Steele Justice (1987) User Reviews

Say cheese!

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 22 June 2016]

Beefcake actor Martin Kove joined the ranks of action genre stars with this routinely plotted but fairly amusing vehicle. Kove plays genial Vietnam veteran John Steele, who goes into action when his wartime comrade Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim), now a police detective, is assassinated along with most of his family. Helped and hindered by former colleagues like Bennett (Ronny Cox) and Tom Reese (Bernie Casey), John goes up against a wartime associate named Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh), who's now a drug lord in America masquerading as a crusading businessman.

I'm going to give the filmmakers (led by writer & director Robert Boris) the benefit of the doubt here, and say that the amount of laughs to be had from watching this are intentional. If one does see it as tongue in cheek, it may yield greater entertainment than if they take it seriously. "Steele Justice" does have its moments. For one thing, it stops cold for a rock video that is eventually interrupted by the ongoing battles between Steele and Kwans' minions. But the unqualified highlight occurs when Steele is shot with a poison dart, and almost nonchalantly, he removes the offending dart, sucks up and spits out the poison, and does a fine job of improvising when it comes to cauterizing the wound. The action sequences are all reasonably well done.

Kove is engaging as our sardonic hero, often to be seen with a smile on his face. Oh is an enjoyably hammy villain in the action movie tradition. Sela Ward is a lovely woman, but as the heros' ex-wife, she offers a pretty insipid performance. Ditto for Jan Gan Boyd (the young lady who was hot for Bronson in the movie "Assassination"), cast as Van Minhs' supposedly teen aged daughter. Watch this and you'll see why she never had much of a career. There's a pleasingly large amount of familiar faces in the supporting cast, although some of them have no more than cameos or walk ons: Joseph Campanella, Sarah Douglas, Peter Kwong, Al Leong, Shannon Tweed, Irene Tsu, David L. Lander, Asher Brauner, Phil Fondacaro, Kevin Gage.

Any completist of 1980s action movies should have a pretty good time with this.

Six out of 10.

* * OUT OF FIVE

[bronsonskull72 · 4/10 · 3 July 2003]

Martin Kove stars as John Steele an ex-vietnam vet who becomes a one man army when his partner (and fellow vietnam vet friend) is killed by an enemy of his in Vietnam. Silly actioner which has a huge bodycount, will no doubt satisfy those craving action, but will fail to keep anyone else from squirming, or laughing for that matter (Martin Kove's wound repair scene must be seen to be believed). Soon Tech Oh does make a good villian though.

Decent vigilante film, nothing more nothing less

[scorpion-52 · 6/10 · 31 December 2008]

Well i'm surprised there aren't more comments for this film, seems that most people on here are bothered by the fact that's not particularly original, so what? Being unoriginal does not automatically make a film bad, and for the person who was bothered by the racist undertones, no offense pal but you're taking the film WAAAYYYY too seriously, this is the type of film were you don't think about logic and you just lay back and enjoy the mindless action. Kove is pretty bad ass in his role and i'm disappointed he didn't get the chance to star in more of these types of films then he did, though he did eventually end up in one of the Project:Shadowchaser films which i'll try and check out in the future, as it stands this film is pretty mindless and forgettable, but for people like me who couldn't care less about intelligence in films, that's hardly a bad thing.

Hilarious

[JohnSeal · 3/10 · 17 November 2005]

There's plenty of laugh out loud fun to be had in this over the top action flick. The completely talentless Martin Kove stars as the Rambo-style John Steele--not to be confused with John Steed--who likes to paint his face with camouflage and goes into action with his pet snake wrapped around his neck. When his Vietnam War-era nemesis relocates to Southern California and murders Steele's old sidekick Lee(Robert Kim) in order to protect his narcotics business, our hero leaps into action, daubs himself with war paint, and finds himself the biggest gun possible. There's an absolutely awful performance by Jan Gan Boyd as the deceased Lee's daughter, who brings new meaning to the words 'perky' and 'cloyingly annoying'. Also on hand are familiar faces such as Joseph Campanella as a fellow vet harboring a terrible secret, Bernie Casey as a weary cop who somehow survives getting shot in the stomach, and reliable Al Leong as (big surprise here) a villain. This awful film is compulsively watchable and comes highly recommended to fans of the sublimely dreadful.

Steele Justice

[dukeakasmudge · 5/10 · 28 August 2016]

I didn't realize Martin Kove, the leader of the Cobra Kai dojo in the Karate Kid movies played John Steele in this movie until I read somebody else's review.Steele Justice was an awesome movie that is way overlooked & should be more well known then what it is.The whole time I watched it, I couldn't believe nobody turned it into a TV show back then or at least spun off a couple sequels.That would've been genius I think.I'm not going to spoil the movie for anybody else but there are a lot of things that will make you either laugh (even though it's probably not meant to) go WOW or WTF.You'll just have to watch for yourself.Watch for the music video though.It seemed like right in the middle of an action flick, they stopped to make a music video.After reading a few other Steele Justice reviews I seemed to have missed out on a few things the 1st time I watched it so now I feel the need to go back & watch it all over again.If you're an action movie fan, go watch Steele Justice.If you're not an action movie fan, go watch Steele Justice

Heavy Metal...

[fmarkland32 · 5/10 · 19 June 2017]

Martin Kove stars as Steele, Vietnam vet, ex-cop turned Rambo meets Death Wish-esque avenger who declares a one man war on the Vietnamese mafia to avenge one his Vietnam War Buddy's family and protect said buddy's daughter. Along the way police detective (Ronny Cox), Military personnel (Joseph Campanella) and head cheese of the Vietnamese Mafia (Soon Tek-Oh) all acquire the wrath of steele vengeance. Bad Movie charm goes a long way with Steele Justice because if you're not a fan of the genre, this flick is going to be rough going. For me, I grew up with these movies and there's nostalgia involved. I don't think beyond that there's much else to the film. The action sequences are entertaining (as opposed to well-staged), Kove makes for a surprisingly likable if bumbling hero. There is a lot of Bad Movie charm to enjoy about Steele Justice, there is the infamous poison dart and frying pan scene, the fact that Kove has a poisonous snake as a pet that he deploys and the fact that the film is often funnier than most comedies, as the humor is so broad as to somehow be so stupid it's funny. Once again, it's a tough call as, quality wise it's sort of indifferently made, the bad guys don't really make sense and the way everyone seems to know everyone in what appears to be a big city draws attention to how bad the script is. That said, Rambo rip offs work in the same way Bruce Li films as simple absurd escapism. You know what type of person you are and whether you would watch such or not. I was not disappointed or bored watch Steele Justice.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Martin Kove at his best!

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 18 February 2011]

"You Don't Recruit John Steele. You Unleash Him." Lt. John Steele (Kove) is a man who plays by his own rules. He survived the horrors of the Vietnam war, including being trapped in a cave with "ratbombs", or bombs strapped to rats. Now, in the "present day", both he and his 'Nam buddy Lee (Robert Kim) are L.A. cops. Helping them in their quest to take down the evil drug-dealing gang the Black Tigers is Reese (Casey). When the Black Tigers do something really, really bad (I'm a master at avoiding spoilers), Steele straps two bandoliers of bullets to his bare chest and gets the only kind of justice he can...STEELE JUSTICE! Released in the prime of the video-store action glut of the 80's, despite its killer cast of favorites, it's fairly easy to see why Steele Justice got overlooked at the time. If a video store patron wanted this type of fare, are they going to spend their hard-earned money on a Rambo film or a Schwarzenegger vehicle, or Steele Justice? Thus it became a "die-hard action fan only" film. While it does have plenty of "shirtless shooting" and classic barfights, there are some things about the movie that are worth noting...

First off, John Steele (gotta love the name) has a gun that shoots knives. That's pretty memorable right there. But also he has a pet: Threestep the snake. He is named this because his poison is so deadly, you won't make it three steps before you die. Also, and this isn't said in the film, we can gather that Steele is a big fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd, especially the song "Gimme Three Steps". The bar he frequents also features the Desert Rose Band, featuring Chris Hillman of Byrds fame, so we know Steele likes country-rock. And speaking of his musical tastes, during a movie highlight, a car chase interrupts a video shoot for Astrid Plane (of Animotion fame), so we can also gather he hates 80's pop. Even though the video was choreographed (and perhaps stars) Jeff Kutash. And in true 80's fashion, there is a montage set to the song "fight fire with fire" by Hot Pursuit.

Sela Ward, as the love interest, appears heavily medicated. However, she does get to say the line to Steele, "The war isn't over for you. It just changed locations." Asher Brauner makes a brief appearance as "Mob Thug #1", and most of the names in the cast, including Shannon Tweed, Irene Tsu and Eric Lee make very short, almost walk-on roles.

Everybody knows/says the name "Steele" throughout the movie, and in true action movie fashion, it all ends in the typical abandoned warehouse. For generic 80's action that's so formulaic it can't miss, check out Steele Justice.

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The video box's cover art is about as cool and exciting as this movie looks...

[FlyBoyDC · 28 July 1999]

Why, why, why do these formulaic "vigilante" movies keep proliferating by the numbers? Anyway, Martin Kove stars in this occasionally exciting action picture as Lt. John Steele, a disgruntled, Vietnam veteran. Steele unfortunately is not able to find his niche in America. For example, he keeps losing his jobs, he continues missing his many opportunities, and his wife, Tracey (Sela Ward) is divorcing him. Steele himself...is just a raging drunk.

Twelve years ago, in the year 1975 (STEELE JUSTICE takes place in 1987, a.k.a. the so-called "modern times."), Steele was an honorable soldier, fighting alongside with his friend, Lee Van Tranh (Robert Kim). The two were tough soldier boys, fighting in the Vietnam War at Chi Chu Province. Steele and Lee were ambushed by one of their most formidable allies, General Bon Soong Kwan (Soon Teck-Oh). Both Steele and Lee have fallen for Kwan's trap and they have taken the bait. Kwan has just embezzled 20 million dollars worth of "lost" CIA gold and now, he's leaving Vietnam as a rich man. As Kwan quoted himself, "The war is over." Kwan shoots both Steele and Lee, leaving them for dead... However, Steele is resilient, like so many other hardened souls...

Now heading to 1987, Steele must forget about his troubled past, and continue on with his life; but as he has gradually learned, the war isn't over, it has "just changed location." In a violent shoot-out, Steele's best friend and old Vietnam War buddy, Lee was shot and murdered by a ruthless group of underlings controlled by the modern Vietnamese Mafia in Southern California. Their emblem is best known as the "Black Tigers." People shall remember their name. Guess who are the ringleaders? They are none other than General Kwan himself, and his son, Pham (Peter Kwong). Kwan himself has now become a powerful drug lord in Southern California, systematically creating fear among the Vietnamese communities. His spread of narcotics and his reign of power are more powerful than ever...

It is now up to the aggressive, over-the-hill once proud marine John Steele to find a way to avenge the murder of his best friend, Lee, and Lee's family. Steele must also take care of Lee's daughter, Cami (Jan Gan Boyd) as well as fight the corrupted Vietnamese Mafia, the Black Tigers. Steele will take no prisoners as this tough-as-nails Vietnam Vet will unleash a new way to annihilate the sadistic drug lords... With no help from the skeptical police, Steele must utilize his own firepower and skill to stop Lee's murderers not to mention the elite drug traffickers...

John Steele obviously has a proclivity to use violent methods to teach the bad guys some respect. However, in real life, one must learn that "revenge" does not justify brutality...

STEELE JUSTICE is cliché, violent, and even jingoistic at times. It has bursts of action and there are tons of explosions in this film, but the retribution formula is so obtrusively used frequently that this once fresh and innovative concept has become mere platitude. STEELE JUSTICE offers absolutely nothing new to the action genre. In fact, the story of a bitter ex-military soldier going on a retaliation spree is strikingly baring resemblance to an earlier film, James Glickenhaus' THE EXTERMINATOR (1980). In turn, the character THE EXTERMINATOR is a rip-off of Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH (1974). Talk about credibility here, folks!

Again, STEELE JUSTICE is a trite, superficial action film that is indistinguishable from a whole bunch of already made action films, languishing on the video shelves. This film features a better cast than usual. Included in the ensemble are Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Asher Brauner, Al Leong, and (down guys), Shannon Tweed. She does sport a nice bikini. STEELE JUSTICE is a violent thriller that has some explosive firepower and a cool climax. (CAUTION: *SPOILER...* Anybody who intends to see this movie should skip the next two sentences.) This is where Steele uses a tank to blow away the bad guys. Now that is what he calls "Steele Justice!"

The high energy violence compensates for an otherwise routine action film that has Steele and company delivering too many wisecracks to each other as well. If you enjoy action films, STEELE JUSTICE is mediocre at best. There's enough action in this flick; but it's just the racially biased undertones which I also despise...

Frankly, this movie does have a lot more racial bigotry then intended. Asians especially may be offended by the stereotypes portrayed in this movie. (i.e. Asian youth gangs, etc.) If it were not for the potential racism, then this film might have had a chance of earning a higher rating. Oh well, too bad!

Yes, the video cover looks spectacular, but you cannot judge a movie by it's cover art...

RATING: *1/2 out of ****.

the only justice is me

[ThingyBlahBlah3 · 4/10 · 31 December 2010]

I wouldn't pay a cent to see this movie, but if it's available free On Demand, there are worse ways to kill 90 minutes. Every 80s action cliché is on display, although there are a few fresh spins here and there; a car crashes through a trailer, and it's the trailer that inexplicably explodes into a huge fireball, not the car. Similarly, it's the police chief's recklessness (instead of his stupidity) that constantly undermines the hero. And there's a bit at the end where the bad guy is using the hero's ex-wife as a shield whose resolution was a nice surprise.

For a low-budget piece of crap, the cast is halfway decent, although understandably they're not doing their best work here. Martin Kove seemed to have a sense of humor about the whole thing, and he's fun to watch. Ronny Cox does a neat riff on the aforementioned clichéd chief, and Bernie Casey is always welcome; he's one of the few guys I truly believe would be back at work two hours after taking a bullet to the abdomen. Sela Ward (aka the former Mrs. Gregory House) shows up to whine and try to stop Steele from doing what a man's gotta do, etc. And the mighty Al Leong manages to get blown away twice, and even has a few lines of dialogue this time around.

Soon-Tek Oh is a decent bad guy, but like every other reviewer pointed out, once you see him in that blue muumuu, it's kind of hard to take him seriously. Hannibal Lecter in that muumuu? Not scary. Darth Vader in that muumuu? Not scary.

As for Steele himself, it's worth noting that for most of the movie, he's falling-down drunk and is always on the losing end of every fight. Then when it's time for vengeance, cue up a sub-Rocky montage complete with a hilariously bad 80s rock song, and suddenly he's the Terminator. He even manages to infiltrate a secret Army testing center (which seems to be located right in the same neighborhood where everything else takes place) and steals a top secret Army tank-like thingamajig, driving right past a bunch of guards who don't even try to stop him.

All in all, a classic piece of 80s b-grade nonsense.

Underrated cheese action flick but an OK movie solid job from Martin Kove

[ivo-cobra8 · 6/10 · 18 April 2017]

Steele Justice (1987) is an underrated solid action flick from the 80's it is a cheap action film but it is a really good rated R action film from the 80's from Martin Kove this is his best role. Written and directed by Robert Boris. What can I say about this film? I like this film not love but like for a fun popcorn cheese action movie.

I loved Martin Kove in The Karate Kid Trilogy as Sensei John Kreese he was really a bad guy and he become really famous by his role. A lot of people on the street yelled at Martin saying he hurt Ralph and they hated him, he played the bad guy Vietnam Vet and a karate "bad" guy instructor. A year later after the release of the first film The Karate Kid (1984) he went to play another Vietnam Vet character but this time Ericson in the action war flick Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) another bad guy who is a Vietnam Vet. I wish his character would had more to do. But this time he plays another Vietnam Vet this time he is "John Steele" wow what a cool character. An ex cop and a Vietnam Vet. Martin Kove plays this time a good guy in a cheap movie we can see he is a nice person not an evil guy like he got the roles on a screen. Martin does a fine solid job playing his character and I like this movie it is my favorite Martin Kove film.

Plot: Steele is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general and now rich and powerful drug lord.

This is an action revenge film of the 80's and it is one-man army action hero type. We see like 1975 a mission that John Steele (Martin Kove) and his partner Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim) goes on a secret mission in the Vietnam only that they are set up by the nemesis Gen. Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh) who try's to kill them but John saves Lee and he wounds Kwan with a knife and leave's him for dead but Kwan survives. 12 years later Lee is now a detective by LAPD on a chase for a cocaine but he was set up Kwan is now the leader of Vietnamese mafia and he deals drugs and prostitution. John is now an ex washed up cop who can't keep a solid job and he is divorced now from his ex wife Tracy (Sela Ward) he get's arrested but Lee bails him out. Kwan sends assassins on Lee and his family to send a message but to everyone in Vietnamese neighborhood, they kill everyone but they miss John and Cami (Jan Gan Boyd), Lee's only daughter now Steele must protect Cami and get's his own brand of justice against Kwan.

We have a great action scenes, practical blood squibs, there a few shootouts, Steele were Milk snake around his neck and he avenges his best friend's death in which he served in Vietnam together. Steele kicks ass two assassins in the prison then he escapes jail and he kills a lot of bad guys. He save's Cami and Tracey and other innocent life by killing Vietnamese assassins who start shooting at the music video spot they were filming. It is a rated R film and it is one man one-man army action hero type. One man against an army of Vietnamese mafia. For me it is a good cheese action movie not a boring or crap movie like some reviewers are claiming it is a fun popcorn film. I first saw this movie on VHS when I was 13. years old, years later I watch it on TV. I downloaded form the net and I watch it again and I had fun watching it.

Here we have actors Soon-Tek Oh from Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) who plays another Vietnamese soldier bad guy. In Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) he played Colonel Yin enemy to Chuck Norris this time he plays a Vietnamese General Kwan another evil bad guy. We have Ronny Cox from Beverly Hills Cop 1 & 2, Robocop, Total Recall who plays another good guy and again a cop Bennett another good guy. We have Sela Ward from CSI: NY, we also have Sarah Douglas from Superman 1,2 and Al Leong from Die Hard.

This a prototypical good action film but because it is cheap and cheese it get's a bad rap. My favorite scene is the end in which Steele and Kwan fight's with sword in a duel and we see a good samurai fights in which Steele uses two swords while Kwan uses one samurai sword. Practical real samurai demonstration.

I like action films like are: Rambo films, Demolition Man, Cobra, Tango & Cash, Cliffhanger, Assassins, Hard Target, Hard Boiled, Broken Arrow, The Killer, The Last Boy Scout, Die Hard franchise, Commando, 48 Hrs., Red Heat, Missing In Action 1,2, Steel Dawn, Road House, Black Dog, John Wick, Speed, The Matrix Trilogy flicks, Terminator 1,2 & 3, Predator 1,2, RoboCop 1,2, Beverly Hills Cop 1,2, Death Wish 3, Universal Soldier, Cyborg and many more action movies.

I really love the 80's the rating I am giving to this movie is a 6 a good solid movie. I can't give it more higher and I can't also an negative score F.

Steele Justice is a 1987 film written and directed by Robert Boris.

6/10 Grade: C Studio: Atlantic Entertainment Group Starring: Martin Kove, Sela Ward, Soon-Tek Oh, Robert Kim, Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Jan Gan Boyd, Peter Kwong Director: Robert Boris Producers: Thomas Coleman, Michael Rosenblatt, John Strong Screenplay: Robert Boris Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 36 Mins. Budget: $1.327.740

Great for all the wrong reasons!

[Mg6 · 1/10 · 31 January 2015]

There are stupid action films like Beverly Hills Cop III, which are awful and hard to watch, posses no entertainment value at all, just bad. But then there is that special film that is so incredibly awful, so painfully bad, it starts to become, well, wildly entertaining! You revel in amazement at how the movie is able to steadily lower the bar from start to finish. I mean, if you are looking for clichés, well, this film is 100% cliché. You will not see one scene that you have not already seen in any episode of TJ Hooker, Walker: Texas Ranger, or any Chuck Norris movie from the 1980s. There are several points during the film when you ask yourself, "the director knows this is terrible, doesn't he?" He has to! What boggles my mind is that there are people in here that are actually saying this movie was not really that bad. Uhh, I am guessing these people rode the short bus to school when they were younger. OK, you want a synopsis? Steele fought in Vietnam, he was a hero. Steele comes home to LA, corrupt Vietnamese everywhere, Steele deals with it, HIS OWN WAY! Steele gets beat up a lot, even gets shot with a blowgun, his reaction of which, was to grimace like he was shot with a laser beam. Then for some reason, he very slowly removes the toothpick sized dart from his arm (I guess so there was more time for the poison to inject?), which probably went a millimeter deep, and cauterizes the wound with a frying pan. Why am I explaining this is not a plot driven movie! Just watch the idiocy and enjoy it. Mystery Science Theater could have dedicated a season to this film.

Midget Cowboy

[mmelling77-474-324042 · 10/10 · 12 September 2012]

Look, I have no idea what was going on in this movie, but that's partly due to the fact that at one point, a midget cowboy, wearing sunglasses in a bar, sitting by himself, and rocking to some random country band had me so excited, that I basically had to sign up on IMDb so I could tell everyone that this movie has a midget cowboy in it.

I thank the Netflix Gods for his sublime performance.

Oh, and apparently, all Asians know martial arts, and then they use the arts whenever they're least needed (I've heard this is true).

It certainly isn't Citizen Kane (that movie was in black in white), but it is the greatest movie ever made in color (named Steele Justice).

Sameo sameo justice delivered

[videorama-759-859391 · 6/10 · 4 April 2016]

This straight to drive in action pic, is just your typic action fare, with some well staged action set pieces, no more. What's fascinatingly strange here, it's it's lead, Kove, who I've never seen, take the lead before, while also playing a good guy. I'll be honest, I've never considered this guy to be much of an actor, my friend, even stating, during the 80's, he's a no talent, but I've seen him in a lot of stuff. I am glad to see him in this, and really, he doesn't do half a bad job (but don't push it) as a Vietnam vet turned cop, out to bust an Asian bad arse, (one of his team you'll recognize straight out of the first Die Hard) who has slain the closest thing to family, though his late vet/cop buddy was crooked. The surviving daughter, a little Asian girl, who overacts, especially one bit of dialogue, robot sounding, when she and Uncle John are on a stolen boat, about to flee from authorities, is taken under his wing. What Steele Justice suffers from, is tired formula, and you'll feel tired and exhausted by this at the end, when he's claimed victory, killing off the bad dudes, two who went on to star in certain B grade, Wings Hauser fare. There are some dumb moments in this slightly stupid actioner. Ronny Cox, as the police commissioner is so actor stereotyped, when you look at his surrounding roles of this mid 80's era. Shannon Tweed provides nice scenery and a sexual stimulant to the film as Soon Teck Oh's business partner, and she looks so fine in a bikini. Soon Teck Oh, in a kimono, not. A weird partnership. Sela Ward as John's ex, looks undernourished. The eye nabbing performance is that of Joseph Campanella as Steele's old vet buddy, now an untrusting one. He makes his scenes, worthwhile, while another highlight of the average 80's action, is it's rockin' finale soundtrack. Out of interest this was on at the drive in, with another film of even appeal, Slate, Wyn And Me.

Bottom-of-the-barrel.

[gridoon · 4/10 · 16 December 2002]

After watching this movie, you're not likely to wonder why Martin Kove didn't get the chance to make any more starring vehicles. It's unforgivably bad technically by 1987 standards. What's up with that green glow that accompanies every single shooting or explosion? What's up with the scenes that appear to move in fast motion? And why does Shannon Tweed have only two brief scenes? (*1/2)

Boring Actioner

[Skutter-2 · 3/10 · 18 March 2007]

A movie starring Martin Kove, aka the evil Sensei from the Karate Kid movies, vrs. an Asian crime syndicate ran by Soon-Tek Oh, one of those familiar Hollywood Asians from the eighties who I remember as the head baddie from Missing in Action 2? Sounds like it should be can't miss eighties cheese but unfortunately it is no Action Jackson.

It is mostly dull by the numbers cop movie with a Vietnam back-story, which seemed to be in vogue at the time for cop movies ala Lethal Weapon. Ex Viet Nam vet and ex cop John Steele (Don't you love silly macho cop names?) takes on a drug syndicate, lead by the traitorous south Vietnamese general who almost killed him in the war, after they kill his old partner and war buddy and his family, except for his teenage daughter who Steele has to protect. There is not enough action, cheesy or otherwise, to keep things interesting. The story and a lot of individual scenes develop in such an awkward fashion at times that it seems that the version I saw may have been an edited one, although it is possibly just bad storytelling. For example a character, a friend of Steele, we have barely seen for most of the movie is revealed to be in cahoots with the evil syndicate prompting not a reaction of surprise from the audience but a reaction of puzzlement as to who this guy actually is. Supporting the editing apologist theory is a least one picture on the back of the video case of a scene which doesn't occur in the version of the movie I saw. Supporting the bad writing theory is pretty much the rest of the movie.

Most ludicrous is the syndicate's motivation in trying to track down and kill the daughter of the cop and war buddy of Steele, who was murdered early in the movie. They have absolutely nothing to gain by killing her, other than to possibly make themselves more intimidating in the eyes of the community they were intimidating in originally murdering her family i.e. saying nobody gets away from us! It really seems a bit redundant to do so seeing as they have already massacred the rest of the family, including her mother and aged grandmother and everybody is already scared of them. Maybe it is meant to be indicative of a stereotypically strong Asian work ethic or maybe it is just an obvious and lazy plot device to keep things moving beyond Steele's revenge motivation. The syndicate does go to great lengths to kill this one completely unthreatening teenage girl. As with other dumb cop movies of this era such as Cobra the baddies end up committing multiple murders and other crimes in broad daylight with impunity in front of many, many witnesses just to get to one person. The most notable scene like this is one of the most memorable and goofy in the movie, when a really bad music clip/fashion show/montage, that is bizarrely inserted into the middle of the movie, is interrupted by the gun wielding baddies who end up blowing away half of the backup dancers. They were already eighties fashion victims, why not become eighties crime victims?

There are a few memorable bits and pieces in Steele justice. The video clip massacre is one. Another is John Steele's strange proclivity for wandering around with his pet snake, most prominently in the Viet Nam prologue where, yes, he is seen sneaking commando style into an enemy based with a brightly coloured snake hanging from his neck. Strangely enough he seems to have the exact same snake, which is deadly poisonous and remarkably domesticated, as a pet 12 years later. This leads to another the movies few memorable moments, Steele's dispatching of one of the main villains in a manner that seems a precursor to the death of Bill in Kill Bill- remember the snake is called 3-step. Another memorable moment from the Nam intro is the part in which Steele appears to fire a knife from his gun. Later in the movie Steele gets his own Rocky style montage in which we get to see him train before his onslaught against the bad guys complete with him running on the beach, working out etc. complete with really bad eighties pop music. For some reason it is intercut with shots of his love interest and the teenage daughter sitting around in a kitchen not really doing anything. It is apparent here more than any other time in the movie how odd a choice Kove is to be a leading man with his thuggish looks and creepy smile. On the other side of the coin Soon-Tek Oh as the villainous general Kwan looks rather unthreatening, if not downright cuddly at times. Especially in the scenes where is he is wearing a Muumuu. Nobody wearing a Muumuu is threatening, especially not the one he is wearing, which is effeminate even by Muumuu standards.

There is an impressive B-movie cast including- Sela Ward, who played the Ex, one way or another of Dr. Richard Kimble and Dr. Gregory House as Steele's love interest and predictably brittle ex. Ronny Cox, from a lot of things, perhaps most notably as villains in no less than two Paul Verhoeven sci-fi action flicks and as the guy who doesn't come back from the trip down the river in Deliverance, as the chief of police who predictably has a chip on his shoulder about Steele's loose cannon behaviour. Al Leong, Asian Hench De Rigueur who you may have seen in movies such as Die Hard and Action Jackson, as an Asian Henchmen who predictably tries to kill Steele.

In summation, despite a few amusing moments it's boring.

A typical eighties action film with sloppy action, a lot of shooting, fights and synth music.

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 18 April 2024]

Martin Kove vehicle in which our starring called John Steele decides to deal out justice in his own hands against maniacal killers. Steele (Martin Kove) is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general. Steele suspects Kwan is involved with Lee's (Robert Kim) death but unfortunately Kwan's (Soon-Tek Oh) now respected and wealthy member of the community, but he's actually a powerful drug lord. Then, a massacre takes place. John cares vital witness (Jan Gan Boyd) and then has to protect her from the efforts of the bad guys. Former boss Bennett (Ronni Cox) is not in a rush to find the killers cause investigation reveals that Lee may have been dirty which Steele knows is not true. When the police needed someone to stop the Vietnamese Mafia, there was only one choice...Only law is the Black Tiger's !. The only justice is John Steele's !. You don't recruit John Steele !. You unleash him!.

This comic-book stuff contains suspense, thrills, chills, noisy action-packed, gun-play and lots of violence. Here Martin Kove is a lone-wolf ex-cop who with his usual stoic acting displays amount of weapons arsenal, track down and exterminates nasty psycho killers. The villiains are encouraged to overact, which they carry out without much flair. This was the highlight of Kove, being an usual secondary actor who first appeared in bit parts in films like ¨Karate Kid¨ saga and ¨Rambo: First Blood Part II¨ . Trying to make a new action hero imitating to ¨Commando's Arnold Schwarzenegger¨, ¨Invasion USA's Chuck Norris¨, ¨Cobra's Sylvester Stallone¨; however, this project failed at the boxoffice, continuing a second-class career in B films and in increasingly insignificant roles. In Steel Justice , the long list of secondary characters that have long and well-known careers in cinema stands out, such as: Sela Ward, Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Joseph Campanella, Sarah Douglas, Shannon Tweed, Kevin Gage and oriental actors as Soon-Tek Oh, Jan Gan Boyd , Eric Lee, Peter Kwong of 'Big trouble in Little China' and the prolific secondary that even has a cult status, Al Leong, featured by long wavy black hair and Fu Manchu mustache, who frequently plays mercenaries who are killed by Hollywood's biggest stars.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Rober Boris. He is an artisan who has written, produced or directed a few films with not much success, such as: ¨Backyard dogs, Marilyn and Me, Extreme Justice, Buy & Cell, Frank and Jessie, and Oxford Blues¨ with Rob Lowe. Rating: 4.5/10, only for hardcore action movie lovers .

So bad you won't want to stop watching.

[euryan · 3/10 · 31 March 2017]

Like a train wreck you won't be able to look away from this movie, no matter how awful it gets. At times you'll ask yourself if they were trying to make a bad movie on purpose just so we could laugh at it in the future. If you like Kung Fury and want to see the exact kind of over the top martial arts cop movie it was spoofing this is it. The acting, horrible. The action, completely ridiculous. The plot, written by a ten year old boy. I've literally never seen cheesier acting, fighting choreography, editing, or music, all with every 80's cliché you can think of wrapped into one movie. Entertaining? HELL YES!

Great terrible but great because it is terrible 80's action flick

[tpgear · 6/10 · 1 January 2019]

Are you missing the bad action movies of the 80s? Do you like yourself some throwback schlock? Do you love an easy to digest buddy cop storyline with some over the top weirdness thrown in? Do you miss charismatic heros that are troubled by their Vietnam service?

Do you wish you could see a movie that tried to be a low-budget Rambo / Schwarzenegger clone,except without the budget, or the acting, or the writing, or the screenplay?

Do you ever say to yourself....self, remember the superficial bubblegum optimism that was the hallmark of the 1980's, and don't you wish there was a movie that not only included the making of a big hair jazzercise pop video, but one in which said video was interrupted by a dynamic, overly complex shootout between the villians and the good guys, complete with fake blood and the shaking back and forth that is the hallmark of bad-movie-mindless-bad-guy-death?

Well then, you are in luck. This is your movie. Prepare to have your nostalgic feelings of the superficial action movie revived.

Watch it. Share it. Revere it. It's a rare gem among the bad action movies of the past. It doesn't take itself seriously and neither should you.

So much fun

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 2 August 2022]

"The only law is the Black Tiger's. The only justice is John Steele's."

How are people not losing their minds about this movie?

Directed and written by Robert Boris (the writer of Electra Glide In Blue and Doctor Detroit), this is the story of Vietnam vet John Steele (Martin Kove) and his struggle to fit in with the world after being a career soldier. When his cop friend Lee - and his wife and mother just to out an exclamation point on the crime - is killed, Steele suspects someone they knew in Vietnam, General Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh, Missing In Action 2: The Beginning), who has gone from stealing from the CIA to being an important figure in business.

He's also running a gang called the Black Tigers, which means that John Steele has to pretty much kill everyone in Kwan's employ. This is endorsed by his former boss - yes, Steele was a cop once but was too rough even for the LAPD - Captain Bennett (Ronny Cox) who unleashes our hero on Kwan.

This movie is packed with some amazing people, like Sela Ward as Steele's ex-wife, Bernie Casey as Detective Tom Reese, Sarah Douglas as a district attorney, Jan Gan Boyd from Assassination as Lee's daughter Cami that Steele promises to raise, plus Shannon Tweed, Peter Kwong (Rain from Big Trouble In Little China), David "Squiggy" Lander as a soldier, Al Leong, James Lew, George Cheung and Phil Fondacaro as a small bartender.

There's also a bar scene with The Desert Rose Band playing and Astrid Plane from Animotion singing and performing "You're Not a Lover," a music video shoot that ends with gunfire when the Black Tigers roll on up. I mean, that scene is worth watching the entire movie for, but this is also a movie well worth all of your time, as Steele also has a killer snake as a pet and is given to wearing camouflage face paint.

Kove usually plays bad guys, like Kreese in The Karate Kid, Nero the Hero in Death Race 2000, Ericson the helicopter pilot who dares screw over Rambo in Rambo: First Blood Part II and as the killer martial artist Mr. Lee in Shootfighter: Fight to the Death. It seems like he's having so much fun here and wondering who would allow him to star in a movie as the hero.

How was this movie not made by Cannon?

Martin Kove has been unleashed!

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 16 November 2016]

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.

Steele Justice (1987)

[jonahstewartvaughan · 7/10 · 17 August 2023]

Return to the Video Store #22

Steele Justice (1987)

(7/10): While certainly not the greatest action film of the late eighties, Steele Justice does have its fair share of fun.

Steele Justice is about a soldier who fought in Vietnam named John Steele who was set up by the Vietnamese government, left for dead only to come back and do the same to the leader of the Vietnamese government, who then swore he'd take revenge.

Many years have passed and Steele works on and off various jobs and gets into the occasional trouble with the law but after being bailed out by his spiritual family, who is Vietnamese, he then finds himself lunged back into fighting for his country as the Vietnamese Mafia made an attempt to kill the entire family leaving only his niece alive and brother on life support and later he passes away.

Being nearly pushed completely over the edge John makes an attempt on the Vietnamese head official's son's life, who is also the son of the same man who set him up in Nam.

He becomes the target of both the law and the Vietnamese Mafia as he attempts to overthrow them once and for all and avenge his brother's death.

Here we have a very fun and cheesy action film that surprisingly has a great soundtrack and it also has some silly one liners.

Action fights aren't great but they aren't the worst either, the film is mostly elevated by its incredible amounts of eighties cheese

Not the best film but for people who like old cheesy action films, you should probably like this one.

Cool post Rambo action flick

[dworldeater · 7/10 · 22 December 2022]

Steele Justice was a vehicle for Martin Kove. Martin is best known as the leader of Cobra Kai( John Kreese) and also had a supporting role in Rambo First Blood pt 2. In this film Martin Kove is hero and leading man. (John Steele) In my opinion, Kove was better as a villain. However, he still gets the job done here in this post Vietnam War vigilante revenge flick. When his best friend and his family get brutally executed by the Vietnamese Mob, John goes on a one man mission for justice ala Rambo/Commando style. Steele Justice benefits from a great cast with Bernie Casey, Ronny Cox and Soon Tek Oh as main baddie( who was also head villain opposite Chuck Norris in Missing In Action 2). I thought this was good, however Martin Kove is lame in comparison to Arnold and Sly. Steele Justice was a good lesser known action flick that didn't skimp on big guns, karate sequences and a big body count of bad guys by the movie's end. I can definitely see Cobra Kai fans eating this up as well as 80's action fans in general. Just keep in mind that this is not as good as the movies it mimics and you should enjoy this as I did.

Silly actioner

[lor_ · 21 April 2023]

My review was written in April 1987 after watching the movie at a Times Square screening room.

It's rather difficult to tell whether writer-director Robert Boris is playing it straight with "Steele Justice", a cornball actioner in which the unintentional laughs come fast and furious. Grindhouse fans are likely to be confused.

Martin Kove toplines as John Steele, the umpteenth Vietnam ve back home in L. A. with a problem. South Vietnamese General Kwan (Soon-Teck Oh) betrayed his unit back in 1975 and is now a California big shot posing as a philanthropist but actually heading up a drug ring, assisted by his sadistic son Pham (Peter Kwong).

Things come to a head when Steele's best pal from Vietnam, Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim) and his family are murdered by Pham, with the cute daughter Cami (Jan Gan Boyd) surviving. Steele whips into action and bodies pile up.

Format might have made for an acceptable, routine film noir, but Boris includes a wealth of silly material that causes the film's credibility to evaporate. Most obvious gaffe is a large-scale central sequence of guest star Astrid Plane warbling in a music video shoot (replete with Jeff Kutash choreography) directed by Steele's beautiful ex-wife (Sela Ward). The oriental gangsters and a squad of good guys show up, and it is the hapless chorus line that gets mowed down in machine gun fire. Producer John Strong likewise emphasized a hard rock score in a previous effort, "Savage Streets", but it doesn't help matters this time.

Kove's acting is one-note, a surly sneer and more bare-chested scenes than William Shatner or Charlton Heston in the '60s.

Bernie Casey lends strength and wry humor as a cop pal of Steele's while poor Ronny Cox as the police chief looks like he strayed in from the set of "Beverly Hills Cop II", even wearing the same sports jacket. Oddball casting has soap opera stars popping in, Sarah Douglas as a district attorney, and cast against type, Shannon Tweed as a beautiful gangster and Joseph Campanella as another bad guy. Worst decision was to have Jan Gan Boyd, recently impressive as an adult in "Assaassination" (replete with a tasteful sex scene with Charles Bronson) and "A Chorus Line", fitted out here with pigtails as a whiny little girl.

Tech credits are good.