up for with outlandish stunts, cars flying through the air, and a limit of no more than 9 minutes in between scenes involving the mass use of automatic weapons.

If I had to put one of these films in the spotlight it would be LAST MAN STANDING starring Michael Wincott’s older and kick-happy brother Jeff. Wincott portrays a renegade cop who plays by his own rules, rarely goes by the book, and merrily fulfills every other movie-cop cliché with the exception of having an ex-wife and 2 kids that he hasn’t seen in years. He’s partnered with solid character actor Jonathan Banks who defies grizzled movie-cop convention by still living with his mother. I don’t want to spoil what becomes of Banks’ character but there is a scene where he happily discusses with Wincott his plans to retire soon and write a book about his years on the force. In other words he’s doomed.

Describing the story of LAST MAN STANDING would imply that there is a story to describe. I don’t know, there’s some crooked cops who are in cahoots with murderous bank robbers and Wincott does his best to kill everyone involved, justified or not. Oh yeah, and the main bad guy likes to call himself “The Swashbuckler” for some reason that I’ll probably go to my grave never understanding.

Aside from that I would only add that countless people are thrown through glass. Some guys are thrown through glass in places where you would not usually find glass. It’s a good thing this movie never became popular, for I’m sure many children would be cut up from head to toe while trying to emulate their favorite screen hero Jeff Wincott. This would eventually lead to Congressional hearings where Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA) would attack Hollywood for its glamorization of tossing folks through glass. Then Wincott would have to appear in public service announcements warning kids against throwing chums through glass and it would just be a whole to do.

So there you have it, LAST MAN STANDING is a good example of PM Entertainment’s ability to serve up a healthy does of two-fisted mayhem. I’d also like to say that I’m quite proud that my 5,000th post here pertains to a Jeff Wincott movie.

This film is by far one of the most entertaining ever made, especially if you have access to a few jibs of green. Watch out for Van Damme's stunt double on the bike and horse - its Billy Ray Cyrus!

NO CONTEST!
The best B action flicks are the Die Hard rip-offs. The best Die Hard rip-off is No Contest starring Shannon Tweed as McClaine and Andrew Dice Clay as Hans Gruber.
http://videodetective.com/home.asp?PublishedID=5589

Nope. The [irony]"best"[/irony] Die Hard Best Rip Off is Lethal Tender: Kim Coates and Jeff Fahey headline Die Hard-in-a-water-purification-plant. Quite deliciously absurd. And shitty.

This was the best BATTLE OF WITS Ever.
Here's the uncut version:


Lance: rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrHEY! *fires gun*
You lucky son of a bitch! You want some more of that?!

Van Damme: YEAH!
How does eet feel to be hunted?

Lance: rrrrrrrrrrrrrrYOU TELL ME!

Van Damme: YOU! Should know better!

Lance: Come on you son of a bitch! Take your best shot!

Van Damme: yyyyyyyyyAAAAAAHHHH!

The Die Hard rip offs are their own category. If you want to get down to it, you got Under Siege duking it out for that title as well.

The king of crappy DTV action movies in the 90's was Lorenzo Lamas, hate him or hate him, he was in every HBO Thursday night shit fest for like eight years running, all the while doing his syndicated Renegade (with that actor's actor, Branscombe Richmond) and perfecting the mullettail to a high art.

Let's not slight Don 'the Dragon' Wilson, either, who I think made a shitload of movies with PM as well.

Lethal Tender, though, that does come close I guess. Whatever happened to Fahey? I liked that guy.

I always thought he said "haunted". Now it makes more sense.

No, it made more sense the other way around. In that movie, Van Damme was a ghost.

Sorry Bal, I gotta call foul on both Lamas and Don "The Bore" Wilson. They were just so bland, though I'll admit to enjoying "Renegade" when it was on but mainly due to Richmond. I haven't seen any of Wilson's PM films. I keep seeing one called CYBER-TRACKER show up on cable but I just can't stomach him, not even when he has an actor like Michael Ironside backing him up in RED SUN RISING.

I do agree about Fahey. I'll never get why that guy just vanished. He has a small role, and spends about 10 minutes holding onto the hood of a car during a great chase in PM's THE SWEEPER.

One guy who has really turned into a force in this arena is Lou Diamond Phillips. I have no doubt that the majority of his DTV ventures are a waste but the combo of EXTREME JUSTICE and A BETTER WAY TO DIE are all I need to be satisfied with the man. I just saw a trailer for a movie he finished called BLOODLINES with Yancy "nose candy" Butler and good ol' Jeff Speakman. I look forward to the magic that trio is bound to create.

SPOILER WARNING, PLEASE!

It's not really a spoiler. It's very subtextual.

Please let me clear this up: I can't stand Lamas, I only own five, maybe ten of his movies, but still, I can't stand him. Maybe it's fifteen. I'll get back to you on that. He has to be mentioned, though.

Don Wilson is a guy I like who made movies that I never finished. Maybe one with Matthias Hues where Hues is a serial killer with a Mommy thing.

Stay away from any movie with Cyber in the title. Trust me. I learned the hard way.

There is a movie I want to start a thread on, if I haven't already, called Fist Fighter, with some guy named Jorge Rivera, who looks like a buff John Kerry, the aforementioned Matthias Hues, Edward Albert, not the Green Acres guy, but the other one, who plays a Mexican, I think, his accent comes and goes, named Punchy, and Mannix himself, Mike Connors, playing the heavy. Mannix uses the term "my friend" a lot, which shows you the high quality of the screenplay.

Lies.
I ask you, if Van Damme was a Ghost, how did he PUNCH OUT A SNAKE?

Biting of a good portion of that snake is what impressed me, that was more god-like than ghost-like.

Yeah, Matthias Hues is an epic talent. I was sad to see him wasted in the recent William Forsythe/Erika Eleniak letdown STRIKE FORCE. If only someone could provide him with the proper cinematic outlet for his artistic gifts.

I was trying to convince this virgin chick recently to lose it with me, and she was getting all righteous and saying that she had experienced lots of sexual things (being bisexual) without actual intercourse. Not wanting to offend her, I merely told her that she had seen SUDDEN DEATH, and I was simply recommending that she might also enjoy BLOODSPORT, and perhaps, under certain circumstances, would like WAKE OF DEATH. She read me beautifully. Thanks, Jean Claude.

I don't watch many DTV films since time becomes more precious when you get married and get a full time job, but I am happy to see that the DTV industry is keeping alive the great American tradition of the grade B or lower film.
I wonder when somebody is going to reverse the trend and an actor who made a mark in DTV films becomes a major mainstream box office star, a la John Wayne in the 1930's.

I applaud your brain slug.

Though certainly not as big as Wayne, Viggo Mortensen is a guy who did some DTV stuff like AMERICAN YAKUZA and TRIPWIRE (which I still have never been able to track down) as he was becoming a supporting actor in mainstream films, to the headliner that he is today. Probably not exactly what you mean but it does set a precedent of sorts.

One day Dolph, one day.

Seeing as someone beat me to Hard Target, and Moltisanti hasn't mentioned this gem yet, I have to throw Showdown in Little Tokyo into the mix.

I thought this was the greatest film ever made when I was 11 and I bought the DVD for about five quid 3 years ago. Thank Jebus they put the trailer on that sucker, cos it's one of the best trailers ever made.

Dolph. Brandon Lee. Tia Carrere. That evil, snake-like Japanese guy from Rising Sun (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa? Hope that's right, can't be arsed IMDB'ing it). 76 minutes. A shitload of squibs. And the line, "You have the biggest dick I have ever seen on a man." Lord knows what sort of dicks he's seen on chicks, cos he's talking to Lundgren, man!

It's still ludicrous fun, and Lee has an uncanny Jim Carrey-ness about him in some scenes. Sure, some of the action is a bit shoddy, but it ripsnorts its way along and crams in as many cheesy lines, gory deaths and naked tits as it can in its slender running time. I know i'm not the only one holding a candle for this one.

Damn straight! You're lucky you got a trailer. Region 1 doesn't have jack! Thank God for this site. It may not be the same trailer they showed overseas but it sure does sum up all the film has to offer, minus the sushi served on naked broads.

You always have to mention the

"Flight's been cancelled."

-"No, YOU'VE BEEN CANCELLED!"

exchange when talking about TRANSPORTER 2.

I like how lingerie chick casually blows up a crappy CGI helicopter with a couple of bullets from her machine gun.

I liked how the somewhat interesting French inspector from the first film turned into some kind of wacky sitcom loud shirt wearing guy this time around.

This thread begins and ends with Invasion U.S.A..

One of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time must be Ticker starring Steven Seagal, Tom Sizemore and Dennis Hopper, directed by Albert Puyn. It contains a truly awful performance by Hopper. He's supposed to be an Irish terrorist, but his accent just comes and goes all the time. Sometimes during one sentence. Ticker also has the worst blue screen driving scene ever put on film. It looks awful and when the car stops, the background stops abruptly, like the car just hit a wall or something. Unfortunately Seagal doesn't get to do much in this film, except deliver zen wisdom to Sizemore.

Oh, and now that we're at it -and since I'm too lazy/ashamed to open a new thread for it- anyone knows what's the name of that B-movie that RIPPED COMPLETELY OFF the car chase scene from Bruno's Striking Distance (some footage included, I swear to god)?

I once caught it on TV some day halfway through, recognized some shot, and then -bang!- some other guy was at the wheel. In Bruce Willis' car. What the fuck--?

I mean, really, it was like in Christmas at a mall, when you were a happy kid sitting on Santa's knees until you pulled his beard down and discovered it was actually Al Leong under the disguise SMILING AT YOU.

Damn, that magic is long gone.

Okay, back on general topic, for me the Rites to Manhood started with American Ninja and Bloodsport and ended tragically with Fire Down Below (DTV here in Spain retitled On Deadly Ground 2 -WTF!?-). After that the absolute nada, but in-between a young boy cinematically growing, full of hopes and dreams... and a ponytail.

That's the one! It would be just okay, but that High Five at the end seals its greatness.

Someone was talking about terrible blue-screen?! You cannot talk about terrible blue-screen until you have seen Derailed with JCVD (not the recent Clive Owen-Jennifer Aniston remake). The whole film is remarkably sloppy - there are pointless jump-cuts which seem to suggest that either the editor is using the film as a CV-boosting work experience job or that they just didn't get enough coverage - but there is a genuinely hilarious and mystifying shootout involving a motorbike, two trains, the Muscles and a couple of goons. I have no idea what happened in that sequence, but there was something strangely beautiful about it.

Van Damme's "Wake of Death" is pretty damn cool.

I liked Christopher Gans's "Crying Freeman" with Mark Dacascos, as well as Dacascos in "Drive" with Kadeem Hardison.

"A Better Way to Die" is kind of cool.

Drive is the best American kung fu film ever made. And Rush Hour should be ashamed for ripping it off.

BACHELOR PARTY, that's it.

I just saw Lundgren's Mechanik and it's the best dtv action film I've seen since Van Damme's Wake of Death. I wasn't a big fan of Lundgren's previous directorial work Defender, but Mechanik is solid. It looks great, the writing is ok and there's lots of well directed action. I really liked the fact that it takes place in Russia and it's filmed there. There's lots of great scenery that you see very rarely in movies. Although I must say that the last scene in the Russian - Finnish border, doesn't look like any border crossing point I know of.

Man, I loved the way Lundgren blows away the main bad guy in a geysir of blood.

Glad you enjoyed THE MECHANIK Timo. Sadly when it is released here next month Sony is releasing it with the awful title of THE RUSSIAN SPECIALIST. Oh well, those are the breaks in the DTV world. I really dig how the film has a bit of a western feel with the final confrontation.

I've never seen CHAIN OF COMMAND or the what must be stellar BOUNTY HUNTER series but AMERICAN NINJA blows, they should have given the lead to Steve James. He had some personality. I'm glad that even with the resurgence with these type of movies that Dudikoff has been MIA for a few years.

Here's the thing. Yeah, Crying Freeman was cool, but I thought Drive was absolute shite and Hardison was seriously irritating. However....

I can't actually disagree with this quote. For the life of me, I can't go one better and I do recall there being a half-decent fight between Dacascos and the super-suped up enemy dude. I know there is one out there, but everything I think of is HK or European. I would throw Shanghai Noon in, cos it has some awesome choreography and Chan's bit with the horseshoe is staggering, but it's not strictly a kung fu movie is it? More a buddy-western comedy, with a kickass fight sequence at the end.

Oh, and films can't feel shame. Only love.