Customer Reviews

Land of the Free [VHS]

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

 

 

William Shatner has to support his life of luxury. Horses, girlfriends. He plays a Presidential candidate in this one. Although I can't say his performance has changed through the years; it was his over acting that makes this so entertaining. The ending where he battles the Jeff Speakman "good guy" character makes this worth it. Seeing Shatner jump out of a helicopter was like somthing out of his Captain Kirk era. Mystery Science Theater 3000 would have a field day with this one! The former program could be revived with all of Shatner's bad films. Now if only he would sell the rights........

William Shatner has never been called a great actor. True, he guided STAR TREK into immortality, but that was mainly because of the series itself, with Shatner's Captain Kirk becoming more of a caricature to be revered as opposed as an acting conquest. In this entertaining, if improbable, movie, Shatner plays Aiden Carvell, an advertising executive, who is on his way to becoming a state senator. Jeff Speakman plays his campaign manager who discovers that Senator Carvell is up to some sneaky, anti-government activities, like funding a militia group that would take over America! Speakman's martial arts training enables him to become a veritable superman in his quest to take Shatner down. Lisa Darr is his supportive wife who gets caught up in the mayhem; Chris Lemmon has a small role as an FBI agent supervising witness protection for Speakman and his family. There are lots of car chases, bullets flying and an almost humorous climax between Shatner and Speakman. Speakman is a martial arts Shatner; not a great actor but a commanding presence nonetheless.

You could do a lot worse on a rainy October night.

Aiden Carvill (no relation to James, and portrayed by William Shatner) is a Senate candidate who is also the kingpin in a conspiracy of right-wing militias to take over the country. Fortunately, he hires a martial arts expert, former Navy SEAL, and survivor from the explosion of the planet Krypton, whose wife used to drive in demolition derbies, as an aide. When the FBI gets the aide to check on some incriminating info on his boss, he is caught, and the militias make the mistake of going after Superman and his family. The movie goes downhill from there, ending in the hero committing first degree murder. The other members of the conspiracy survive, but apparently are too intimidated by this man to take further action. The bad guy's influence in the Justice Department and the federal judiciary is similarly intimidated. The ghost of Ed Wood may have been involved, but is not mentioned in the credits.

Jeff Speakman is a fantastic martial artist ..... but this movie, like all his movies since The Perfect Weapon, is horrible ..... machine guns, car wrecks, bad dialogue and plot - and the video of Jeff's American Kenpo techniques is wasted by bad angles and no filming imagination .... I'd like to see Jeff Speakman in a movie made by Jet Li or Jackie Chan's crew, or by the crew from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ..... I'll wait .... don't waste your time with this bomb ... 1 star is a gift

It has been awhile since I've reviewed a movie. I have been reviewing old NWA-WCW Pay Per Views which if you've read them I hope you enjoyed them. I also did random ranting. But now I'm ging to review a movie with an underrated action star Jeff Speakman. The 1998 action movie Land Of The Free directed by Jerry Jameson who has mostly done TV work he also directed Airport 77. It stars Jeff Speakman as Frank Jennings, William Shatner as Aidan Carvell,, Lisa Darr as Annie Jennings, Chris Lemmon as Agent Thornton, Charlie Robinson as McCaster, Cody Dorkin as Randy Jennings & Robert Torto Fritzpatrick. The story is Frank Jennings works as a Campaign Aid to an uber patriotic man named Aidan Cavell. 1 day Carvell is giving a speech to his supportes there' an assassination attempt on him Frank chases after that guy beats him up but Carvell's body gaurd McCaster goes further & shoots that guy dead. At home Frank gets a call from a guy named Fritzpatrick he tells him that he has serious information. He tells Frank that Aidan Carvell is involved with an extremist group called The Northern Militia. He doesn't believe him. 1 night 2 FBI Agents confront him about. So he goes to Carvell's Offce & gets on his computer he finds out that he is with The Northern Milita he copies the info & gives it to those 2 agents. 2 of Carvell's henchies kill Fitzpatrick & his Girlfriend. McCaster tries to get Frank taken into custody. You get to see Jeff Speakman use his kenpo skills he beats up some Security Gaurds. He escapes off the roof of the building using a fire hose. So he has to testify against Carvell. Frank & his family have to go into Witness Protection The Family Dog is killed & left hanging in a tree with a message "Let sleeping dogs lie." This Agent named Thornton helps the family out as they go into Witness Protection. 1 day at the park there followed by Carvell's henchies. They get home those guys following them say their the cops. Frank tells his wife & son to go & hide in the bathroom. Frank gets a shot gun kills a couple of the henchies He gets in contact with Thornton & as it turns out he's in with Carvell. So you get a good little car chase scene with lots of cars flipping over. It does get kind of old with the cars flipping over but there pratical efffects. They get to safety at a hotel. Later on he's going to check on the car cause it overheated to see how the car repair is coming along. Thornton is there 1 of the henchies tries to stop them from leaving Frank owns him Frank tells his wife & son to escape using a School Bus. Then you get to see Jeff Speakman showcase some more of his kenpo really which I like it cause it's really a cool style of martial arts. So Thornton & his henchies chase after them you get to see more cars flip over . 1 of the henchies jumps from the hood of a White Bronco not a good omen. He jumps into the bus they have a bit of a scuffle he throws that guy from the bus then that dude is squashed by The White Bronco & that's some ownage right there. The bus flips over as does the car that Thornton was in. Annie Frank's wife is stuck & his son is knocked out. Thornton tries to talk his way out of the beating that he is going to get he's going to try & kill Annie but Frank owns him in another great display of kenpo by Jeff Speakman. He gets her & Randy his son out of the burning bus just as Thornton gets up the bus explodes & Thornton gets F U B A R'd.
Annie & Randy are in the hospital & this is where the movie kind of slows down. Carvell is cleared of any charges against him. Frank goes & gets explosives & buys some survelance equipment starts watching Carvell's every movie. Kind of like the 2004 Punisher movie only that movie did it better. He keeps an eye out on all the people he does business with you have this 1 guy that he buys some explosives off of & it turns out that he's with Carvell he sets a trap for them & they get pwnd whne the explosive device goes off. So he goes to Carvell's mansion. He sets up the charges McCaster is alerted by security. He gets Carvell out. They take a Helicopter Frank takes 1 of Carvell's Sports Cars catches up with them he tries to grap Carvell & drag him out of the Helicopter he places an explosive on The Helicopter. Frank & Carvell drop into a feild. McCaster tries to kill him & he comes close but the explosive device that was placed on The Helicopter goes off & McCaster & everybody on The Helicopter is dead. Frank was shot in the leg when he was running from The Helicopter. Then Carvell tries to fight him. Nice try William Shatner but you can't go toe to toe with The Perect Weapon Jeff Speakman. Carvell is killed not much of a fight. Frank's son wakes up in The Hospital. It is announced on the news that The Helicopter crashed into his Mansion & that Aidan Carvell's body fell into a lake. Now this isn't the best Jeff Speakan movie if you're getting into his work it's not the 1st movie you should watch if you're just getting into his movies start off with something like A Perfect Weapon, Street Knighht or Deadly Outbreak. Jerry Jameson dd a pretty good job directing. Jeff Speakman does a good job. William Shatner was good I wish he would've hammed it up though. Lisa Darr does a good job. Chris Lemmon was there but he's good for what he has to do. Charlie Robinson was good. Cody Dorkin was alright. So that's Land Of The Free it's worth a watch if you're a Jeff Speakman fan. If I don't do anyore movie reviews for the rest of the month or fourm posts I'll see you in 2012 for 2002 in film Black Hawk Down.