I am not sure what to say about this film. I liked both Gary Daniels and Peter Weller in it, I thought the fight scenes were very well done and I was pretty entertained by it. However the film is bad on so many levels, the plot pretty standard fare, probably something you would have seen a lot in the 80s, Daniels has to fight to pay the debt his brother owes to a underground fight promoter played by Weller.
The acting of Daniels' characters wife and child are largely cringe worthy especially the boy. The pacing is very off in the film, you know time has to be passing, but it doesn't feel that way. Daniels decent into his characters fighting addiction is almost so sudden as to be unbelievable as is his abusive way he handles his family after this occurs. Nothing about this part of the film feels genuine and is what really brings the film down.
The nail in the coffin comes with when Weller kills the brother needlessly. It doesn't really follow, he has Daniels fighting for him, even got him to take dives. He took Weller's threats seriously, so the murder of the brother does nothing except give Daniels a reason to screw Weller royally which he does.
There are other nitpicks here, the big bad fighter at the end isn't really set up well, you never really see him as much of threat and Daniels seems to have an easier time of finishing him then he did the previous fighter. The cop that is investigating the murder seems to have been pulled from the 70s, old style appearance, unkempt appearance, heavy NY accent and all. Then the low budget swat team seen at the end, all black ski mask wearing subjects with handcuffs visible to show they are cops.
However even with all the flaws, I was still entertained and in the end that is all a film has to do.
The acting of Daniels' characters wife and child are largely cringe worthy especially the boy. The pacing is very off in the film, you know time has to be passing, but it doesn't feel that way. Daniels decent into his characters fighting addiction is almost so sudden as to be unbelievable as is his abusive way he handles his family after this occurs. Nothing about this part of the film feels genuine and is what really brings the film down.
The nail in the coffin comes with when Weller kills the brother needlessly. It doesn't really follow, he has Daniels fighting for him, even got him to take dives. He took Weller's threats seriously, so the murder of the brother does nothing except give Daniels a reason to screw Weller royally which he does.
There are other nitpicks here, the big bad fighter at the end isn't really set up well, you never really see him as much of threat and Daniels seems to have an easier time of finishing him then he did the previous fighter. The cop that is investigating the murder seems to have been pulled from the 70s, old style appearance, unkempt appearance, heavy NY accent and all. Then the low budget swat team seen at the end, all black ski mask wearing subjects with handcuffs visible to show they are cops.
However even with all the flaws, I was still entertained and in the end that is all a film has to do.