Customer Reviews

Cold Harvest

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Gee... where do I begin? I suppose I can sum Cold Harvest in one word: Craptacular. It's a low budget movie, but that's not why it is bad. It's a clichéd action flick, but surprisingly enough that's not why Cold Harvest is bad either. It's bad because it performs so low on categorically every aspect of film making whatever decent stuff there is (and there are only a few) doesn't stand much of a chance to get around the lame script production values.

Isaac Florentine is known for using B-movie production values and over the top martial arts. This has brought him success with his work on the Power Rangers. This time it doesn't work. For one the script is awful. It's hardly more than just a series of action scenes hardly tied together with some sort of cookie cutter plot that seems to show up in lots of post apocalyptic movies. As a matter of fact this movie hardly qualifies as a science fiction aside from an intro talking about a comet and a plague. Half the scenes could be completely thrown away and you wouldn't miss it in the continuity. While it's a little interesting seeing an old west style angle in the plot it doesn't go anywhere aside from the props and spaghetti western stare down contests. The characters are one-dimensional and play out their roles with as much depth as wax paper. I am not talking about the acting, which is mostly canned but does have some pretty decent moments. I am talking about the script. Cold Harvest is written badly. It's a sad day when the only character development you see is from a side character talking about noses.

The sets are laughably cheap. You can see the bricks are painted on plaster walls. The sound effects are so bad they are laughable, especially the blatant abuse of using the 'whoosh' sound every time someone moves. Continuity? Don't look here for it. The old west guns they like so much in this movie seem to be able to load themselves magically. I counted at least 10 bullets coming out of a six round revolver more than once in this movie. And when they are actually fighting our hero, Roland (Gary Daniels), they forget to bring the guns and just go martial arts on each other. Real smart boys. The action is admittedly pretty cool even if it gets way over the top at times. The fighting parts look cool but the stunts coming from it like the flips and spins from getting hit can get pretty cheesy. Also there are scenes where stunts are done that really don't fit. I found myself scratching my head wondering what just happened. This movie seems more like a showcase for stunt men than anything else.

This movie pretty much sucks aside from the martial arts. If you are really into martial arts and can ignore EVERYTHING else then you just might like Cold Harvest. If you have any need for a decent script or production values you can forget it. Of course this movie would be great fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000 so those of you who like making fun of cheesy movies can have something new on your list with this one.

If you're into action-packed movies that make you laugh at their lack of action and failed attempts to grip the audience, then you need Cold Harvest. Before one even watches this movie, a close reading of the synopsis on the back cover, reveals everything anyone would want to know about the movie, maybe too much. There are many serious, dramatic scenes in this movie, which bring the audience to laughter:

The infamous 19-shot revolver, the innocent homeless man getting kicked over early in the movie, the mysterious man with a cord coming out of his back, the motorcycle rider that briefly forgets Roland's location after giving him the fiercest expression one could ever imagine, the magical moving mirror hanging on the wall in the highly emotional "beautiful back" scene, the highly skilled two-story-jumping ninjas, the painting-like acting of Gary Daniels, and the non-stop back-flipping action fed to us by the stunt men.

This movie is entertaining and is a source for many inside jokes between the viewers. This movie gets three stars for being a comedy and one for an action movie.

Due to the nature of low budget films, some film directors do not get the opportunity to bring more to the screen and show the true potential of a film project;...Such is the case of "Cold Harvest", a low budget martial arts action thriller which attempts to combine the post-apocalyptic feel of "The Road Warrior" with elements of the old-western frontier and stylized martal arts action.

Because of under-average production quality, an underdeveloped storyline and script, under-average music, and poor acting from the extras and a few of the lead actors, "Cold Harvest" ultimately suffers from a lot of mediocrity, which leaves much of the film's true potential to be desired. Fortunately however, what saves the film from being almost unenjoyable is the much improved fight choreography and stuntwork that is desperately needed for western action cinema, combined with the efforts of stuntman and co-founder of the extreme martial arts stunt team "Alpha Stunts" Akihiro "Yuji" Noguchi, along with slick editing and great foley mixing, and the athletic talents of Gary Daniels and Bryan Genese.

If you don't mind watching a film with great action sequences despite the flaws that result from a low budget, then Cold Harvest will make a great addition to add to your collection.

Enjoy.

Gary Daniels plays a bounty hunter in a futuristic world similiar to The Road Warrior. His brother in-law's sister is pregnant and her baby has an anti-virus that can help save the world. A guy named Little Ray (Bryan Genesse) wants the woman for himself because he is a bad guy.

I can't even describe how horrible this movie is. Gary Daniels is basically playing Isaac Florentine's version of Mad Max. There is a lot of mindless talk and no real story, and a Gary Daniels fight thrown in every 10-15 minutes. The action is not bad, certainly a lot better than Fatal Blade, but it is hard to get into a fight when there is no point to it. Even when they could have had a really cool finale, ther is no creativity involved. The 2 guys just go up in the air and kick eachother like it is a kung fu movie from 1971. I made it all the way through this, but it was very hard. Highly not recommended.

1.5/5

The DVD from Image Entertainment has good sound and very good picture quality.

This has got to be one of Gary Daniels best movies. The story was okay, the acting average, but the action and martial arts was way above average! The only bad thing in this movie was Daniels western theme song which was so annoying. However the shootouts where great especially when Gary Daniels flipped off a wall shooting a guy behind him during the flip! So far I have never seen something like that even in Hong kong movies! So buy this movie for its great sound and great action. P.S. The end fight between Daniels and the villian is top notch!

This is a rotten movie. It is a rip off of some old, tired western and a kung fu movie. It has bad acting, bad fight scenes, and no story. If I had the flexibility, I'd kick my own butt for buying this dog.

Whenever I think of this movie, my mind springs back to the day when I first spotted it in my local video store in the BAD ACTION section. My friend picked it up, and exclaimed: "What does Daniels think he's playing at?" As he showed me the absurd cover with Gary Daniels doing his "Clint Eastwood" bit. The stupid cover aside, this movie zips along at a fair pace with some pretty impressive direction by Isaac Florentine (I am surprised by now that the Hollywood A list hasn't given this guy a bigger gig, what with his strong visual style and action sensibilities - he seems ideal to put the Van Dammes and Seagals' through their paces in a big budget action flick!). Daniels too jumps and kicks his way through some excellent action sequences and its always good to RE-ANIMATOR heroine Barabara Crampton in a movie now and again. Villain Bryan Genesse sleepwalks his way through the movie, in what can be described as CYBORG meets A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.

Hmmm, can I recommend it? Well, if you like low-budget action movies, it's certainly not the worst around. The 2 stars are for the non-stop direction by Florentine and maybe half a star for Gary Daniels and his cigar-chomping stance on the video cover. If you're drawn to this movie for Daniels, check out HAWKS VENGEANCE (a better Gary Daniels movie, that is nearing somewhere in the vicinity of entertainment and RAGE, another entertaining but dumb actioner). They're all stupid, but strangely agreeable.

For you Gary Daniels fans this is a must see. This is probably the best movie he has in his filmology. You will not be disappointed with this one.

one of many movies i own of gary daniels and still one of the best he never had the chance to break in to a rated movies, it would make a lot of people stand up and take notice of of this man is capable of. he is only a few action stars in the uk. still the most good looking star ive seen. the movie is great all in one package. not your average gary daniels i must say. but it a side of gary i like to see, not just martial arts. its nice to know that he was born about 15 mins from where i was born, which i feel very humble to say. give credit where due and the credit is long overdue.

This movie is a futuristic action with some martial arts thrown in. I could never choose a better martial artist than Gary Daniels who plays the parts of a wimpy sensitive husband and twin brother to the main character a cold bounty hunter who seems impervious to danger.

Aside from the awesome action and heart pounding action scenes this move had lots of subtle comedy. People who were kicked flew around a bit more than they should have. The swoosh sound of moving body parts was extended to include the turning of a head or the subtle movements of hands. Also the bad guy (little Ray) had perfect timing when executing his one-liners.

Another reason I like this movie is because they let the performers perform. The director respects the mannerisms of the professionals and gives them the time to really bring their characters out.

I wish there could have been more fighting in the movie but it was not made as a martial arts flick, merely an action with some strong martial flavor. Highly recommended