Two undercover cops are killed while investigating the drug trade in a manner that didn’t give them time to defend themselves. The police conclude that it was a karate expert, and go to local champion Matt Logan (Chuck Norris) for training. Initially reluctant as he has a big match coming up, Logan decides to help and starts to investigate who the killer could be in addition to teaching the cops.
For a start the title is very misleading. I expected some kind of overblown Rambo style movie, with Chuck rampaging through enemies. This is partly down to me knowing Chuck Norris the meme more than Chuck Norris the actor. It’s not that. It’s an advert for Karate with a narcotics investigation wrapped around it, with a bit of a love story.
And it’s a bloody good advert.
We’re treated to three competition matches, or some of them anyway, and a couple of fights with some sparing/training in there for good measure. It’s not ridiculous action, only one of them is in slow mo if I recall correctly, and they’re all shot so that you can see what is happening. Good stuff, glad to see it. And Chuck has chops.
I was also glad to see that he isn’t treated like some kind of amazing action man. He takes some hits as well as giving them. This is a problem I’ve always had with Bruce Lee. He’s too damned good, or shown as too damned good anyway, so its no fun.
Chuck might not be the greatest actor in the world, but he’s passable. A little passive maybe. And he has a……uh “southern” voice (can’t remember if that joke is from the Daily Show, Colbert Report or Real Time. I mean “a bit gay”) which I didn’t fully expect. So soft spoken, don’t show emotion to extremes really, and pretty damned good at karate. I can live with that. Of course I only have the one movie to go one so far.
As for the rest of the cast, well their fine. There’s some decent banter, his secretary is constantly eating for some reason and the head of the cops is a bit like Lloyd Bridges from Airplane. I half expected him to be on drugs or something. The script and performances are a bit clunky but no more so than in other things of this ilk.
From this I would say that Chuck’s movies are worth a look at if you like this kind of nonsense. Not bad at all.
And I’m not just giving this a good review from the fear that the might Chuck will round house me through the internet. Honest.
Next up: The Cottage
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