Mission of Justice (1992)

Tagline:

Out of Uniform. Out of Control.

Movie Review:

This is some simply superb early 90's action right here. I truly couldn't ask for much more with this movie. The action was fast and flowing and of a high standard. The story was honest and simple, never trying to be more than it sets out to be. And most importantly, Mission of Justice is never boring. It also never slides into the realm of tackiness by sending Wincott off to strip clubs or including pointless sex scenes.

Jeff Wincott is Kurt Harris, a cop who is partnered with Lynne Steel (played by karate expert Karen Sheperd; Blood Chase, Righting Wrongs, Cyborg 2) arrests a guy for beating his girlfriend. Harris' Seargent chews him out for this because the guy was a good snitch and sets him free. He immediately goes back to his girlfriend; Harris and Steel (great combo!) race over to protect her but are too late, he's already beaten her to death. When Harris brings him in a second time and gets chewed out yet again by his Seargent, he punches him in the face, earning him suspension. Harris opts just to resign.

We are also introduced to the Peacemakers; a sort of martial-arts peace-keeping vigilante group from the "Mission of Justice" that appears to have the approval of the city to act as its guardians, and is helmed by Dr. Rachael Larkin (Brigitte Nielsen; Red Sonja, Rocky IV, Cobra), also an aspiring mayoral candidate. One ex-Peacemaker, who left because he didn't agree with Larkin's methods, is boxing champ Cedric Williams (Tony Burton, a real-life boxing champ and also the trainer of Apollo Creed in all Rocky movies) and good friend of Harris. He's paid a visit by the good Doctor who wants him to come back to the team but he won't have a bar of it. After receiving a thrashing from Rachel Larkin's henchman (and brother perhaps?) Titus Larkin, played by the always good Matthias Hues he remains unconvinced and is killed by Nielsen with twin blades to the neck.

What ties the two stories together is Harris, who goes to see the scene of the crime, finds a flower near the crime scene. Later that night he spots the same flower on TV being worn by none-other than mayoral candidate Dr. Rachel Larkin. Putting two and two together, Harris decides to pose as an aspirational member of the Peacemakers and gain revenge from within.

Jeff Wincott seriously brings his A-game to this one. In fact this must rank up there as one of his best. His martial arts skills are on great display throughout and yes, he actually beats people senseless with those two sticks he's holding in the poster. There is very little gun fire in the movie outside a few thugs with handguns; it's just arse kicking and face punching. A real testosterone filled movie. Wincott stays within his acting limits and that makes his character more believable. Any emotive scene is kept to its bare minimum; about the only cornball scene in the movie is the right-out-of-the-cliche-book segment when after he learns of the death of his friend, Harris sits on his couch with a bottle of whiskey getting hammered, looking lovingly at a photograph of the two together. He then gets pissed off seeing the Doctor on the TV and hurls the bottle at it.

There's very little (intentional) humour in the movie though on this occasion that's fine. Outside a few one liners that are hardly worth mentioning, Wincott et. al. keep their straight faces on. Brigette Nielson isn't playing for laughs at all, but you do have to giggle a little at her evil portrayal of the Doctor. She keeps boot-licking lackys at her side at all times and could easily pull off an eyepatch and stroke a cat on her lap. Whenever she is in 'thug' mode and out protecting her assets she has her hair tied back and up, which makes her look exactly the same as her character in Rocky IV.

Part of Harris' induction into the Peacemakers is a running of the gauntlet fight that sees him punch and kick out about twenty armed men; totally awesome fight scene, right up there with the best. There is also a kick-arse fight in a car chop-shop that's just nuts and vintage Hong Kong style 'everything but the kitchen sink' action. Wincott uses whatever he can pick up to bludgeon or incapacitate his assailants; electrical cord, neon lamps, pieces of car. Guys get thrown into piles of boxes, chucked out windows, it's just great. And did I mention that Matthias Hues is in this? He's always a sign of classic bad action and his contribution to Mission of Justice is no different. He even speaks a few times which must be a highlight in his career, and he's in it enough so that I don't feel cheated.

Special mention must go to Karen Sheperd who doesn't let Wincott take all of the action. She's very good at her martial arts, right up there with Cynthia Rothrock. Another skilled martial artist in the film is Harris' new Peacemaker buddy Sal (Jeff Pruitt, an accomplished stuntman and bit-part player in Martial Law, Sword of Honor and Wincott's Open Fire) who also displays great skills in arse-kickery. Mission of Justice is a great fun movie with plenty of re-watch value.

The Video:

I watched the new release Australian disc put out by RAAM Multimedia. It sports a clear 4:3 transfer though there are some scenes that look claustrophobic enough to indicate this was probably filmed in widescreen. The audio is also clear and the punches crack nicely on the stereo soundtrack. I noticed a small video glitch about the ten minute mark but it was only there for a few seconds. Runtime approx. 90 minutes.

Sourced From:

Go-Lo variety store for a whole $2 RRP.

Trailer:

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I think I've successfully captured the feel for this film with the following collection of 'fight-faces'.

Future Fear (1997)

Tagline:

Something's eating away at humanity.

Movie Review:

It's the future or something and humanity has been mostly destroyed by a virus that crashed to earth, orchestrated by the evil Nazi-like General Wallace (Stacy Keach, from actual good movies like American History X) who wants to bring about the coming of the next Aryan race. Dr. John Denniel (Jeff Wincott, The Killing Man, No Exit) flies a helicopter badly, trying not to be shot by his ex-wife Anna (Maria Ford, Alien Terminator, Ring of Fire, Future Kick) in another helicopter also flying badly. They are both scientists who have created an embryo from a gibbon that will, for some reason, save humanity. She's shooting at him because they are having a lovers quarrel about whether they keep the embryos alive or harvest them to save the planet. Wincott eats a sandwich in the middle of a battle and complains about the lack of pickles.

This is a steaming pile of horse shit. I've only seen a couple of Jeff Wincott movies so far but surely this has to be the worst one by a country mile. In it's 77 minute run time I've made a cup of tea followed by a strong black coffee, got some cheese and crackers for a snack, had a power nap for an hour and have already begun writing this review. After this sentence I have to go back and watch the last twenty minutes and I am not looking forward to it, but I can't procrastinate any longer. I have dinner to cook.

Roger Corman movies are usually fun to a degree but this was even worse than Starquest II aka Mind Breakers, which was filmed the same year (probably back-to-back with this). Outside of a pretty funny fight between Wincott and Ford involving a toilet plunger, and hearing the same "whhoOOOOoooaaah!" yelp from Wincott whenever he falls off or into something, this movie was devoid of any redeeming qualities. The producers were trying to be too serious and clever by filling it with Alice in Wonderland quotes and hell, even a couple of hallucinatory scenes involving Alice herself holding a white rabbit. The sets look like they are going to fall apart and the production is so cheap that when we see footage of 'humanity on the brink of collapse', it's just a bunch of Indians fighting police at some kind of rally - I'm not sure if this is stock footage or ripped off from another movie.

As usual the cover of the DVD makes it look pretty awesome but those gunships are nowhere to be seen; the only things in Future Fear that fly are the missile that launched the virus and the ridiculous helicopters. I don't know why any of the cast agreed to perform in this piss, but here we are. Stacy Keach no more than phones his lines in than stands in front of a black wall and reads them off cue cards. He finally leaves said room in the last five minutes to enact his evil plan. I never really understand why Anna is that annoyed at her husband that they get into a helicopter fire-fight in the first place but it at least started the movie off with a 'so bad it can't possibly be bad' note (it was).

There's a ridiculous scene where Wincott goes into a bar (there are bars in high-security scientific research buildings?) that has an electrified floor. He defeats this floor by standing on top of a tray of glasses then hurling water at a control board to short it out. Wincott discovers a nursery filled with dead teachers and children (there are nurseries in high-security scientific research buildings?). Wincott hurls his machine gun into a spinning blade to stop it moving, and succeeds. At one point in the movie Wincott says to the camera "I feel like I'm in a poor man's Raiders of the Lost Ark." Not even close, buddy.

Amazon has the American VHS for sale, brand new and not from a third-party seller, for $47.90. That's apparently a saving of 20% off the RRP of $59.98. You would have to be suicidal to spend that kind of money on a piece of arse movie like Future Fear. I got this as a present and I still feel ripped off. Water torture would be more pleasant than sitting through this dreck again. It's totally incoherent with its jumping time between "now" in 2018 and "1 year ago". The acting is appalling, the plot abominable and the effects abhorrent.

At least Maria Ford got her kit off. And Jeff Wincott ate two sandwiches.

The Video:

I reviewed the New Concorde R1 DVD, part of the "Maria Ford Collection". The fullscreen video does the job well enough, though it can be grainy at times. The audio is quiet but adequate. Runtime 77 minutes.

Sourced From:

A gift. So I can't return it. As much as I want to.

Trailer:

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No Exit aka Fatal Combat (1997)

Tagline:

It's illegal. It's immoral. And it's always deadly.

Back of DVD:

Professor John Stoneman teaches at the local university. John's philosophy is non-violence and he tries to handle every situation without hurting anyone. His way of life changes when he kills the punks who attacked his wife, causing her to lose their baby. The incident comes to the attention of Houston Armstrong, a reclusive billionaire who illegally broadcasts fights where opponents have to kill or be killed. John is kidnapped by Armstrong's men and imprisoned at his place high above the Artic Circle where the fights take place. There is no chance for escape, no mercy and No Exit. In John's first bouts he refuses to kill his opponents, but will he change his mind when his wife's life is on the line again?

Movie Review:

No Exit is another tournament fighting movie. There sure seems to be a lot of these; I guess the plot is tried and trusted. I don't think it's had a DVD release outside of Australia so I guess this is fairly unknown, but I will say on the outset that there is not a great deal to say about it. Jeff Wincott is unintentionally amusing throughout but otherwise this is very standard stuff.

As the Back of DVD paragraph above states, Jeff Wincott plays a professor at a university. A young student, Jason Samuels, arrives in a darkened room looking to sign up to a course. Wincott appears from the shadows and starts calling him filthy names and generally losing his shit at Jason for no reason. The whole time Jason just repeats that he is a third level black belt in tae-kwon-do and threatens to fight back, but doesn't. Then the house lights come on and reveal an audience of students. Wincott explains that this was a demonstration of violence and hatred, if that wasn't fucking obvious, and how violence is a bad thing. I never knew universities took thirty week courses with the result being a Masters degree in essentially anger management, but Wincott teaches said course.

Wincott's pregnant wife arrives to take him home, but first they check in at the hospital to check on the baby's progress. As they leave for the car park Wincott realises he has left his credit card inside and goes in to retrieve it, leaving his wife at the car. This of course is when a gang of five thugs show up and attack Wincott's wife. When he returns he tries his "violence is not the answer" routine but with that not working, kickboxes four of the guys to the ground. The fifth holding his wife hostage with a knife won't be bargained with and stabs her in the stomach. Wincott unleashes the fury and knocks the guy dead to the ground, but it is too late for the baby.

Jason shows up to give his support to Wincott and the missus during this trying time but they are both accosted by guys in suits who beat them unconscious and take them in a car to an unknown facility. Here we meet Houston Armstrong, the owner of an underground TV show called "No Exit", a show where combatants fight to the death in various arenas for the amusement of wealthy Japanese businessmen. Wincott like Ghandi tries to use non-violent resistance but this just gets his arse kicked at every available opportunity. The first lunch in the mess hall turns into violence when the reigning No Exit champion, Darcona, takes both a dislike to Wincott and a liking (if you catch my drift) to Jason. Lunch trays are thrown, bodies are beaten, etc.

In his prison style cell, Wincott meets another combatant, Doc, who patches up his wounds. He tells him that you have to fight to win and you have to kill, or you will be killed. Ever the buddhist, Wincott says he will not kill. Wincott is taken to see Houston to explain himself and the guy is just sitting there meditating surrounded by candles and really hamming up his performance. He's not a bad evil villain, but he's pretty much just a fat sack of crap.

We get to see a couple of fights early on, with the first being Doc and a random we don't know hitting on each other in a cage to the tunes of a guitar power ballad. Doc manages to beat the guy and runs to the end of the course, breaks a glass window and retrieves a keycard. He slides the keycard over an arm band he is wearing, says "I'm sorry" to the other guy who then explodes for the viewers at home!

Wincott also teaches Doc some breathing techniques through a pretty lame display of tai-chi in their wrestling costumes. It's all a bit... fruity. Wincott gets his own fight with a guy in an electrified cage, fighting with electrified poles. He beats the guy by pushing him into the electric fence, but still refuses to finish him off. This refusal to play by the rules causes rifts within the No Exit management and Wincott has to be taught a lesson, so the obvious thing to do is give his friend Jason to Darcona to be used and abused as a sexual plaything. Wincott annoyingly still refuses to kill so the Houston has to find other weaknesses of Wincott's to exploit.

There's a couple of fighting and training montages to more power ballads - one is actually called No Exit - and the movie ends exactly how you think it will end. It's doesn't really excite and barely manages to raise a smile out of me. This isn't really worth your time, though if it's on late at night or you see a DVD or VHS for $2 like I did, I guess you could do worse. It's not particularly cringe-worthy (except for Wincott's tai-chi faces) but neither is it particularly memorable. I made it to the end with only checking the time twice so I guess that's something. I will give Wincott the benefit of the doubt however as he showed a bit of skill, and some of his other flicks like Martial Outlaw, The Killing Machine and Deadly Bet look like more fun.

And watch out for that trailer below, it basically shows the entire movie including the finale.

The Video:

Standard affair here. Soft but generally pleasing full screen picture, clear stereo audio. Nothing outstanding at all but it's not an outstanding movie. The trailer below is widescreen so I'm wondering if we're missing out on a correct aspect ratio DVD. Runtime 92 minutes.

Sourced From:

Dick Smith for $2.

Trailer:

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