Rough'n'tumble Vietnam veteran and ex-cop John Steele (a sturdy and likable performance by Martin Kove) declares war on the Vietnamese mafia in Southern California after they kill his best friend he knew since 'Nam.
Writer/director Robert Boris keeps the enjoyable story moving along at a zippy pace, provides lots of amusing moments of lovably goofy tongue-in-cheek humor, stages the rousing action set pieces with rip-roaring gusto, and even tosses in a couple of gloriously ridiculous and gratuitous music montage sequences for extra cheesy good measure. Moreover, the bad guys are quite nasty and hateful, with Soon-Tek Oh as ruthless drug kingpin Bon Soong Kwan in particular rating as a splendidly slimy villain. The able cast of familiar faces helps a lot: Ronny Cox as no-nonsense police chief Bennett, Joseph Campenella as the hard-nosed Harry, Peter Kwong as Kwan's vicious son Pham, Shannon Tweed as the sultry Angela Spinelli (an admittedly nothing role, but at least the filmmakers still had the fine sense to have one scene with Shannon in a bikini), and that ubiquitous Fu Mancho mustache and greasy mullet sporting 80's action staple Al Leong in his umpteenth flunky part as a goon who's so deadly and determined that he has to be killed twice (!). Plus the sequence with Steele doing instant surgery and cauterization on a potentially fatal poisonous dart wound needs to be witnessed in order to be disbelieved. Sela Ward simply phones it in as Steele's fed-up ex-wife Tracy while Jan Gan Boyd brings a winningly perky charm to her portrayal of the sweet Cami. The glossy cinematography by John M. Stephens provides a pleasing polished look. Misha Segal's hard-rocking score does the funky-bumping trick. Sure, it's extremely silly and tacky to the ninth degree, but that's precisely what makes this flick so much vintage 80's schlockoid fun.
Writer/director Robert Boris keeps the enjoyable story moving along at a zippy pace, provides lots of amusing moments of lovably goofy tongue-in-cheek humor, stages the rousing action set pieces with rip-roaring gusto, and even tosses in a couple of gloriously ridiculous and gratuitous music montage sequences for extra cheesy good measure. Moreover, the bad guys are quite nasty and hateful, with Soon-Tek Oh as ruthless drug kingpin Bon Soong Kwan in particular rating as a splendidly slimy villain. The able cast of familiar faces helps a lot: Ronny Cox as no-nonsense police chief Bennett, Joseph Campenella as the hard-nosed Harry, Peter Kwong as Kwan's vicious son Pham, Shannon Tweed as the sultry Angela Spinelli (an admittedly nothing role, but at least the filmmakers still had the fine sense to have one scene with Shannon in a bikini), and that ubiquitous Fu Mancho mustache and greasy mullet sporting 80's action staple Al Leong in his umpteenth flunky part as a goon who's so deadly and determined that he has to be killed twice (!). Plus the sequence with Steele doing instant surgery and cauterization on a potentially fatal poisonous dart wound needs to be witnessed in order to be disbelieved. Sela Ward simply phones it in as Steele's fed-up ex-wife Tracy while Jan Gan Boyd brings a winningly perky charm to her portrayal of the sweet Cami. The glossy cinematography by John M. Stephens provides a pleasing polished look. Misha Segal's hard-rocking score does the funky-bumping trick. Sure, it's extremely silly and tacky to the ninth degree, but that's precisely what makes this flick so much vintage 80's schlockoid fun.