Indio 2: The Revolt (1991)

Tagline:

A fantastic ecological action adventure. A life and death struggle to save the Amazon rainforest.

Movie Review:

Antonio Margheriti was a great Italian action movie director, commanding such genre classics as Cannibal Apocalypse, Yor, The Last Hunter and Alien from the Deep. He also directed an ecologically-minded action movie called Indio in 1989, about a half-Indian ex-marine Daniel Morell (Francesco Quinn from Platoon, Hell Ride and a whole lot of TV series) who fights alongside the native population of the Amazon rainforest to hold back an evil corporation's attempt to log the forest. Indio 2 follows the same general plot.

Filmed two years later and with Marvelous Marvin Hagler reprising his role as Sergeant Iron, the story starts with the execution and cruel decapitation of Daniel by corporation boss Vincent van Eyck (German actor Dirk Galuba in a rare English-speaking role) who is both referenced as being Dutch and South African; yay for continuity. The US Army get wind of this and ask Sergeant Iron to go check out what's been going on in the Amazon armed only with a camera for some reason.

This was a great little eco-action flick; I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and didn't look at the time once. The acting is pretty woeful accross the board but it didn't really affect anything. The story and direction was strong enough to carry the actors, and the action was bountiful enough to keep me entertained with what Marvelous Marvin was doing and not what he was saying. When he did speak, it was generally wooden and on more than one occasion acciddentally hilarious.

"Will you lead us my friend?" "...Yes. I will lead you."

There's plenty of solid action throughout. Moments after he arrives in the Amazon he knocks two armed guys unconscious with his bare hands. He meets the local tribe and one of their leaders, Ugadi (Frank Cuervo) who tells him all about the issues they have with the corporation that wants to build a highway through the Amazon. When the tribes did not agree to the plans they were killed or put into forced labour. One of the early scenes of the tribespeople working chainsaws and tirelessly chopping trees actually made me well up a bit inside, it was moving. Anyway, Marvin "frees" the slaves early on in the movie so it's obvious that there will be a retaliation. Marvin goes all John Rambo on the mercenary's arses, setting explosive booby-traps and the like. Fed up with losing his men, van Eyck bombs the crap out of the villagers with nerve gas leaving them with horrible burns. That's when Marvin declares that they've lost and needs a good pep talk from Ugadi about leadership.

The ending is reminiscent of everything from Avatar to Return of the Jedi, especially the Ewoks hurling stones at the high-tech stormtroopers. That's exactly what we get here with the Indio firing arrows at mercenaries with machine guns, and Marvellous Marvin Hagler performing the Han Solo role of providing modern-age weaponry to assist in fighting back. Silos and warehouses explode in a satisfying manner and we then get the one-on-one showdown between Marvin and van Eyck with the hilarious line that I end this review with.

"Who the hell is Mama Lou?" "She's...  a lady." "Well we mustn't keep the lady waiting!"

Special mention has to go to Jacqueline Carol. Why this woman didn't do any more roles than this we may never know, but she should have. She's hysterical as the fat bar owner and guns-for-drugs cartel runner Mama Lou. After concluding what must be the only successful drug deal in cinema (where everyone gets what they want and no-one dies) she meets Marvelous Marvin and offers him a woman (she's a pimp as well). What Marvin really wants is access to the weapons storage. After ditching the girl, he and Ugadi break into the storage room and start loading up their van with munitions. Soon after, Mama Lou and a guy that looks like Borat catches them and Ugadi is strung up from a tree while Lou starts beating Marvin with her girth and bites his arm solidly with her golden grills! Marvin gets her in a headlock while she still has her teeth wrapped around his bicep and starts punching her in the head! It's solid gold entertainment.

I've gotten this far and not mentioned the also-tagged Charles Napier, van Eyck's boss. He's really just tagged as a courtesy. Man, if there was a better definition for bait-and-switch than Napier in this movie I'd like to hear it. He literally flies in, tells van Eyck he's just been fucked by a native and a black man, calls in reinforcements and then fucks out again. This all takes place in all no more than ninety seconds. It's like when Krusty the Clown does his lines for the Krusty doll ("Bada bing, bada boom, I'm done. Learn from the professionals, kid.").

Hunt this down if you can. I was lucky to trip over this in an opportunity shop but eBay appears to have a few copies of the US tape going quite cheap and still new in shrink wrap. Well worth your time.

"This is for Daniel Morell! And because I'm black, mother fuckeeerrrrrrrr!!!!!"

The Video:

Solid enough fullscreen VHS presentation. IMDB lists the movie as being filmed in scope but either that's incorrect (there is no DVD to check up on) or the centre of frame was always kept in mind when filming, because everything is contained nicely. Sound was stereo and in fine shape. Runtime 95 minutes.

Sourced From:

A local Vinnies op-shop for $2 on VHS.

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One Man Force (1989)

Tagline:

Jake Swan. Narcotics Detective. 6' 8" - 280 lbs. 21" biceps, 55" chest. No one enforces the law... like he does!

Back of DVD:

Detective Jake Swan does things by the book - his book. But when a drug bust he plans results in his partner's death, Jake goes on a rampage that ends in his suspension from the force and a quick slide into booze and guilty depression. Trying to hold himself and his partner's family together, Jake turns to private investigation, taking on the bizarre case of a kidnapped rock star. The trail descends into an underworld of drug smuggling, money laundering and international corruption, putting Jake against the same people responsible for his partner's murder. Only this time Jake uses maximum force to guarrantee that justice is served.

Movie Review:

Now this is Explosive Action! This movie is fantastic! John Matuszak is hilarious as the renegade cop that won't do things by the book, and that supporting cast: Sam J. Jones, Richard Lynch, Charles Napier, Ronny Cox! They even got an authentic, one-hit-wonder 80's pop tartlet to play.. an 80's pop tartlet (Stacey Q)! Amazing stuff indeed.

Pete (Sam J. Jones, Flash Gordon!) and Jack (John Matuszak, "Sloth" from The Goonies!) are buddy cops trying to bust an illegal Mexican drug operation. With tips provided by snitch drug dealer Chico, Pete and Jack go to their Lieutenant (Ronny Cox, Robocop) to get a search warrant but he denies it due to lack of hard evidence; the man wants FACTS! The two disregard Ronny Cox and go to the warehouse anyway, stopping by first to threaten Cico the snitch that if his intelligence was bad, Jack would "blow off your head and shit down your neck". They sneak into the warehouse and as the deal is about to proceed announce their presence, which of course results in a mass shoot-out.

Pete gets shot and in a fit of blind rage Jack absolutely loses his shit, picks up a GOD DAMN REFRIGERATOR and crushes the shooter into a pylon! See the animation to your right, it never gets old. The Mexican boss flees in his Rolls Royce and Jack carries Pete into the sunset. Action gold.

Some time later and Jake still pissed, he find Chico in his van and beats the crap out of him, smashing his van to pieces in the process. Jack gets arrested, chewed out by Ronny Cox and then suspended from duty to which he simply yells "Fuck you!" and pushes his stationary off his desk. It takes an angry man to yell at Ronny Cox. I saw what Cox did to the last guy that did that; sent Clarence Boddicker around to his house to kneecap him.

Meanwhile there is a new report on television about a pop singer (Stacey Q, lol's) who was kidnapped at gunpoint during a concert. That night a guy who says he is the girls manager comes to see Jack about some private investigation work in locating her and he agrees to help out. Getting a lead from the station evidence room Jack checks out a local nightclub which, like all 80's action movie nightclubs, is a hive of bad fashion and bad music. This one takes the cake though with some total freaks on display including a guy on a leash. The Mexican guys from the drug deal gone bad see him and attack which then turns into a total stacks on with transvestites piling on top of him! Jack breaks free and (this is awesome) grabs the guy on the leash and swings him around like a helicopter propeller, knocking everyone into the walls and the ground! This is the best movie ever.

The next day Jack goes to see his manager client at his house but finds him dead in his bath. Initially arrested for murder, good ol' Ronny Cox bails him out after Jack explains that he thinks the kidnappers are the same people that killed his partner Pete. Cox tells him to stay away but of course he doesn't listen, it wouldn't be a bad action movie if he did. This is when we finally see Charles Napier and Richard Lynch make their appearance as the men behind an investment firm who are dealing with the Mexican drug dealers on the side. It would seem the drug dealers are holding Stacey Q as in lieu of payment due by Lynch and co. The only real negative I have to say in this movie is that Charles Napier is sorely underused and Sam Jones dies too early. Napier only has a few lines and Lynch doesn't do much until the end, but he gets a good speech in at least.

There's just so much more gold in this movie. Jack has a car chase with Chino, shoots his windows out and drives him off a ramp and into a boat, which explodes. Jack gets captured, put into a packing crate and like the Hulk bursts out of it, on the back of a moving truck, strangles the driver and causes the car to drive off a cliff; all the while yelling "You killed my partner!" The car explodes and Jack cooly says: "Damn. I forgot to bring my marshmellows." Jack not content with throwing a fridge at a guy in the beginning throws a Pepsi machine at a guy at the end. And then there's the awesome final shootout that sees one of the bad guys (guess which one) hanging from a rope upside down swinging in and out of a blazing fire.

One Man Force is one damned fine bad-action movie. All the boxes are ticked. A loose cannon cop? A hard-arse captain? Car chases with explosions? Mexican drug dealers? Pick this one up and enjoy with friends; it's a riot.

The Video:

A nice, grainy 80's movie picture that fits the movie perfectly. The audio was a little treble-y and clipped occasionally when John Matuszak kept screaming but otherwise fine. IMDb lists the movie as originally being filmed widescreen and there are scenes that would agree with this statement, but all the DVDs released seem to be fullscreen. Runtime 87 minutes.

Thanks to McCabe for the screenshots (my computer wouldn't read the DVD) and animated fridge-throwing image!

Sourced From:

eBay UK seller for a pound.

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Hard Justice (1995)

Tagline:

Go in undercover. Come out underground.

Back of DVD:

When hard-boiled agent Nick Adams (David Bradley Cyborg Cop, American Ninja V) loses his partner in an undercover prison operation gone bad, he swears to infiltrate the prison and find the killer. With only his martial arts skills to protect him against Warden Pike (Charles Napier - The Manchurian Candidate, Extreme Honor) and his brutal goons, Nick must fight to stay alive and find justice for his friend. As he gets closer and closer to revealing the truth, he is thwarted at every turn and soon he finds himself held prisoner, stripped of his authority and freedom. Now there is only one way out -escape.

Movie Review:

Hard Justice is a pretty damn fine take on the prison action movie, along the same lines as Jean-Claude Van Damme's Death Warrant, though like all good 80's action movies (or 90's action movies trying to be an 80's action movie), we start with a shootout at an illegal weapons bust. A helicopter flies over the cityscape as the movie's logo HARD JUSTICE clangs into place, almost identical to the opening of Die Hard with a Vengeance. Outside a warehouse a black car pulls up and the occupants get out, carrying a suitcase.

Inside the warehouse a Japanese guy with slicked back hair wearing a suit (Yuji Okumoto as Jimmy Wong in an obvious gangster getup) waits to complete a weapons trade. Suddenly, David Bradley bursts through the roof dangling from a rope from the helicopter and demands answers from Wong along the lines of who his supplier is etc. Not one to give in easy, Wong and his associates fire their illegally acquired machine guns at Bradley. There is some awesome slow motion jumps through the air to avoid exploding grenades and some guns akimbo with pistols, but the highlight is Bradley laying sideways on a moving conveyer belt taking out fools with a shotgun as he glides along!

Having taken out everyone in the room (he thinks), Bradley takes the time to survey the damage atop the roof of a car. Jimmy not dead yet hurls a grenade at the car. Bradley in an "oh shit" moment runs (again in slow motion) along a line of carefully arranged car tops as the cars explode in sequence behind him! Wong then tips a fuel barrel over, lights it and runs. Bradley notices, has another "oh shit" moment and (yet again) slow motion jumps from a window as the building explodes. Pure gold. Wong manages to get a female hostage and taunts Bradley at gunpoint. Wong orders Bradley to drop his weapon, which he does, but turns around first and balances it on his foot. At the right moment he flicks around, kicking the pistol back into his hands and fires hitting Wong - but Wong had already dropped a grenade and the hostage is killed. This becomes relevant at the films climax.

That was one sweet opening. So much action it was almost exhausting, but that would be lame so I'll just say it was awesome. Bradley goes home on his motorbike to his wife who says that his best friend and colleague on the force Mani was killed in prison whilst undercover. When he goes see the body Bradley gets all emotional and demands an autopsy, even though the guy was killed by 37 stab wounds. He also wants on the case, but he wants to also go undercover to the prison and completely off the radar.

It's all pretty standard prison fare from here. Bradley is lined up with the other new convicts and is introduced to the warden (Charles Napier) and his second in charge, Mr. Riggs, with his nightstick "The ugly stick". As soon as he enters his cell, Bradley has a fight with his room mate Mr. Clean (ironic because, like, he's really messy) over the bunk. He pulls out his American Ninja and American Samurai skills and kick-boxes the bald behemoth to the head asserting himself as the alpha male (grunt) but not after taking a smack into the steel bed frame (ouch). The two decide they are mutually awesome and become friends. Bradley saves Mr. Clean from being shivved on the way to breakfast, but he still gets picked on by the regular Asian duo of thugs, Lee and Chow. Bradley has a bit of a smack-down with them but Mr. Riggs intervenes with his Ugly Stick.

I've actually not seen JCVD's Death Warrant yet, it's been on my 'to watch' list for ages, but I've read that Hard Justice is quite similar to it - JCVD being an undercover cop trying to solve a mystery inside the prison - to the point of being a remake. There are also parallels to Sylvester Stallone's Lock Up, a movie I have seen; a corrupt warden, the alternating friendly inmates and thug inmates, lunchroom beatings, the prison snitch getting killed etc. There is a hilarious fight scene between Bradley and the brothers Lee and Chow. Bradley is trying to get on with his laundry room duties when the two start picking a fight. After a few rounds of fisticuffs Bradley throws the two into the washer and turns it on with the line - wait for it - "Clean up your act." Brilliant!

With the help of Mr. Clean, Bradley tries to get information on the murder of his colleague and goes to see the resident knowledge-base, Galaxy 500. It's never explained how he got such a ridiculous name but he does have a ridiculous attitude, probably due to his ridiculous name. He reveals that Mani wasn't killed by another inmate, but he was killed for knowing too much about a weapons deal happening within the prison walls. Mr. Riggs pays off some inmates to mess up Bradley and Mr. Clean's room which leads to some babbly emotional conversation between the two, but before they can get the tissues out a new arrival is admitted to the prison - Jimmy Wong. Knowing he is in too deep and his cover will be blown, Bradley pleads with the warden that he is actually an undercover cop but it falls on deaf ears. Well, not deaf ears really, corrupt ears. The warden sends in Wong and his mates to thrash Bradley in the shower in an honestly unfair towel vs. chain fight.

The quality of the acting is pretty good all around with David Bradley being the only minor let down, but he makes up for it with his fighting skills. I've seen him described as the poor mans Steven Seagal but he really is more of a JCVD to my eyes. It all culminates with a prison riot and escape as you would expect, with even the warden getting in on the guns akimbo: "I WILL HAVE ORDER!". Plenty of explosions and Bradley gets another shot at Jimmy Wong in a hostage scenario.

Special mention has to be given to Professor Toru Tanaka - you will recognise him as 'that guy' from a many 80's action movie, especially Subzero from The Running Man - who briefly makes an appearance as "Cookie", another thug of Lee and Chow's. The guy stands there in the lunch hall looking ominous and Bradley gives him a single punch to the chest. With a creaking sound of a tree falling, Cookie hits the deck to thunderous applause from the other inmates. Champagne comedy!

The Video:

The video for this is pretty average at best and really shouldn't be. I have seen other reviews with better screenshots than mine. The Reel/Ninth Dimension R4 release looks polished from the cover presentation but the movie itself is washed out and abundant in greys instead of blacks. There is even some macro-blocking in fast scenes. Worse still is I find out afterwards that the movie was shot in widescreen and the R1 DVD put out by Image Entertainment is 16:9 enhanced. I still enjoyed the movie but the presentation left a lot to be desired.

Trailer:

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