This is another of those warnings about messing with Vietnam vets - they'll put you down like the mad dog you are - but it's really another in a long line of vigilante killer movies following in the wake of "Death Wish" from '74. This one seems to lack a focus: it starts out as standard revenge when a vet's buddy is brutally attacked and crippled by a street gang in N.Y.City; the gang gets theirs, but then the vet (Ginty) goes after a mob boss for money, to help his friend's family and, soon after, some sex perverts are targeted, after the vet encounters a scarred prostitute. This one is all over the place, offering a catharsis for common citizens upset over all the ills plaguing big cities. But it also lacks a smooth narrative, jumping from one scene to the next without the usual background required for things to make sense. The vet just seems to become very serious about vigilante justice all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, as if there are a couple of missing scenes.
Top-billed Chris George is the detective on the case, while Eggar is a nurse he meets and dates at the halfway point. Their subplot doesn't really go anywhere, appearing truncated. Ginty does not strike one as right for the vigilante role, looking more at home as an assistant to a businessman, for example. But, then again, not all Vietnam vets can be expected to look like Rambo; some are average-looking guys, after all. The killings take on a very grisly tone - if you're into meat-hooks jabbing into flesh or human scum getting burned alive, then this one's for you. It's all the more disturbing because the movie begins in Vietnam, showing a particularly horrific execution, and the sense is that this violence follows Ginty's character all the way back home - there's little difference. But it comes across as sheer, unimaginative exploitation. The more interesting part for me was the scene of the vet applying his knowledge, working on some specialized bullets to facilitate his plans. Check out "Rolling Thunder" from the seventies for a better take on upset Vietnam vets.
Top-billed Chris George is the detective on the case, while Eggar is a nurse he meets and dates at the halfway point. Their subplot doesn't really go anywhere, appearing truncated. Ginty does not strike one as right for the vigilante role, looking more at home as an assistant to a businessman, for example. But, then again, not all Vietnam vets can be expected to look like Rambo; some are average-looking guys, after all. The killings take on a very grisly tone - if you're into meat-hooks jabbing into flesh or human scum getting burned alive, then this one's for you. It's all the more disturbing because the movie begins in Vietnam, showing a particularly horrific execution, and the sense is that this violence follows Ginty's character all the way back home - there's little difference. But it comes across as sheer, unimaginative exploitation. The more interesting part for me was the scene of the vet applying his knowledge, working on some specialized bullets to facilitate his plans. Check out "Rolling Thunder" from the seventies for a better take on upset Vietnam vets.