Lethal Force (2001)
Purposefully hilarious, "Lethal Force" is a creative,
well-executed spoof of cult action films. It's obvious
here that we aren't supposed to really follow the plot.
It's pretty simple. Hero Jack has had his wife and young
son kidnapped by some evil-doer criminals. All they want
is that he bring his partner Savitch to them. That, of
course, is easier said than done.
Director Alvin Ecarma has an arsenal of creative and
talented people to help with his film. Everything from
cinematography to sound design is done quite well here,
with much of this engineered to heighten the spoof. But
the real important members of the team, perhaps even
more important than the actors, are the special effects
crew and action choreographers. Sure, sometimes their
work leads to hilarious jokes, but more often than that,
they are perfectly executed and make the film a real
treat.
This film has more kick per frame than the most
recent Hong Kong offering and more blood than Hollywood
has been ghoulish enough to use since Schwarzenegger had
a hit. There is decapitation, knives in hands,
trepanning (drilling a hole in the skull for those of
you who are unenlightened), knives in the chest, drills
in the eyes, and blood blood blood. Through it all, the
special effects are phenomenal. There is a drill bit
going in a skull effect that I watched 3 times here and
still I could not figure out how they did it!
Even better than all the goofy gore, are the quirky
characters and costumes. Ecarma wisely dresses Savitch
in a bright yellow shirt so that the more bloody things
get, the more hideous his shirt looks. There is an
African-American chick in the coolest green jumpsuit
that surely came from the Pam Grier K-Mart collection.
There's a wheelchair-bound villain. And then there are
the minions. In a hilarious and cult quirk twist, there
are seemingly hundreds of evil minions dressed in black
body stockings wearing white masks. Now, any first year
filmmaker can see the beauty in this. Using the same 4
or 5 stuntmen over and over in the same generic costume,
Ecarma was able to make it seem like an extras cast of
hundreds and hundreds. It's awesome, cool and funny as
hell.
I only had one problem with the film and it was a
minor one. For one reason or another, there's a
pedophilia joke designed to delight every dumb fuck who
has suggested we just castrate child molesters. I bet
the audience will really whoop it up at that scene.
"Lethal Force" satisfies that equally perverted
bloodlust. The film features a plot that includes a
child in danger which, of course, normally pisses me
off, but here is done for laughs. I think it's wrong,
but at least it's not a simplistic plot device designed
to make you care for the character. The characters here
are so purposefully one-dimensional that you could care
less about any of them, child included.
Finally, something must be said of the actor playing
Savitch. The actor is credited as Cash Flagg Jr. He also
is a producer here. B-Movie aficionados will recognize
that name (minus the Jr.) as the cinematic nom-de-film
of Ray Dennis Steckler, a 50's and 60's schlockmeister
who polluted drive-in screens with films like "The
Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and
Became Mixed-Up Zombies." Whether his namesake here is
truly related, or simply an homage to a master of the
genre, it adds a delightful kick to the film.
"Lethal Force" is a particularly clever film; not
because it spoofs cult action films (that has been done
before), but because it does it so skillfully. And it
will make you laugh out loud with it's hilarious special
effects and visual jokes. "Lethal Force" is just
well-made fun. I don't like bloody gory stuff usually,
but I really dug this film. Surprisingly, its's no
proverbial drill to the forehead, unlike many films
you'll see at a film festival.
This
Film Reviewed from the 2001 Austin Film
festival!
|
Report
Card
Script: A
Acting: B
Cinematography\Lighting:
B+
Special Effects\Make Up:
A+
Music:
A-
Final Grade:
A |
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