For Life or Death (1996)

This past week we lost an absolute legend, one of the best to do it in the DTV action world, James Lew. As such, we needed to do a post in his honor, and I figured because this one had a lot of Lew in it, it would do the trick. As Nicolette Larson said, "it's gonna take a lotta Lew..." In addition to us, Ty and Brett at Comeuppance have covered this as well.

For Life of Death has Lew as Kaan Woo, formerly part of a mystical cult of martial arts warriors with magical powers, he left them, but, as cults are wont to do, they come and try to take him back by force. The leader of the cult, Ling Li (Nancy Kwan), was hoping to marry Kaan Woo, so when he left her and found a younger woman in Caren (Grace Una), Li sent her best monks after him, including Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, and Richard "no nickname needed" Norton. Recognizing he's outnumbered, Kaan Woo transfers his soul into the body of Earl (Mark Pellegrino), a man dealing with alcohol addiction and housing insecurity. Now Li wants Earl, but if Earl discovers whose soul is sharing his body in time, perhaps he and Woo together can take Li down.

Maybe I shouldn't have followed Nicolette Larson's advice and gone for the movie that had a lotta Lew, because I don't know if this is the best movie overall. Lew was fight choreographer, and between him and the fantastic names involved, which, in addition to the names I mentioned above, also included Karen Sheperd and Gerald Okamura, the talent was there, and it came through at times. Most of the time though those great fights were obscured by editing choices. Sped-up film, awkward cuts, attempts at Hong Kong cinema that looked more like someone parodying it than paying homage to it. The story had issues as well, probably foremost among them, it felt like we were just spinning our wheels until Lew came back, which meant from the time he leaves us early on, until he comes back near the end, it all feels like padding in a way. Why not just have it be Lew the whole time? Is there a law that says you can only have Lew for limited screen time? Still, in celebrating the life of someone as great as Lew, someone who did a lot more supporting work or even cameos, to have something like this where he has a more robust part, and that movie being available on Tubi, makes it a good choice if you're looking for something to celebrate him, and maybe that's what counts most.

One of the things I discovered when I was looking for a film to review for this post, is I hadn't tagged all of Lew's stunt work yet, and when I did that, he ended up with 31 tags overall. That means automatic Hall of Fame entry, but I think that was a given this fall anyway, and it was something that was long overdue. For anyone who watched action films from the late 80s to the mid-90s and onward, Lew was a mainstay, probably more of a That Guy, but for us who watched a lot of these movies, we knew who he was and appreciated what he brought to the table. We weren't the only ones though, he won a Primetime Emmy for his work as stunt coordinator on the Luke Cage TV show, one of my favorite things the MCU has produced, so it was great to see he was given the honor for that; and later this year, Avengers: Endgame will be back in theaters, which he won an Actors Award for along with the rest of the stunt crew. So here's to you Mr. Lew, you were one of the greatest to ever do it, and will truly be missed.

Also missed is Richard Norton, who with this film enters the 30 Club, but we'll do another post later on down the road to fully celebrate that milestone. There were a few scenes where he and Lew fought, and it was hard to watch knowing they're both no longer with us. It's the reality though, that even something like this is thirty years old now, and if these guys were in their 40s then, they'd be in the 70s now, some even older than that, but at least we know that they created a lasting legacy that for the most part we can enjoy on some form of physical media, and in many cases on a free streamer like Tubi. So they may be gone, but not forgotten, and their work endures for us to enjoy, and hopefully for new generations to discover and enjoy too. And maybe this movie isn't the best of his, but he turns in a fun performance that at least enhances the proceedings, which is always good to see.

Kato Kaelin is back, and it's crazy seeing him 30 years later, because when this was made he was only a couple years removed from the OJ trial. As a result, having Kato Kaelin in your movie at that time could provide a boost, though looking at his career prior to the OJ trial, this was the kind of role he had been getting, so maybe he would've been in this film regardless, or may have even committed to it before the trial began. We also had Karen Sheperd, who had a smaller part but a couple nice fight scenes, so that was nice to see. I think there are six or seven DTV movies of hers out there that we haven't covered yet, so hopefully we'll get to those eventually. For a little IMDb-style trivia, both she and Kaelin have been in Cyborg sequels, Sheperd in part 2, Kaelin in part 3. (As an aside, why do people put trivia like that on IMDb trivia pages? I want nuggets about the film that I wouldn't know otherwise, not connections I could make on my own by cherry picking actors' filmographies!) Finally, we had Gerald Okamura in his 20th film on that site. I had no idea he had that many! I'm not sure if 30 Club is possible for him though, because I don't know if he has 10 more films for us to review. He's great here as the ancient master that helps Pellegrino learn his true potential.

Finally, I want to go back to Lew again, because beyond his martial arts and fight choreography work, one of his best contributions to the films we watched was as a henchman to a main baddie. It's a thankless role, you don't get to chew scenery like the main baddie, instead you may have very few lines, and have to generally play a jerk, and then take a beating from the hero in an applause moment. I think that was the most fitting reason to choose this movie, even if it wasn't as good as some of his others, because he was the one beating up henchmen here; and while I say it's a thankless position, for us that have seen a lot of these, when someone like a Lew appears over and over, we do start to appreciate what he's bringing to the table, and that's why we in the action fandom, especially the DTV action fandom, we were so sad to hear the news of Lew's passing. Maybe he didn't have what the kids call "main character energy," but he carved out a great career doing what he loved to do, and I don't know that it gets more main character in life than that.

And with that, let's wrap this up. You can currently stream this free on Tubi and Prime here in the States. Again, it's not exactly the best movie, but you get Lew in a leading role, which makes it a good option if you're watching something in his honor. One of the greatest to do it, he will be missed.

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144930

Zhi fa xian feng aka Righting Wrongs aka Above the Law (1986)

I thought it was high time I did one of Cynthia Rothrock's Hong Kong films-- it was just a matter of finding one! Righting Wrongs was one I'd been meaning to do for a long time, and as it happened, a buddy got the Dragon Dynasty DVD, and let me borrow it. Mr. Kenner at Movies in the Attic also reviewed this as part of his Cynthia Rothrock Binge, but his copy was entitled Above the Law.

Righting Wrongs is a Corey Yuen directed feature that has Biao Yuen as a prosecutor who is fed up with criminals getting off on technicalities (that sounds bad, doesn't it?), so he takes the law into his own hands. Cynthia Rothrock is a police detective called in to investigate the murder of a criminal that Biao killed. When they bump into each other at another criminal's death-- one Biao didn't do-- they find they are at cross purposes, though they have similar goals. What will they do when it's revealed that Rothrock's superior is that criminal's killer?



This is excellent stuff. It's pure Hong Kong, directed by Hong Kong master Corey Yuen, so we're talking fight scenes with the volume turned up to 11, and the knob ripped off and tossed into an exploding microwave. Also, this had some humor in it, and then did a weird thing, where it suddenly wasn't funny anymore. To be honest, I don't even know if it worked or not as a plot device, because the action was so great, it didn't matter. I guess it was a little weird, but not too weird. No, this one got it right, totally.

For strictly US fans of Rothrock's work, her Hong Kong films are very different. I personally like both the late 80s/early 90s Hong Kong action, and the DTV action from the same time period, but I can see why people would watch something like this, and think none of Rothrock's US efforts matched it in quality. She really brings it in some great fight scenes, especially one at the end with Karen Sheperd, who has a cameo just so she can do that fight. If all you've seen of Rothrock is her US DTV work, then you haven't really seen her.



The bad guy in this had something of a Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind quality. Maybe it was the 'stash, or the hair, or the way he carried himself. When he had that enormous corkscrew against Rothrock's neck, he should've been like "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." I wonder what Clark Gable would've thought of this film. Would he have liked the soundtrack that sounded like an instrumental version of Bonnie Tyler's "I Need a Hero"? That brings up another issue though, about whether or not he'd have liked Footloose. My favorite scene in Righting Wrongs came when Biao tried to throw the cops staking him out off the trail, so he stuffs an apple on the tailpipe, then dumps paint or something on their windshield. That was hilarious! Imagine me laughing hysterically at that, and Clark Gable sitting next to me on the couch.

Biao Yuen is awesome. That he's not better known over here is our fault, not his. This guy is as balls to the wall as any other Hong Kong action leads you can name. In Righting Wrongs, he is all over the place, repelling down buildings, hanging off of planes, jumping over cars, and getting involved in tons of too sweet fight scenes. All in a day's work. Biao Yuen: man.



I decided to go out of my element a bit here, and watch this one dubbed, the way I used to watch Hong Kong films 15-20 years ago. It brought back lots of memories, and I think ultimately was the better way to go, just because it added an extra level of fun. In the end, no matter how serious one of these movies might get, it's all about how much fun we have watching them, and anything that adds to that is a bonus.

You can buy this on Amazon, but it's a little steep, so you make the call. I don't think you'd be disappointed, especially with the Dragon Dynasty transfer. I have no idea why it's out of print, but it is, so it's something we have to deal with. Hopefully that'll change eventually.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094374/

Mission of Justice aka Martial Law III (1992)

I knew I wanted to look at some more Jeff Wincott movies, and I was trying to think of something to do after Martial Law II, and I saw Mission of Justice over at Straight-to-DVD-Heaven, a great site run by Lee Nicholson from Middlesbrough in the UK (if you remember, that's where The Tournament, starring Ving Rhames, took place). As an aside, a few years back, when I was living in Portland, ME, our cable man was from Middlesbrough. He saw me in my Arsenal jersey and was like "whoa, you watch the EPL? I'm from Middlesbrough" and I'm thinking "my cable man is from Middlesbrough?"

Mission of Justice was originally conceived as a sequel to Martial Law II, until Cynthia Rothrock pulled out and they went with Karen Sheperd instead. She and Wincott play beat cops, when a guy who they arrested for beating his girlfriend is released by their shit-heel sergeant because the guy was a good snitch, and the snitch proceeds to go home and beat said girlfriend to death. Wincott quits the force, and joins up with shady politician Brigitte Nielsen's Mission of Justice cult/vigilante group. He does this because he suspects they had something to do with his ex-boxing champ buddy's murder. Now he's killing two birds with one stone, by bringing down his friend's killer, and sticking it to his asshole former superior.



Wincott does it again. Great, great stuff here. In one scene, he's being initiated into Nielsen's Mission of Justice, and he has to survive this gauntlet of 20 guys wielding batons. He takes the batons they give him, and throws them into the middle, turning away like he wants nothing to do with it. Matthias Hues and James Lew, Nielsen's main henchmen, look on in disdain, thinking, "we knew this dude was a total tool." Then he charges back to the gauntlet, does a few flips into the middle, picks up his sticks, and delivers a major hurting on everyone. I don't know who came up with that, but that person is near the top of my all time awesome book. And the film just gets better from there, culminating in a too sweet knock down, drag 'em out final brawl between Wincott and Hues. Not as good as it's intended predecessor, Martial II, but still pretty great.

Wincott is often lost in the shuffle here at the DTVC, in part because he's not in the Hall of Fame, and so his films drop some in priority. I know that shouldn't be the case, because I can't remember the last Wincott film that wasn't awesome, can you? The next question is, if he has so many wins like this, why is he not in the Hall of Fame? Well, we just have to get more of his films up, and it will happen in time. His DTV filmography is somewhat diluted by a lot of TV roles and bit parts in feature films, so he might not have enough movies to get in too. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, enjoy how sweet he is in this one.



I was surprised to find out this will only be the seventh Matthias Hues we've done on here. Maybe it's because he's so large that I thought we'd done more. He's excellent in this as Nielsen's brother/hatchetman, especially in that end fight with Wincott. It's one of those ones too where it's being sold to us from the beginning, from the first time we learn that Hues is in the movie, we know what we're getting at the end, and Mission of Justice doesn't fail to deliver. I wonder, though, with Hues playing a baddie all the time, does he ever wonder how many of these dudes he can actually take in a fight? A guy with his size and speed probably has no question-- maybe only Dolph Lundgren would have that same unique combination, and in I Come in Peace, Hues was playing a super-strong alien, so they never had a man-to-man style fight.

Karen Sheperd is solid in her part as Wincott's partner, but it's not a huge role, so in that sense it's something of a disappointment. I wonder if the role was always supposed to be small, and that's why Rothrock turned it down. She gets a few good fights against some dudes, but it's in the final one with Nielsen's number one female fighter that she really gets after it. Great stuff, just too bad there wasn't more of it.



Finally, Brigitte Nielsen played the head baddie, the classic corrupt politician, only this time it wasn't a white male in the part. In the Circle of Death post, I mentioned how Bai Ling said her part, also as the main baddie, would have been an old white man character, and how forward thinking it was that she was cast in that role instead. Same thing here with Nielsen, only she's been a baddie before, in some much bigger films, like Rocky IV and Beverly Hills Cop II. One thing I noticed in this, that I'd never noticed before with her, is how skinny her legs are-- at least in 1992. Wow, they'd rival Bai Ling's.

All right, before I get way off track, let's wrap this up. Not the level of Martial II, but definitely up there. Wincott brings it, Sheperd is good when she's there, and Hues and Nielsen as baddies were great. As far as I can tell, here in the States, the movie is only available on VHS, but if you're in the Region 2 zone, you can get it on DVD. If you come across it, I'd go for it. Also, if you haven't already, go check out Straight-to-DVD-Heaven.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104888/

Terminator Woman (1993)

I first saw this during the movie block after WCW's Monday Night Nitro on TNT. That would've been about 12 years ago, and over time, I remembered the story, but who was in it was all jumbled up in my mind. I believe there was a Rowdy Roddy Piper film on that same night-- probably Immortal Combat-- and I ended up confusing the two, and after I tracked down that latter film, realized it wasn't this. Anyway, fast forward to now, when I find this great action movie site, Fist of the B-List, run by Karl Brezdin, and he's reviewing it. It was so great. I couldn't believe it had Jerry Trimble and Karen Sheperd in it and I'd forgotten that, but it didn't matter, it was mine now.

Terminator Woman has Trimble and Sheperd as two cops escorting a prisoner to Africa for extradition. He knows where $100 million in gold is stashed and his old boss, Michel Qissi (who also co-wrote and directed) wants it. What he does is kidnaps Sheperd, using a woman who does some white slavery work for him, thinking Trimble'll trade Sheperd for the guy. What he doesn't know is Sheperd is no damsel in distress, and his goons get more than they bargained for.



This is pretty sweet. Even the awkward dialog between Trimble and Sheperd about some mixed-gender karate competition kind of worked. Then you had the excellent martial arts scenes, which really delivered on all the talent, some various explosions and jump kicks to guys on dirt bikes, and Qissi as a fun baddie. My one qualm was a very out-of-place scene where Qissi kills the kid who's helping Trimnble's sister-- after he had already taken out her eye some time in the past. Though nothing is shown, it was an element of brutality in an otherwise very fun and offbeat movie. Had the rest of it not been so enjoyable, I would've had more of a problem, but in the end it was only a small issue.

This is pretty sweet Jerry Trimble. I'd go with Live by the Fist over this one, but maybe not anything else after. This just plays to a lot of Trimble's strengths: a frenetic fighting pace with little let up, clean-cut Southern looks, and a slick-talking sense of humor. According to imdb, most of his recent work, including the upcoming Green Hornet, is in bit parts as members of gangs-- essentially James Lew in most 1990s DTV actioners. I wonder if he looks at starring in lower-budget features today and thinks "been there, done that." Too bad, because it might be nice to see him in something new.



Terminator Woman is the second Karen Sheperd film we've done here, the first being Cyborg 2. This was a much bigger role, and a much better role. She doesn't have any where near as extensive the filmography that Cynthia Rothrock does, which is a shame, because she's about as good. What I really liked about this part was how she was using the classic damsel in distress device that pigeonholes women in action films to a limited participation in the film's outcome, and she bursts out of it. She's not playing a man's part though, not by any stretch, she's using this part to redefine what a woman is capable of contributing. She's kidnapped, and her captors think she's their damsel in distress, but she breaks out and lets them know that they picked up the wrong chick. The movie made a point of her getting away on her own, not being rescued by Trimble, which I thought was great. I have no problem with the damsel in distress device, I'm just saying for women like Rothrock and Sheperd, they're above it, they should be doing the rescuing.

Michel Qissi, as a first time director, did a pretty solid job. His fight choreography was on point as well. I didn't know this-- I don't know why I never bothered to look-- but he's not Tong Po in Kickboxer 4, except for in some of his archival footage. What could he have been doing in 1994 to have been too busy to reprise his role as Tong Po? Or did Albert Pyun not want him? Maybe Qissi was like "I want to direct it" and Pyun was like "um, no, that's what I do." Also, Terminator Woman reunites Qissi with his To the Death co-star Ted Le Plat.



By far, one of the best DTV action blocks on television was after WCW Monday Night Nitro on TNT, especially after the Mortal Kombat series with Daniel Bernhardt was canceled. I was in college then, and I remember us getting some beers in us and laughing at Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Diamond Dallas Page, and then that seamless transition into a great early 90s Dudikoff or Piper classic. I'm not surprised that TNT got rid of that kind of programming, because they found more money in "New Classics", but I am surprised that the proliferation of "men's channels" like Spike and G4 hasn't provided a late-night market for movies like this. I mean, I've never seen Attack of the Show, but is a rerun of it at 1AM better than American Ninja 4? (I do like Ninja Warrior though. Go Brian Orosco!)

This is a cheaper find on VHS than it is on DVD, but both are out there. I don't know if it's a must have, but it's a lot of fun, and if it ever were to be shown on TV again, it would be plenty worth your viewing. I'd say keep an eye out for it cheap, and then pull the trigger. Also, if you haven't checked out Fist of the B-List, you definitely should.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108313/

Cyborg 2 (1993)

I first saw this on Spike really late at night. The crazy thing about it is that it flew completely under my radar. It came out in 1993, but I had no idea it existed until like 2006. And not only that, it has Oscar winners Jack Palance and Angelina Jolie in it. I figured with the Academy Awards last Sunday, this would be an apt post.

Cyborg 2 takes place some time in the future after the first one. Things are somewhat better, and two companies, Pinwheel and Kobayashi are vying for corporate supremacy in the field of cyborg technology. Pinwheel has created a cyborg that doubles as a bomb, and they've made Angelina Jolie into one. Elias Koteas is her fight trainer, and Jack Palance, playing a disembodied voice, convinces the two of them to escape Pinwheel. Pinwheel sends the always gross Billy Drago after them, but Pinwheel's CEO has other plans, and he sends a cyborg of his own to get things done. Palance manages to get the two on a ship to Mombasa, the free-zone for cyborgs.



This wouldn't have been a bad film, except for Billy Drago. Not only was he in it, which was bad enough, but they made his face all bad after he gets glass in it. Eww. He has a fight scene with Koteas at the end, but with a gross face, I didn't enjoy it. Why do people do things like this? Whose idea was it to A: have Billy Drago, and B: make him grosser than he already is? He was all preening in the mirror and pulling his face apart like he's trying to make himself look nice for William Holden in Sunset Boulevard, and it made me cringe the whole time.

I'm not saying it totally ruined the film. The future was pretty cool. I'm not sure what happened to the great Atlanta from the first one, but this was a pretty bleak time. Koteas, Jolie, and Palance were all good. What wasn't Billy Drago all gross was pretty awesome actually. But like Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight, the specter of Drago lurking made even the scenes he wasn't in intense.



Obviously The DTVC doesn't come across Oscar winners often, so when we get one, it's kinda a big deal. This time we got two. Jack Palance technically did win in 1991 for City Slickers despite the fact that Gary Busey should've won for Point Break; and then there's Angelina Jolie. I realized when looking her up on imdb that other than this and Hackers, I haven't seen any of her films. I think I saw five minutes of a Tomb Raider movie on TNT, and who knows why that was. Anyway, even with Elias Koteas and Jack Palance, Jolie is head-and-shoulders the better actor/actress. I didn't realize she's only 33 years old. That's four more than me, but also 12 less than Brad Pitt. I don't know why, but I always thought she was older and closer in age to him.

Speaking of Brad Pitt, Elias Koteas was in the Oscar nominated The [notso] Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Personally, I liked his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Crash better than either this movie or the one that garnered all the award nominations. And let's be clear, the Crash I'm talking about is the good one with James Spader, not the sack-of-asscrack that won best picture when Brokeback Mountain was ten times better. Also, Koteas is the second TMNT alum featured on the DTVC, Corey Feldman being the first.



I wasn't sure what to do about tagging Jean-Claude Van Damme. He's in it in the form of clips from the previous movie. I guess I'll tag him, and then whoever reads it can see that he's really not in it, only sorta kinda. Word on the street is that he and Dolph are teaming up again for another Universal Soldier. I hope it's DTV, though if it is in the theater, I'll make an exception and review it here.

If you think you can handle the Drago grossness factor, I say give this a shot. It may just be something wrong with me, too. Most people probably don't find Drago that gross, even when his face is all cut up and falling apart. This isn't as good as the first Cyborg, but how many Godfather II's are there out there anyway? It's good for what it is.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106639/