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Rating: **½
Genre: Martial Arts Action MPAA: R Review #: 8 Cast: Directed by...Phillip Noyce Written by...Charles Robert Carner Written by Ryozo Kasahara (earlier screenplay) Rutger Hauer...Nick Parker Terry O'Quinn...Frank Devereaux Brandon Call...Billy Devereaux Noble Willingham...MacCready Lisa Blount...Annie Winchester Nick Cassavetes...Lyle Pike Rick Overton...Tector Pike Randall 'Tex' Cobb...Slag Charles Cooper (III)...Cobb Meg Foster...Lynn Devereaux Sho Kosugi...The Assassin Paul James Vasquez...Gang Leader Julia González...Latin Girl Woody Watson...Crooked Miami Cop #1 Alex Morris...Crooked Miami Cop #2 Mark Fickert...Bus Station Cop Weasel Forshaw...Popcorn Roy Morgan...Six Pack Tim Mateer...Snow C.K. McFarland...Female Biker T.J. McFarland...Cornfield Killer #1 Blue Deckert...Cornfield Killer #2 Glenn Lampert...Cornfield Killer #3 Red Mitchell (II)...Cornfield Killer #4 Bonnie Suggs...Rockwell Mom Harold Suggs...Rockwell Dad Barbara Gulling-Goff...Freeway Lady #1 Dorothy Le May...Freeway Lady #2 Sharon Shackelford...Colleen Jay Pennison...Casino Bodyguard #1 Tiger Chung Lee...Casino Bodyguard #2 R. Nelson Brown...Crooked Croupier Lincoln Casey Jr....Croupier #2 Gene Skillen...Croupier #3 Debora Williams...Big Mama Kyle Thatcher...Casino Cowboy Patricia Mathews...Casino Patron Mitch Hrushowy...Waiter in Elevator Ernest Mack...Penthouse Guard #1 Linwood Walker...Penthouse Guard #2 Robert Manning...The Drug Dealer Jeffrey J. Dashnaw...Ski Lodge Killer #1 Glenn R. Wilder...Ski Lodge Killer #2 David R. Ellis...Ski Lodge Killer #3 Mike Adams (I)...Ski Lodge Killer #4 Dave Bartholomew...Ski Lodge Killer #5 Fred Lerner...Ski Lodge Killer #6 Mike Shanks...Ski Lodge Killer #7 Ray Colbert...Ski Lodge Killer #8 |
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Review:
During the Vietnam War, Nick Parker was blinded by a shell going off near him. He stumbled around the jungle, and was finally captured by the residents of a small village. The inhabitants of this village do just what every Vietnamese citizen does to it's disabled POWs, trains him to be a master of Kung Fu! Flash forward twenty or so years to modern day Florida (they don't explain how a blind american POW managed to escape from communist Vietnam without anyone knowing) where Parker is looking for his good buddy Frank Devereaux, who abandoned him in 'Nam, but finds out that he's left his wife and son, and is now in Reno. A bunch of Rednecks come to the house, and kill Mrs. Devereaux and try to kidnap his son. Of course, Parker is on hand hack and slash his way though the army of rednecks, with the token kid in tow, of course. |
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| Unfortunately for the rednecks, Parker his there, and a blind samurai is more than a match for three guys with guns, even though the main redneck, Slag, is invincible, and can survive several sword hits to the chest without feeling a thing. It turns out that Devereaux is now a chemical engineer who was very, very, very bad a gambling in Reno, so in order to pay off his debt to a mob boss, he has to manufacture designer drugs. So Parker and the kid go on a trip to Reno, where they can rescue Devereaux and defeat the mob boss. This trip is full of attacks from a seemingly endless army of rednecks. The climax features a very funny and well done fight between Parker and a Japanese assassin armed with a huge katana. Luckily, Parker's has managed to conceal a very sharp sword inside of his blind man's walking stick. How convenient. |
| This movie is very funny and exciting with very well done fight scenes. Rutger Hauer does a pretty good job at portraying a blind man, even if you have to suspend a ton of disbelief to watch this movie. It's so well pulled off, however, that this amazing fit of mental disbelief lifting a small blue jay's egg. I laughed out loud during several of these sequences, and wasn't bored once. The inclusion of the kid seems like an unneccesary plot device, but this movie's plot is too silly anyway to make anyone care. If you're a fan of dumb action flicks with no basis in reality, then go out and rent it, you wont be disappointed. Of special interest is the scene in which Parker drives! That's right, while trying to escape from bad guys, the kid is too small to drive, and Parker accidentally stepped in the heroine's glasses, so the logical choice to drive the getaway car is the Blind vet. |
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