Back to Back aka American Yakuza 2 (1996)

Tagline:

It’s time to clean house.

Movie Review:

Bob Malone (Michael Rooker) is having a bad day. His house is being repossessed by the bank, the ATM ate his card, and he’s caught up in a Yakuza war against the mafia. But let’s take a step back for a second.

We start with two Japanese business types arriving at the airport, one with a suitcase (Koji, Ryo Ishibashi of Rogue Assassin and The Grudge) and one obsessed with Elvis (Hideo, Kô Takasugi). Taking a limo to the stripper bar -this is at the 3 minute mark, folks - they have jovial conversation about the weight of Elvis’ coffin being inconsistent to that with a body inside it before taking their leave to an Italian restaurant. If this sounds like a Quentin Tarantino film already, strap yourself in because it’s a bumpy ride from here.

Crossing back to Bob Malone, fed up with his day he takes it out on an inconsiderate driver who parked his car in. It turns out this driver is the getaway driver for a bank robbery that has just gone down and now Malone is in the middle of a shootout - which ultimately leads to his arrest. One of the robbers escapes the bloodshed, and that just happens to be Bobcat Goldthwait (Police Academy 2, 3 and 4’s Zed!) hamming up an exceptional performance as a deranged robber - known only as Psycho - with a bomb strapped to his chest. Worlds collide as Psycho takes his last stand at the restaurant the Japanese guys are dining in, but his failure results in the loss of a hand and eventually an explosive death. 

Lieutenant Dussecq (John Laughlin of The Rock) on the scene arrests Koji, though he brutally escapes interrogation and during his escape kidnaps both Malone and his fed-up bailer daughter Chelsea (played by the lovely Danielle Harris from Halloween 4, Urban Legend and Stallone’s Daylight). Arriving back at Malone’s house, the tables quickly turn as both Malone and Koji have to defend themselves from the attacking Italian restaurant Mafia who are after the suitcase! You see how it’s all connected now people?

Wow, what a ride this is. The first two acts share a lot with Reservoir Dogs in the direction and the switching between character scenes. There’s even fades and wipes! Every few minutes there’s a car chase or a shoot-out and very little in the way of crummy talking scenes. Michael Rooker brings his A-game as the completely-over-it ex cop in the style of John McClane, and the buddy angle with Koji works well. As you’d expect, the two form a bond over bloodshed and similar goals. We do lose sight of Hideo as he chauffeurs the briefcase whilst wounded and makes his way back to the stripper club. That’s about the only character who felt a little wasted. The third and final act is a journey to a classic action showdown, and is played far more straight than the opening acts.

Back to Back aka American Yakuza 2 shares its name with American Yakuza but the similarities end there; although Ryo Ishibashi is in both films (albeit as different characters). Director Roger Nygard is not a name I was familiar with and checking his biography I can see why. Back to Back is literally his only genre film (if you discount the documentary Trekkies he helmed). That is unfortunate as he shows a flair for action direction here. The film was shot for cable TV and it definitely shows this, but the action is kinetic, the gunplay extensive and the car crashes numerous.

There are plenty of “hey, who’s that guy?” moments during the film to look out for: Vincent Schiavelli’s distinctive face shows up with the mafia fellas, Tim Thomerson (Jack Deth from Trancers aka Future Cop) makes an appearance and Leland Orser as the loony wheelchair beggar. These glorified cameos add an extra touch of fun to the film.

This feels just like a good mid 90’s Nu Image or PM Entertainment style action film does; think Executive Target for an appropriate comparison. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, has a rocking soundtrack, plenty of interesting characters and enough machine gun action to satisfy the readers of a site called Explosive Action. Back to Back is wall to wall fun!

Highlight:

Bobcat Goldthwait’s hilarious but short-lived Psycho is worth the price of entry alone. You’d easily mistake the film for a comedy when he’s on screen.

Trailer:

Sniper: Ghost Shooter (2016)

Tagline:

Heroes walk alone.

Movie Review:

Well, it has been a long time between reviews hasn’t it! I am going to try to get more reviews up far more frequently than one every sixteen months - shouldn’t be hard should it?! Time will tell!

Sniper: Ghost Shooter is the sixth in the Sniper series that started in 1992 with Tom Berenger as Thomas Beckett and Billy Zane as Richard Miller. Tom continued on making sequels by himself (parts 2 and 3) but for part 4 - Sniper: Reloaded - we were introduced to Thomas Beckett’s son, Brandon (played by Chad Michael Collins). In that film he was teamed up with Zane’s Richard Miller. The next film was the father-son combination, Sniper: Legacy. But for this latest outing - Sniper: Ghost Shooter - Richard Miller and Brandon Beckett are back, and they brought a whole team with them.

Starting with a group of terrorists transporting prisoners in inflatable boats along a Syrian river to their execution on the beach (you’ve all seen excerpts of the real-life versions of these), the film doesn’t take long to introduce us to our first pow-wow. Miller and his team have been sent on mission to intercept and rescue the prisoners (though amusingly, through one conversation with the Colonel the go ahead is only given when it was identified that the prisoners were American!). Anyway, it’s a by the numbers but reasonably exciting first battle full of CG-squibs and a pretty crap (it must be said) computer generated helicopter and drone combination. Beckett’s hesitation to shoot the child-aged executioner compromises the mission and sets up a character flaw that the viewer can relate to.

Following some downtime, the team are brought on to do a private job for the Colonel (played by Dennis Haysbert of Jarhead 3: The Siege - another decent modern military action film) - protect a natural gas pipeline that runs through Eastern Europe and take out a Russian gangster. The team are ambushed by unseen rival snipers and friendly lives are lost. How did the enemy get the drop on them? Becket has his suspicions, and the punching-out of a senior Georgian Colonel sees him on probation in the snowy mountains where even more shootouts happen - I lost count at around five - good news for action fans. The splitting of the team and the tangents in plot could have been done a little better, but it serves the purpose of helping eliminate possibilities as to who is the snitching on their location to the enemy at every battle.

The film production is high for DTV with very little shaky-cam, though at times we do get the classic Seagal time-montage employment of fast moving camera swishes and flashing pulses. Director Don Michael Paul (who directed the previous film Sniper: Legacy, as well as war film Company of Heroes and franchise-reboot Tremors 5) does a fine job ensuring that the action is always clear and never obscured by poor camera work. Much of the shooting is shown through the sniper scope, with follow-on body damage. I particularly enjoyed the backdrops chosen for the Georgia portion of the film with a few great scenes in the snow.

We learn a little about the team as the movie progresses, but the focus is on the two stars. Robin Slater (Stephanie Vogt) gets a little more screen time as the more technical officer, but the rest of the team are delegated to grunt status. The Georgian equivalent to Zane’s Miller character, Andrei Mashkov (played by Ravil Isyanov) is a nice contrast to the clean-cut American soldiers and adds some humour as well. As for script; the main dialogue between Becket and Miler is fine, but some of the lines spouted by others were a bit average, one of the worst offenders coming from Slater: “Something’s wrong. I feel it in my bones.” states the Colonel. “I don’t trust bones. I trust 1’s and 0’s.” Gah!

Sniper: Ghost Shooter is another solid, straight-forward entry in the franchise. Collins performs well in the lead and we did not get shafted on Zane screen-time either. Good fun for modern military action fans that can handle some cheap-ish looking computer graphics.

Highlight:

I mentioned a groan-inducing line earlier, but there was also some gold from Georgian soldier Andrei Mashkov: “Hello to my Russian friend!” riffing on Scarface, referring to Becket only as “American” and even quoting John McClane's “Yippee ki yay”.

Trailer:

Armed Response (1986)

Tagline:

Pushed too hard. Pushed too far. Now they're pushing back!

Movie Review:




Jim Roth (David Carradine, Kill Bill, Kung Fu, Deathrace 2000) owns a bar which is frequented by his father Burt (Lee Van Cleef, The Good The Bad The Ugly, Escape From New York) and his brother Tommy (Brent Huff, Cop Game, Strike Commando II). Third brother Clay (David Goss) and partner Cory are private investigators hired by crime boss Akira Tanaka (Mako) to retrieve a stolen jade statue from a couple of professional crooks. The trade of a suitcase full of money for the statue, of course, goes sour and Clay is killed. Now it is up to the rest of the Roth clan enact their ARMED RESPONSE and avenge their brother.

Sometimes you put a DVD in the player, hit start and you can't wipe the smile off your face for the next hour and a half. That was this film. I thought I would be in for a good time when I saw the cover: David Carradine. Lee Van Cleef. An exploding car. This was going to be vintage 1980's action and it was going to be awesome. But the second the credits rolled it was even more awesome than I was expecting. The aforementioned Brent Huff. Mako from The Perfect Weapon as the crime boss Tanaka. And Directed by genre stalwart Fred Olen Ray - whose 80's films are a guarantee for a good time - what more could you ask for?



The names keep coming too. This film is just filled to the brim with 'that guy' guys. As well as the previously mentioned names from the credits, we also get Michael Berryman (a very unique looking man, most famous for The Hills Have Eyes, Cut and Run, Weird Science) who plays lead thug for Tanaka, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa in a non-speaking thug role that would traditionally go to Al Leong - I was actually waiting for him to show - and the 'that guy' to end all other that guy's, Dick Miller. His scene as the criminal with the stolen statue is so short they probably kept his car running, but his amazing red suit jacket is totally worth the price of entry.

Is the film violent? To quote Clarence Boddiker from Robocop; "Guns, guns, guns!" Shotguns, machine guns, massive .44 Magnums, sniper rifles, grenades exploding that throw a guy into the air backwards in a fireball, Japanese torture, knives, bottles of scotch over the head - and it wouldn't be a David Carradine film without some kung-fu! All it needed was a freaking crossbow. You won't be disappointed with the action in this one.



There's some choice dialogue to be heard here, primarily from the Roth clan. Jim, in reference to the statue; "Take your jade suppository and get outta here!". Burt in discussing Tanaka's style; "He's a two-bit thug in a three-piece suit." and best of all, Clay after Cory blows away a blonde with a well-endowed chest; "You shot her tits off!" Wow. Just, wow.

The 80's-ness of Armed Response is spectacular. All the cliches you want to see are here. Carradine has a Nam flashback (I swear this footage is pulled from one of Carradine's numerous Nam films, too) when he pulls a shotgun on a guy in his bar. The ubiquitous scene at a titty club. Yakuza vs. Tongs. A car chase that involves a car smashing through a phone box and a trolley full of tin cans, and a cop car flying up the back of three other crashed cars, then exploding. Carradine quipping "Go in pieces" after blowing up a guy. The electro-rock soundtrack with wailing guitar solos. Chicks with machine guns.

Armed Response never bothers itself too much about a complicated plot or any subplots at all. It's a very simple revenge-vigilante flick and it works so well for that. It's all here, folks, and it's all amazing. And at 82 minutes long it never, ever gets boring.



Highlight:

I mentioned a few choice lines above, but this exchange made me truly laugh out loud.

Mako: "Tell me where the statue is!"
Huff: "Go play with yourself!"

Trailer:

Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses (2014)

Tagline:

You're never too old to kick ass.

Movie Review:

I love Danny Trejo. He is one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood, does not seem to be affected at all by "the industry", and truly appreciates how far he has come in life from his early adult upbringing in and out of jail. He genuinely looks like he loves what he does, and that is making kick-arse movies that entertain. The guy has 292 acting credits under his belt on IMDB, with a staggering amount just for 2014/2015. Seriously, you need to scroll three pages to find Machete Kills. Trejo is always a highlight for me in any movie he is in, even when he doesn't score top billing (e.g. Death Race 2 and 3).

Then there is Danny Glover, best known for his ultimate buddy cop role of Sergeant Roger Murtaugh against Mel Gibson's Martin Riggs, though equally for me Glover is the dude that killed a Predator single-handedly in Predator 2. By the time Lethal Weapon 4 came around, Murtaugh and Glover were really "too old for this shit" and that series bowed-out. I like to think that Murtaugh retired, divorced, changed his name to Bernie and opened a convenience store, because his role in Bad Asses is not that far removed from the evolution of Murtaugh.

The first Bad Ass (which is briefly recapped at the start of the sequel, so you can dive in here if you've not seen the first one) starred Trejo as Frank Vega, a 67 year old Vietnam Vet on a bus who stands up to a pair of thugs. This was loosely based on the actions in the real life YouTube video - note the guy's build, beard, bumbag (aka fanny pack to non-Australians) and same shirt that Trejo wears at the start of Bad Asses. Vega became an Internet sensation. It's not all good news though, as his best friend is murdered and frustrated with the lack of police action in catching his killer, Vega becomes a vigilante, seeking justice one knockout at a time.

Forward a year or two, and the Internet sensation is no longer a sensation. Vega runs a boxing training centre, with particular attention being paid to an up-and-comer kid Manny Parkes (Jeremy Ray Valdez). Turns out Manny was a small-time drug dealer who got in over his head and was taken out by Mexican drug-lord Adolfo (Ignacio Serricchio) and his thugs. Again, the cops not acting quick enough for his liking, Vega is determined to catch the killer and make them pay.

This would be a repeat performance from the first film, except that Vega involves his long time associate (I wouldn't say they were friends) Bernie Pope, the owner of Vega's local convenience/liquor store. After helping the agoraphobic Bernie defend himself and his store from a robbery, the two team up to find out who killed Manny.

Bad Asses is a lot of fun; more so than the first film (which I also loved). Danny and Danny were made to play this pair of old codgers and it shows that they had a whale of time playing them on screen. I mean, look at the above photo. Just look at it. There must be fourteen outtakes of the duo bursting into laughter just trying to perform that strut.

As I mentioned before, Glover is playing a 20 year older Murtaugh and Trejo is playing Trejo. The scene where they dress up in their 'battle gear' as depicted above had me laughing hard. The duo work their way through the drug trafficking chain of command until they uncover the top boss Leandro Herrera (Andrew Divoff; Wishmaster, Another 48 Hours).

If this all sounds like a classic action film circa 1987, you'd be right. This is not an original film by any means, but when it is this much fun with such a likeable cast who cares? Director Craig Moss (of the first Bad Ass film, and the just-release third film Bad Asses on the Bayou) must be a genuine fan of the genre and commands some great action setpieces - we even get a warehouse shootout! They also do a classic driving sequence where the crew off screen are obviously wobbling a motionless car around and projected footage of the road behind them is shining through the rear window. Brilliant stuff.

In hindsight after reviewing Moss' other directorial efforts I am suprirsed this film has so much action and genuine laughs. This is the guy that wrote and directed such hilarious films as the Twilight parody "Breaking Wind" and the... I-don't-even-know-what-it-is-meant-to-be-comedy "The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It". Huh? Stick to Bad Ass sequels please, Moss.

The film would not work if it were not for the two Danny's. Trejo brings the brawn and Glover brings the laughs. That's not to say Trejo isn't hilarious, but the combination works so well here. I'm glad that the third film is almost here; I can't wait to check it out. Good times.

Highlight:

After breaking in to Adolfo's mansion, and during a scuffle, Trejo stabs Adolfo's own ice-pick into his eyeball. That was some real "Nyyyaaaaaahhhh!!!" at the screen material right there.

Trailer: