1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent martial arts film., September 29, 2009
This review is from: Balance of Power [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Lets get onto the pros. The film has some good fighting scenes with blanks and others. He has some good moves. It touches upon gang violence,drugs and the effects it has on young kids. I love seeing a brother play a positive role model in films and really like that blanks does this. The acting isn't as bad as some here have said and I felt the actors did a good enough job.
Now the cons The acting while not being as bad as some say it's not any thing to write home about. It would have been nice if they had spent some more time on the negative influences of gangs and drugs on the kids. The storyline was kind of stupid in parts also. Not that fighting films have great story lines,but beating the main bad guys fighter and making him loose face and some money makes no sense. This guy is selling tons of drugs and could make any money back up. They also spent some time on silly test and trials like blanks enduring high levels of heat which could have been spent on more fight scenes. Also the fights could have lasted a bit longer as they are a bit short in my opinion. Also the film weakens itself by having to have a happy ending erasing the driving force and emotion that pushed blanks character to fight in the tournament.
I'm a big fan of billy blanks and love his workout tapes. Didn't know he had made any martial arts films so theses are kind if cool for me. This one is a average fighting films that could have been better with some script work and better direction. I had a decent time watching it and have seen worse films than this. No where near as bad as some people here have said,but it doesn't deserve any more than 2-3 stars. [...]
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
the balance is just average, June 13, 2007
This review is from: Balance of Power [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Balance of Power begins with quite a sense of excitement, with a decent musical/credits scene and into an audience filled gambling fight arena, where the movie's villain "Takamura" (James Lew - Showdown, American Ninja 5, Perfect Weapon) kicks someone's elses butt pretty good in a literally "bone-crushing" scene. Unfortunately, everything begins to go downhill from there, with a predictable and lame story, with almost nothing original to add.
Billy Blanks is the star, which usually isn't saying a lot. While his martial arts skills are pretty decent compared to most, his goofy acting sometimes can be a bit annoying, if not his stylish 80's haircuts. The hair is gone and is replaced with above average acting, compared to what is expected. Of course his highlights are the fight scenes and the plenty of training sequences he must endure. While the fights are average and not very exciting, the training scenes are about the only original element found in the movie. I must give credit to the training sequences in these martial arts movies, they always do manage to come up with something refreshing and fun to watch.
Other notable stars in the movie are Mako and James Lew. Mako, by no guess, plays the "old wise man and master" of the film, training the Billy Blanks character. James Lew, plays the villainous fighter, who comes off as a bit overdone compared to most of his roles, which normally are villain roles. The rest of the cast is pretty boring and cheesy, adding nothing exciting to the movie.
As for the fighting, well, average is about all you can expect. While many of the fights involve a lot of fancy moves, especially by Blanks himself, many look too rehearsed, don't make any noticeable contact, or move too slow. The final fight is Blanks against Lew, lasting about 4 minutes. Best fight of the movie, but under par as far as exciting final fights go in these films.
Balance of Power is only for a true fan of B-grade fight movies. You won't find any surprises here, except there is a slightly unexpected happy ending - cheesy no the less. Basically good if you just wanna see some more fights in addition to what you already own.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing, December 6, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Balance of Power [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I loved this flick. It was by far the best fighting action movie in years. Starting with the opening all the way through till the end. God bless the makers of this 5 star triumph!
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