Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

DigitalRevenantX7 Kevin White, a DEA agent working in San Francisco, gets the break he needs when he convinces the cousin of a fearsome Russian ex-KGB gangster to become an informant in order to bring down the gangster's new drug empire. Returning home to Los Angeles, Kevin stays over at the home of his brother Jack, who is also a police officer but a patrol cop only. During dinner, Kevin tells Jack about his plan to bust the Russians. But what Kevin doesn't know is that Jack is actually corrupt & has decided to use his brother's information in order to net him an easy payday. Discovering the informant's identity, Jack visits the gangster & kills the informant. He also offers his services for the fee of a million dollars. As Jack's skillful sabotage ruins the DEA case against the gangster, Kevin begins to suspect that the target has some sort of insider in the police department. And when he discovers that his own brother is involved, his blood boils over.Martial Outlaw is one of a number of cheap B-grade action films made by Canadian producer Pierre David, who is famous for making the Scanners sequels, & stars the likes of Jeff Wincott, a martial artist turned actor who has made a minor living starring in films like this one (he also starred in the likes of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER II: BROTHERS IN ARMS & its sequel as a UniSol).Martial Outlaw is by all respects an unexceptional action thriller. It has plenty of melee combat & some pretty gnarly fight scenes (Wincott & Hudson take on plenty of Russian gangsters in a restaurant & an athletics club where you discover what a "Russian circle" is). The script is efficient enough to keep the story going along without encountering any plot holes & the twists are telegraphed well in advance.But while the film is reasonable enough to pass as an action film, it doesn't have any real substance to it. Kurt Anderson keeps the action going to make up for the narrative shortfall & the script, written by at least five people, shows signs of being overproduced (I had a problem with the scene where Hudson's corrupt cop brings in a witness to tell the others about the fake drug deal location – wouldn't the police have instantly discovered that the witness was in fact an actress paid by Hudson to give them the wrong information?). The result is an action B-grader that doesn't make much of an effort to elevate itself above the flood of cheap actioners made during the 1990s.

Comeuppance Reviews Kevin White (Wincott) is a DEA agent who travels from Washington DC to California, hot on the trail of evil Russians that are ex-KGB agents who are now drug runners. While there, he ends up teaming up with his brother Jack White (Hudson, not the ghoul-like guitar player/singer from the White Stripes). Thankfully for us, both brothers are "karate cops" who can put baddies in their place with their feet and fists. Jack is more of a bull in a china shop (almost literally, going by his introduction in the film). Unfortunately, Jack is also dirty, and he's double dealing - helping the baddies and his brother. All this causes their father, known only to us as Mr. White (Jaeckel) to crawl into a bottle of generic whisky. Will these blood brothers spill blood while proving that blood is thicker than water? Find out today! Martial Outlaw (you gotta love that title) makes a great companion piece with Mission of Justice (1992). Both are done by the same people, they have a similar look and feel, and both, of course, star Jeff Wincott. They even have a similar strategy for their placement of fight scenes - in Mission, the big blowout fight was in the garage, and here it's in the restaurant. They both have a scene in a gym where Wincott beats up a lot of people. We would certainly recommend the two for a double bill of VHS action brilliance.Outlaw reinforces our love for Wincott - he has a power-packed fighting style which is infectious for the audience, and he can do it while wearing a turtleneck and sportcoat. It's all complemented by his cool 90's hair, and his stylish sweaters he wears to the gun range are the icing on the cake. His line of casual gun-range wear would singe the retinas of Bill Cosby. But what else would you expect one to wear when in a state of deep concentration? But he's also likable, which is more important than a thousand sweaters (which are the exact words we're all taught in school).Funnily enough, Wincott, or should we say Kevin White, can always find a way to have two Arnis fighting sticks in any situation, no matter how dangerous. Two legs will break off a chair and fall into his hands, or bigger sticks will break in two. You can almost set your watch by the regularity with which Kevin White pummels opponents with two hand-held sticks.Physically, Gary Hudson and Wincott are perfectly cast as brothers, and their psychological tension as siblings is believable and even compelling. And Richard Jaeckel was a nice choice as dad. The baddie even has a goon which closely resembles Martin Kove. Adding further interest are the fax machines, pagers, and classic computers which are all hallmarks of a certain place and time we just can't seem to get enough of seeing on screen.Martial Outlaw delivers what fans of 90's DTV action want, and it is indeed a satisfying experience. We recommend it.

jancibal This is one of those rare movies kind of hard to come by. Not too much attention is being given to movies like this by DVD and bluray companies and I just hope they release more titles like this one. It is a great b production martial flick. Jeff Wincott and his brother are both cops being after the Russian mafia. They are both great martial artists, but one is also secretly cooperating with the mafia boss and taking bribe. I give this movie 10 stars because it has all I would look for in a mid 90ies b production, good never-ending fights, excellent plot and no nudity to take your attention away. This is probably Jeff Wincott's best movie.

oxblood This is a video classic. No matter which video store I go into, I can usually find it. The action is non-stop and the stunts are pretty good. Not much in the acting or dramatic department but who cares when the action is this hot. Jeff Wincott (from the Miami Vice knockoff "Night Heat")plays an FBI agent trying to track down a Russian drug kingpin while trying to deal with his ailing ex-cop father and crooked LA cop brother. Wincott's made a name for himself doing these straight-to-video martial arts flicks like Cynthia Rothrock and Don "the Dragon" Wilson. This is his best. Some of the others are "The Last Man Standing" (not the Bruce Willis film) and "Open Fire".