Customer Reviews

Fists of Iron [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to say I was pretty suprised by this flick. Most good martial arts flicks have to have a big name actor like "Jet Li" or "Jackie Chan", but "Fists of Iron" gets by a couple of unknown actors, and the fact that the characters are likeable and intense.

The film is a cross between "Kickboxer" and "Lionheart". It's about a guy named whose friends dies when he competes in a martial arts fight against a guy named Gallagher, who
is supposed to be the best martial artist in town. The promoter of the fights is a scumbag like Gallagher, and worse yet, the promoter has stolen Pete girlsfriend named Julie
(played by the still pretty Jenilee Harrison).

Who is Jennilee Harrison? Why she is Cindy Snow, the tall and goodlooking cousin of Chrissy Snow from "Three's Company". She didn't turn to be a big actress, mainly appearing in
independent flicks like this one. Now she gets by doing alot of informercials.

Anyhow Pete, vows revenge for the death of his so he enlists the aid of a martial arts trainer named Mr. Greene, and his
friend Daniel to train him to be the best martial artist.

Pete's revenge will take place on a martial arts tournament, where he hopes to get his hands on the person who killed his
friend, Gallagher and the scumbag promoter.

The movie has pretty good, and the fighting is pretty well choreograhed and intense.

Peter is pretty good as the hero, although his character could have been more macho, but overall his character is pretty good.
Other cheap sites like Epinions lists this movie at $70.00!!! LOL Haha. That is a ridiculous price for a tape, but luckily you can catch this flick this week/month on Showtime and on video.

Fists of Iron gave me mixed feeling when watching. Some parts of the movie are really good, and I even got into the plot but then the next scene can get real cheesy, and then vice versa. Overall, the plot was ok, nothing original and the character cast overall was decent, but the amount of action in the movie still makes for good entertainment.

Biggest reason I wanted Fists of Iron was Matthias Hues, probably one of my favorite martial art bad guys who stars in many movies such as Kickboxer 2, No Retreat No Surrender 2, Blackbelt, Death Match, and Talons of the Eagle to name a few. Again he plays the bad guy in Fists of Iron who gets the big final fight scene versus the character played by Michael Worth (To Be The Best, Final Impact). Michael Worth is the star and gives an alright performance, though his character seems to similar to that of his other films.

Every moment in the film seems to have a fight, either in the ring, in a bar, or outside at a variety of locale. The main stage for the movie takes place in the ring, located on the lawn in front of a mansion owned by a gambling fight promoter, whos fighter is the Matthias Hues character. A fight kills the Michael Worth character's brother early on, setting the stage for revenge - seen it a hundred times but whatever, its the fights that still make this movie worth it.

Fists of Iron is not a bad martial movie at all, its just not very original. The bright spot is the amount of action, and hard hitting action thanks to the style of directing. Matthias Hues fans will dig this.

Though the story is not new, young street fighter takes after the man that killed his friend, it adds fresh twists not common to the genre. Humor, being one of the more important ones. Also, the lead charactor Dale Hartwell (played by "Acapulco HEAT" star Michael Worth) is a real human being, not a super hero. Worth handles the role with charisma and believability, another rarity in the genre. His skill as a fighter is evident, but he manages to convince us that it progresses through the film.

The fight scenes are slightly above average and there is quite an abundance of them. Yet at the same time, they stay real. This is more of a "Rocky" than an average 20-death-count-kick-boxer flick. "Worth" the watch!

Pound for pound, Michael Worth is one of the most underrated action heroes to have contributed to the golden age of home video. Several years younger than Speakman or Wincott but possessing all of their talent, he showcased his substantial martial skills throughout a handful of DTV starring features and a TV show (Acapulco H.E.A.T.) before submerging himself into TV/short film work and behind-the-scenes business. As movie martial artists go, I have no doubt that he's one of the best, supported by several fine starring vehicles...but "Fists of Iron" isn't necessarily the best example. Despite still being in top form when this one was made, the talents of Worth and many of the other impressive performers were not made the most of, leaving this film a sought-after item for collectors but not the soundest way to initiate yourself into Worth's work.

The story: when his friend Matt (Nicholas Hill, Bloodsport 2) dies as the result of a brutal fight sanctioned by an unscrupulous socialite (Marshall Teague, Road House), mechanic and martial artist Dale (Worth) swears revenge...but he will be unable to get it before receiving training from two veterans of the fighting circuit (Sam Jones of Flash Gordon and Eric Lee of Ring of Fire) who teach him to be the best fighter he can.

For all of its faults, "Fists of Iron" is a solid DTV film with good production values and a neat cast that also includes Jenilee Harrison ("Dallas", "Three's Company") as Dale's love interest and B-movie dragon Matthias Hues (I Come in Peace) as Marshall Teague's dominant champion. The movie has a general feeling of wanting to succeed, and like a lot of Worth's outings, it tries to go a bit deeper with establishing its relationships than other run-of-the-mill fight films. The results are hit-and-miss in that last area, since Dale's loss of his best friend is felt but his romance with Jenilee Harrison's character merely feels forced. Then again, this could be because Harrison's performance sounds phoned-in - a shame, considering all of the rest are trying their best, for better or worse: prepare yourself for a bit of overacting all around.

The action content is passable, highlighted by a nice one-on-one match between Worth and one of the film's many uncredited throwaway fighters. I always figured choreographer Art Camacho a hack despite his devotion to the action genre, but he displays enough flashes of competence in these fights to get you excited...but then dashes your hopes via an abundance of unnecessary slow motion, mood-killing cuts, multiple replays of boring hits or kicks, and having Matthias Hues perform while wearing a godawful pair of polka dot pants. Short of the fashion statement, these aspects ruins both brawls involving the otherwise amazing Nicholas Hill and supporting brawler Stefanos Miltsakakis (Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite) and taints most of the others. The mandatory training scenes consist entirely of Sam Worth interrupting sparring between Michael and Eric Lee to tell the former what he's doing wrong; these are interspersed between some surprisingly dirty fights Dale's trainers set up for him against random tough guys in parking lots and warehouses.

The movie treads uncertainly in some areas: it's unclear how Matt dies at first, the patrons of the bar Dale frequents inexplicably chip in during an emotional scene to help pay his entry fee into Teague's tournament, and an entire subplot of the movie involves a dissatisfied customer of Dale's garage (Nicholas Oleson, Bloodsport 3) showing up repeatedly to try and beat him up. It all amounts to a movie that requires a bit of commitment to watch but shouldn't disappoint if you haven't set your hopes too high.Unless you love the cast, I suggest you check out Mike's other stuff before trying to track this one down; he's definitely seen more exciting days.

This movie rocks! I thought the tournament fights at the end were pretty cool, especially Hartwell's second fight when he kicks this guy so hard, he knocks his oppenent over the top rope and onto the ground! Its got some good Jeet Kune Do scenes as well when Dale faces Tanaka in the wood factory, for example. This is a good fighting movie, I highly recommend it.