Reviews

Film starts with Bruiser Bom Bash narrating the story then we go to the music video style intro that showcases the plethora of characters, this worked extremely well in the previous installment and now it's even longer and you can see just how talented each of the cast members are. There is a generous recap of the previous events updating the viewer to the integral plot of the film. As usual the filming and editing looks top notch, the music is high tempo, witty and funny dialog, fast pace fight scenes, surprisingly solid story, and a host of interesting fighting game style characters. Enter the afro wearing Hopz, fighting style martial acrobatics. Hopz goes toe to toe with Peaches, showcasing some amazing moves with lots of character. Talk about a fun guy to watch. His technique looks stellar too.

There are some very serious dramatic scenes in this film even though it is a martial arts action comedy film. Bruiser and Peaches, Ryuken and Knuckles show some high tension backed with some really good music that will make you hold your breath, meaning everyone did a good job. And you feel for peaches in a Darth Vader meets Ophelia (Hamlet) sort of way.

Don't forget the mega talented siblings, Jimmy Broker and Billy Broker bringing in the Kung Fu styles in full throttle. I thought Billy Broker was absolutely amazing in Slug Street 2 and here we get to see him yet again out in a wide open space against other hyper talented practitioners.

It was interesting to see Ryuken's character suddenly develop in Slug Street 2 making him almost another lead along with Bruiser. His part of the story pretty much concludes in this one, not before a few fights including an eye catcher with the tall and enigmatic Bones who seems perfectly casted for his role. The Drunken Fist Kung Fu displayed by Bones is a nice contrast to the Karate style of Ryuken, and I have to say that the music in this fight scene is exceptional.

If all this wasn't enough, we get to see the glorious return of Punchy who was a jaw stopper in the first Slug Street. She was unfortunately absent in the sequel, but she is back with a fury wearing a sailor moon style outfit that anime and cosplay fans will have to love!

If you like fight scenes you won't be disappointed, because there are tons of fights, including the humorous Slugger Squad Omega versus the girl everyone seems to be talking about, Knuckles, who shows us some new tricks in her arsenal… grappling moves!

The story is actually much more than you might expect from this genre because there is a segment that goes into some interesting anime style mythology done in story board format which was a very nice touch and change of pace. Right when you think it's over, we get to finally see The Revered One and The Demoness, and it ends with once again a great music score as the credit roles. I can't wait to see the next one!

As a kid I saw Kung Fu the TV show, Bruce Lee films, Chuck Norris films, and classic KF flicks as well as the Ninja stuff, this left a strong impression on me, and as I grew older I got into the martial arts action flicks primarily from the early 90s. I'm talking JCVD, Steven Seagal, Don the Dragon, and Olivier Gruner. So now I enter into the modern day era with this new breed of MA action hero with MMA stars doing B-movies. This one stars "American Psycho" UFC fame, Stephan Bonnar. Let me get this out of the way and say that the women in this film are not my type so the eye candy did nothing for me. If you like strippers with fake boobs and strip clubs then you will enjoy the eye candy. Even though there is a lot of this kind of stuff, the rest of the film is done well enough that I wasn't turned off. I was very glad to see the guest appearances by MMA stars, Sokoudjou, and Gilbert Melendez. Oleg Taktarov also makes a brief cameo appearance, which was nice to see if your a classic UFC fan. Still, the other fighters whom I did not recognize, did a great job, and I found the fight scenes to be entertaining, they were well done, high/real skill, and unique. We definitely get MMA style action, flying knees, Muay Thai kicks, and grappling moves. I like this evolution, I am very impressed with the fight scenes, I'd almost say near perfect, really I cannot give it a high enough praise. One crazy scene was when Gilbert gets hit with a Dim Mak and then Stephan has to give him CPR. We also see the Big Daddy Gary Goodridge crucifix-elbow finish from UFC 8.

Stephan does a great job with the fighting, as for his acting, I think his sense of humor shows and one time he really sounded like Arnold saying something along the lines of "come on let's go now!" I can almost here the next line, run!!! to the chopper!!! Stephan really is big and almost like another Arnold, except he brings different tools to the table.

The main villain was played by Daniel Bernhardt from Blood Sport 2 and overall he does a good job. I wish in the end they gave him a special body suit or something like a Batman suit, to make things a bit more fair.

Overall the story is good imo, I like how they added that Lucian was dying, it may not necessarily make sense at times, for example Stephan's character is a guy who won the congressional medal of honor, and his whole purpose was to recuse his ex, she runs away in the woods, and he abandons her, doesn't seem like something his character would do. The story started off a bit slow and I was not happy about that however, it impresses. I mean there has been dozens of MA action movies made and all the plots start to become similar, well this one starts off very predictable and then manages to reinvent itself. So the story at first, I wasn't satisfied with, but now it's earned my respect. It starts off with a girl who is in distress, she's bad news and you figure he is gonna be running with her, while they send killers after her, OK, we've seen films like that, it can be alright, but no, they instantly get captured, and just like that it turns into a martial arts tournament film where the main character is forced to compete, just when you think that is going on, it then turns into the "Deadliest Game" story where the main characters are now hunted in the forest. So in a way it crosses genre just like the sport of MMA, Mixed Martial Arts, very appropriate since it has a MMA star as the hero. So to me this film is successful and I hope it becomes the blue print to more films like this.

My verdict is: Pleasantly surprised!

Gotta admit the title is a blast! We have martial arts films that showcases a certain style. For instance we have, Above the Law with Steven Seagal showcasing Aikido, Only the Strong with Mark Dacascos introducing Capoeira to the world, The Perfect Weapon with Jeff Speakman representing Kenpo Karate, and there is Kickboxer with JCVD and Muay Thai Kickboxing. Well this 1984 film Sticks of Death is one of those films and it promotes the Filipino Martial Art of Arnis. Arnis is famous for it's stick fighting techniques. The main character is played by a big muscular guy named Roland Dantes, who apparently is some legendary actor over there in the Philippines. The impression I get is that he must be like a Fred Williamson. The movie is outdated, the story is really not good, somehow the blending of trying to be an action flick, a biography, and a promotional item for the art of arnis does not work well here. The good thing is that it seems to be shot on location in the philippines so you get to see how it was over there back in the day from poor and fancy areas to urban and beautiful country sides. There is quite a bit of Arnis involved which is really the reason why I was watching this, so this was pretty cool. From a low budget campy perspective we got some really cheezy fun here. The main character is a body builder with a killer mustache, suppose to be a drug dealer in the beginning of the film. In the city he gets jumped on the street and is shot, then he has a sort of rebirth in the countryside where he does some intensive one on one arnis training with his grandpa. This is the typical training scene you find in martial arts movies. Don't miss the weird chamber like contraption made of sticks. After he completes the training, his grandpa hands him a special weapon that was suppose to be given to his deceased father. This is basically a spring activated steel collapsable baton with a small sai like guard on it. Very cool! This is like when Conan found the Atlantean sword, except unlike Conan, the main character hardly ever uses it. Then he joins the police and starts an arnis program where there is actually a segment that is nothing but demonstrations of the art by some random people. More promotions as he competes in an arnis tournament, warning the tournament segment is not filmed like your usual tournament in martial arts action flicks, this is more like a documentary from far away. Throughout the film we get to see single and double stick action, disarms, and of course the stick is treated as the most powerful weapon in the world in this film, it beats knives, guns, and even a car!!! I can't say this film was good but it's a pretty unique B-movie because it focuses on arnis and because it is set in the Philippines.

Let me start by saying there is a catchy theme song repeated throughout the film, which works because the music is good. This film actually has some big names in it, Dolph Lundgren, Brandon Lee, Mr. Tagawa from Mortal Kombat (Shang Tsun) and Rising Sun, he does a good job as the Yakuza boss in this film and portrays a solid main villain, Tia Carrere, and Toshiro Obata from the Ninja Turtles movies. This film is basically about the Japanese Mafia, the Yakuza, and Obata does such a good job as the 2nd in command of the Yakuza boss, he really carries the film. Not to take anything away from Dolph and Brandon of course, because they are so charismatic. The film starts off with illegal gambling for underground fighting, and Dolph literally swings in like Tarzan, and takes out the two fighters in the ring by himself, what an entrance! This film has lots of fight scenes, you pretty much don't want to miss any of them because they are good, we have guns, knives, and various martial arts weapons, and just a whole ton of action at a pretty fast pace with crazy memorable scenes, so this film is a B-movie done right, even though its famous for some filming errors. Out of Brandon Lee's films I'd have to say that The Crow is my favorite, Rapid Fire is a good one if you like martial arts action, and then this one is his 3rd best, meaning this is not a bad film at all if you like martial arts action flicks. Scenes you don't want to miss: Dolph jumps over a classic convertible heading right for him with a flying side kick, they used trick cinematography, and a launch pad but still it looks quite real and the idea is awesome it just puts a smile to my face. Another scene with Dolph when he takes out 5 guys without spilling a drop of tea in a zen like manner which goes with his character. We get to see some powerful looking karate moves from Dolph and one guy attacks him with a butterfly knife, in the same fight scene we are immediately introduced to Brandon Lee and have a very short dream match where Brandon fights Dolph. It's a very nice contrast to see the quick and agile fighting style of Brandon versus the big powerful style that Dolph brings. Another memorable scene is when a Yakuza guy commits ritual suicide by snapping his own neck. In a strange scene, the Yakuza leader, uses a Katana sword to decapitate a crack head while having sex with her in public. There is quite a bit of nudity in this film, topless girls sumo wrestling and eating sushi off of naked girls just to name a few. We also have a Yakuza finger removing scene done by none other than Simon Rhee from Best of the Best. The fight scene at the bath house is another show stealer, the main fight is with Dolph versus a Sumo Wrestler. At about an hour into the film, Brandon has one of the most bizarre lines ever when he comments about the size of Dolph's junk. There is a scene where Dolph and Brandon get tortured in a similar manner to the Lethal Weapon torture scene. Of course the heroes escape, and from there the heroes go into hiding and we get a small training scene with Dolph, and I'm glad they squeezed it in, because how could you not like training scenes in a martial arts flick. The Samurai outfit he wears is pretty silly but definitely something you don't see often! Fight scene between Brandon and Obata does not disappoint, to me it rivals the main fight in Rapid Fire. It's really no surprise considering the impressive martial arts background that Obata has. But then again there are many talented real martial artists in this film. Last but not least the Japanese spoken by some of the people in this film was painful to listen to, I wish they didn't make those poor actors do that. All in all I have to say that Showdown in Little Toyko is a successful execution!

Get ready to be sucked into the world of SLUG STREET SCRAPPERS with this ambitious sequel that is bigger and badder than the first film.

The sequel successfully establishes a world where the Sluggers exist, constantly competing for higher and higher rankings.

Within this world there are wacky characters inspired no doubt from fighting games such as Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, Tekken, Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon, and Streets of Rage.

These wacky characters are played by highly talented actors that bring something to the table that will definitely catch your eye. And this time we are treated with a much larger roster. You want to watch the first film so that you get to see Punchy McBritches played by Jessie Graff who wows the audience with her martial gymnastics and muscular physique.

But in this film, there are just too many interesting characters that you don't want to miss! And like I said before EVERYONE brings something note worthy to the table. Whether it's believable crisp looking fighting skills, amazing acrobatic trick martial arts moves, highly skilled traditional martial arts moves, display of fitness and flexibility, solid acting, or model like looks.

With these video game characters come to life, we have a world that is clear and beautifully shot, editing is smooth, the beginning boasts the character roster in a music video format which works well to bring the excitement. The location for the fight scene between Broker and Knuckles in particular is very memorable. The story reminds me of the popular anime Ranma 1/2, love comedy mixed with martial arts.

On a personal note I have to say that, having watched tons of martial arts action B-movies from the 90s, I really like it when the main character is a kickboxer like Don the Dragon Wilson and Olivier Gruner just to name the few. Micah Brock is a kickboxer who plays such a role.

This has got to be one of the best unique and independent films I've ever seen on Youtube. A successful blend of high skill martial arts with action packed fights scenes with wacky comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously.

My only gripe about this film is that it is a trench combat film, yet nobody had or used a spade. I would have liked to have seen that. But other than that this film is very well done. The way it starts off, it could have been a solid WW1 film. The actors are brilliant and the director does a great job of showing how nasty the trenches are, with rats, mud, constant rain, dead bodies, and such. The film is intense, it was tiresome to watch, and I just kept thinking how tired and frustrated these soldiers must be. The acting, the characters, the location (trench), the filming it drew me in. Now let's talk about the supernatural element, reminds me a bit of Jacob's Ladder and Event Horizon put together. Those two films are usually spoken highly of, so I'm saying this as a compliment that it has elements of both of those films put together and executed successfully. Also the ending is kind of like Ghostship, someone on here said it was death, I kept saying to myself Hades, so yeah, there is an ongoing cycle which makes the story a little bit clever. Special effects reminds me of Hellraiser 2 although not as intensive, and also along the lines of Evil Dead, anyway I'll take this over the CGI mess you frequently see today. To me the budget of this film didn't seem low, if I had seen this in the theater I would have been satisfied. The WW1 aspect of the film was good enough to stand alone as a pure WW1 flick IMO, and the undead barbwire guys looked really awesome, too bad we only get to see them once. The supernatural aspect of the story to me is well done too and it makes sense to me. I was pleasantly surprised!

Did not know that it was from the director of Blair Witch. Because of the director you might think this is going to be a low budget film shot in a mokumentary style with a shaky camera, but no this is a B-movie horror flick that seemed comedic, in other words campy, but it stays in the grey area of campy and serious with lots of gore but interesting story line. The story seems loosely based off of the Fire in the Sky story. It goes into more detail about the same kind of story. But that film was a drama with sci-fi sprinkled on it, so these two films won't even seem related, but if you are into UFO stuff this is all familiar territory. My main disappointment was with the alien, I didn't mind the rubber suit, it was just that I wish they had shown the typical grey alien that somehow gets morphed/adjusted for the earth forest. Kind of like how our military fatigues change for different types of terrain. Because it wasn't explained in the film, I figured that the reason why the aliens were experimenting on people and wanted Wyatt back was for warfare reasons. I imagine to the aliens we are like bacteria. They could probably easily send a biological/chemical weapon that would wipe out 99% of the population, but just like anti bacterial soap, sometimes, the bacteria can come back stronger. So I assume the aliens wanted to see how much humans can adapt and evolve, and Wyatt had been one of their best specimens that went really far. I'm obviously reading way too far into it, but it made me say to myself this makes sense and accept what was going on in the film. I'm not a gore fan and this film has plenty of it, but the fact that it made me think this much, tells me it had potential and the story was interesting. Expect a B horror film with an interesting plot, the budget however didn't seem that low actually.

I was lucky to see this in the theater in Japan. The title it was given was Kaze no Wakusei, which means Planet of the Wind. This was very interesting to me because I was very interested in Dune which was titled Suna no Wakusei in Japan, which means the Planet of the Sand. Since this was also a science fiction film, I thought it was some how related just a tiny bit. So I was very excited sitting in the theater waiting for it to start, expecting an unofficial sequel to Dune. This film was nothing like Dune, instead we basically get a film where the main characters are being chased by two ruthless bounty hunters. There were many memorable scenes in this film that still swarm in my imagination, perhaps because it's like a story I would expect to read in Heavy Metal magazine. The main character is like a fast talking con man, and it made me angry to see him flirt with the female bounty hunter. Mark Hamill does a great job as the ruthless male bounty hunter and the poison dart guns and use of antidotes was brilliant. The aircraft is very memorable, the kite scene was really bizarre but cool, the scene where a whole family is in the giant hot tub scene was a bit disturbing but once again another memorable scene. I really liked the scenes where they were flying through the valleys, for some reason I kept associating this film with the Orinoco Flow song from Enya, maybe in Japan they had the trailer with that song and it fit like a glove for me. The story kind of drastically changes when they arrive to the underground society, and then it comes to a rather abrupt ending which is definitely not the normal Hollywood formula. I like that this film isn't super violent, filled with gore. Seems to have a nomadic feel to it, I think the way it does it's cinema story telling is a success, and very underrated. Because the main character isn't the toughest guy in the film, I kind of see parallels to Ralph Fiennes character in Strange Days. I have to say that I enjoyed this film more than Strange Days, which is another very interesting sci-fi film.