2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Keep Your Expectations Low!, June 24, 2002
This review is from: Fighter [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This flick is the perfect example of a movie that's so bad...it's actually good!
The writing, directing, & the acting are just awful, awful, awful!!! One reviewer said that he's seen high-school drama skits that had better acting...and he's right!
The thing is, it's very obvious that the stars in this thing were very aware of the script's shortcomings. Marc Singer ("V", "The Beastmaster") actually seems to be enjoying himself in his grunting cave-man-like role of the Austrian General Ziegfield Von Trotta. (What a name!) The other actors, Brolin, Ziering, Palance, & Gibb, actors who have proven that they actually can act (in other shows, that is) seem to be having fun on this grade-z straight-to-video release. The only one who doesn't seem to be enjoying herself is Ashley Laurence, the love interest. She had guest-starred on an episode of "Cheers" a decade-and-a-half ago & so I suspect that she may be a "serious" actress. Well, that's the last thing we need in a movie like this!
The premise of the story, in the hands of more competent & serious writers, directors, & producers, would have produced an excellent martial-arts/western fusion film. The story follows the adventures of a former French officer (played by Olivier Gruner, from "Nemesis" & "Angel Town") who leaves Mexico at the end of the war against Maximillian (which coincided with our own Civil War) in search of an Austrian officer (Singer) who murdered his best friend. Along the way, he defends a small ranch from a ruthless railroad man. (Shades of "Shane.") He is also adept at la savate, the French martial-art of kick-boxing. This is a good plot with an unusual, but true to historical-fact premise.
Unfortunately, every cliche' from both westerns (especially "Spaghetti Westerns") & martial-arts films (the "Enter The Dragon" dangerous tournament-types) is what makes up this mess! The murder of Gruner's friend by Singer was taken directly from "Once Upon A Time In The West" & even the soundtrack sounds like a Sergio Leone directed epic. I have no problem with the martial-arts (after all, savate was standard training for French officers at this time), but the "tournament" (a bare-knuckle boxing match) has all sorts of fighters from all over the world competing. Not only do we have boxers & wrestlers, but a kung-fu man (okay, there were lots of Chinese working the railroads & the gold-fields of the West at this time) & a capoerista from Brazil! (Now, how did HE get there?) This all takes place in a VERY SMALL TOWN. Why on Earth would anyone hold a tournament like this in a little, tiny town like that? They should've set it in San Francisco or Denver. At least those cities in the West were actually big enough to sponsor these "champions" to come over.
To make matters worse, this movie is very, very FUNNY. (Or sad, depending on your outlook. I liked Marc Singer in "V", a thought-provoking anti-fascist science-fiction thriller on tv. But here, he just grunts & growls through the role. But then again, that's how the part of "the general" was written.)
So why give it 5 stars instead of 1? As the old show-biz adage goes, "You can make your audiences mad, you can make them sad, you can make them laugh. Just don't bore them!"
This movie is NOT boring. It's just VERY stupid!
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