Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Lawbolisted Powerful

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Wizard-8 It was around this time that Ireland started offering foreign filmmakers generous tax breaks for making movies in Ireland, which got a number of B movie filmmakers to film there, including Roger Corman. Since he was able to stretch his dollar further, this final entry in the "Bloodfist" series looks a little better than the previous few entries. The movie has some atmosphere, looking dark and moody, and the movie looks somewhat more expensive, with the climax of the movie taking place out in the ocean on a boat, which probably would have been too expensive for Corman if he made the movie stateside. Unfortunately, that's about all that's positive to say about the movie. The first part of the movie (set in the U.S.) tries to disguise the Ireland shooting locations, and it's pretty laughable. The movie is shot with the camera jammed up right at the actors most of the time, which makes it hard to see the surroundings. The action is pretty disappointing, with dull shootouts and unspectacular martial arts sequences (this entry in the series may have the least number of martial arts sequences than any other entry.) Mercifully, the series came to an end at this point.

Comeuppance Reviews Mild-mannered high school math teacher Rick Cowan (The Dragon) goes through his days teaching his pupils algebra and trying to relate to his 15 year old son, Chris, who is a student in the school where Rick teaches.After some Italian baddies gun down a guy in a convenience store and attack Rick at his home, the truth comes out that Rick is actually George MacCready, who worked in the CIA doing covert ops. Now that a hit team is out to kill him and his son, they first go to a safe house which isn't so safe. They then fly to Ireland to get more answers.Rick has to battle through the cops, the gangsters, find out who is double-crossing him, and save his son who has been kidnapped. Can he succeed? The Dragon is actually believable as a high school teacher. You gotta love his wooden, but fun delivery of his lines ("The socialists are tracking me down!"). He should have done more martial arts and less gun shooting. We want to see his rockin' moves on the bad guys, not just shoot guns. He does most of his fighting in a winter coat leading to the new term "coat-fighting".John Patrick White portrays the sassy white kid, Chris. He may ask a lot of questions, but he is pretty handy making an electrified boombox. A movie highlight is when the school bully touches Chris's radio and gets the shock of his life, as shown by the highly realistic blue lightning over his body.As this is a Roger Corman production and he likes to pinch pennies, he probably connected the shooting of this movie and his other Ireland production My Brother's War (1997). He wouldn't waste a trip to Ireland. Would he? Character names are movie references themselves. There's Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Gianini (the main baddie who was "born in Corleone"),and even Michaelangelo. Film fans will notice these references.This is an enjoyable Dragon entry. The locations are different from the usual fare, the action sequences are lively, and The Dragon rarely fails to deliver what you want.Just remember, "I will always be employable, and you'll always be dead!" -McGrath (Evil Baddie from movie) For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Frank Markland Don Wilson stars as George MacReady who kicks into high gear, when his son is kidnapped by CIA agents who are targeting him for death because of his secret identity being blown, now he must fight his ex-comrades and save his son, while not ripping his pants in the process. That is not an unworthy observation, Don Wilson wears jeans so tight they might as well be spandex and it becomes quite believable that Wilson is a true martial artist because somehow he can kick way over his head and do so without once tearing a hole in his pants. If anything else though, Bloodfist VIII is a one man show with Wilson quite invincible against assembly line villains who say everything that villains of this nature do. The one interesting element is that the characters are named after classic actors and directors such as George MacReady, Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell. Other then that the production values are better this time around although who ever was behind the radio shock effect should be walloped with a tire-iron, overall i'm saying this is the least terrible of the last 4 sequels. But really this is a fifty cent rental at best, once again Don Wilson fans will enjoy this but other then that it holds little appeal. Also John Patrick White has to be the oldest teenager ever.*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

gridoon "Bloodfist VIII" is about as watchable as any "Part VIII" of a film series could ever hope to be. Not that it has to do anything with the previous entries anyway - is the name "Bloodfist" such a money maker that they couldn't simply release this as "Trained To Kill"? At first, this appears to be an acting stretch for Don Wilson - he is a math teacher with typical problems in his relationship with his teenage son. But don't worry, we soon find out that he is an ex-CIA agent, targeted for death by Italian hit men and even some of his former employers! The one new element here is the Irish setting for much of the action - and apparently someone thought we were too thick to get the fact that we're in Ireland, because there is this "folk" (I don't know how else to describe it) music score that keeps on playing throughout. At least the close-contact fight scenes are mostly good, with Wilson in top form. (**)