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2001, United States. Starring Frank Prather, Cash Flagg Jr., Patricia Williams, Andrew Hewitt, Patrick Collins. Directed by Alvin Ecarma. Review by Keith Allison The world of low-to-no budget features is like a vast desert full of saber-wielding whirling dervishes who will capture you, slice your tendons, then stake you down in the sand, leaving you to die of thirst, bake in the heat of the sun, or freeze in the dead of night. Sometimes, however, the whole desert torture thing may actually be slightly more bearable than another frame of someone's homebrewed video concoction. And yet, like the desert, if you spend enough time dwelling within the wasteland, you cannot help but develop a respect - albeit a grudging one at times - for the madmen who inhabit it. After all, you've learned from experience what a harsh environment it can be. Rewarding, yes, but also punishing. Like one of those cigarette-smoking, beret-sporting, World War II French resistance guys with the pencil-thin mustache and goatee, sometimes all you can do is heave a world-weary sigh and mumble, "Well, you disgusting bastard, we meet again," as you toss a bottle of liquor across the room and raise a small glass to bid "salut" to suffering. Exactly why a World War II French resistance fighter would be in the deep desert with a bunch of dervishes is a question best left to History's Mysteries.
Point is, as awful as these films can be, once you've lived among them, it's hard to come down hard on any but the very worst and most lazily made of the population. As I've stated numerous times, I think we're pretty fair to these films, and a lot easier on them than most critics would be. We've made some of our own, and now that we've watched so many, it's a simple matter for us to adjust our perception and not judge these films by the same criteria we would judge big budget studio productions, or even low budget studio productions. We may not always be kind, but I do believe we're always fair. I'm always pleased when a small film comes our way that makes the job easy by not requiring us to explain away all the bad points with verbose rambling about the woes of archaic analog video editing equipment and whatnot. Most recently, The Adventures of El Frenetico and Go Girl delighted us to no end by being a shot-on-video film with no budget but plenty of energy and skill behind it that made it a lot of fun. Our winning streak continued when we took a look at Lethal Force, a tremendously well-done action spoof/homage that serves up tons of violence, fighting, wit, and style -- all done in a tongue-in-cheek fashion which, unlike a lot of so-called parodies and tongue-in-cheek films, works well because the attitude is there to augment the film, not cover up the flaws. Pulling source material from black action films, gritty 1970s action, slick 1980s Hong Kong productions, and even Spaghetti Westerns, Lethal Force is the straight-forward tale of a super bad-ass hitman who gets double-crossed by his best friend and spends a lot of time beating the unholy hell out of people, or getting said unholy hell beaten out of himself. Looking like a more attractive version of Don "The Dragon" Wilson, star Cash Flagg Jr. (A tribute to one of the great patron saints of no-budget indy filmmaking, Ray Dennis Steckler, who always billed himself as "Cash Flagg" in his films) kicks, punches, shoots, and grimaces his way through one action piece after another, with nary a moment spent or wasted on exposition. The movie operates on the assumption that you are familiar with the sources and don't need the conventions and cliches explained to you.
Flagg plays Savitch, a cold-as-ice, hard-as-steel hitman who will kill anyone for the right price - men, women, kids, nuns, whoever. He's certainly not one of those "heroic bloodshed" type hitmen with a heart of gold. When Savitch's best buddy, a gangster named Jack, finds his wife and son have been kidnapped by crime lord Mal, who looks like a cross between Peter Fonda and wheelchair-bound Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, he calls upon his gun-toting best friend to lend him a hand. It's a set-up, of course, as Jack is being blackmailed by Mal, who wants Savitch dead in retaliation for the time Savitch once annoyed Mal by hiding in a mailbox and doing that comedy bit where every time Mal put a letter in the box, Savitch popped it back out. Oh yeah, Savitch also shot the guy. In one of the script's funnier spoofs on bad action film writing (I give them the benefit of the doubt), Jack taunts Mal with the line, "You should have died when he killed you!" In an ode to the old manga series Crying Freeman, all of Mal's thugs where sharp black suits and masks, providing us with the first of what will be many dissections of how things that look unspeakably cool in some movies and comic books just look goofy in real life. Being shot with very low (but well-handled) production values, Lethal Force works as sort of an experiment of taking cool, stylish things out of the glitz of well-produced 35mm feature films and recreating them in a way that, because of the video medium, looks far more "realistic." The result is that you get to see just how fruity some ideas are. For instance, the guys in masks. Okay, they look quite cool, but Lethal Force makes you think about them in the context of real life, and then you suddenly realize just how silly it all is to have well-dressed men in opera masks running around modern-day cities doing your killing for you. They're not exactly inconspicuous, and opera masks aren't exactly a boon to things assassins probably need, like ease of breathing and peripheral vision. That's why all those Mafia hitmen to their job while wearing jogging suits instead of getting all spiffed out like the Phantom of the Opera.
During a fight between Jack and another one of those bad guys who only exists in action films (the dude with the receding hairline, sharp suit, overcoat, bowtie, and sunglasses - you know the one), we also get to see just how silly over-choreographed kungfu fights are. Sure, they look good in Hong Kong films, but stripped of a little surface polish, and grown men doing backflips in suburban homes and striking cool action poses becomes pretty funny. Try watching a movie like Jet Li's Bodyguard from Beijing, which isn't a very good movie to begin with. There are scenes where Jet Li has to check out a noise or something, so rather than walking over to where he needs to be, he insists on flipping over couches and cartwheeling over coffee tables to get to the other side of the living room. He just looks goofy, and any prospective burglar or killer is probably happy that this guy insists on flying all around the living room like an out of control june bug, thus alerting everyone to his presence. That the movie makes these sort of otherwise cool, stylized action bits seem goofy isn't to say that the action in Lethal Force is poorly choreographed or shot. Quite the contrary. While there are no Jet Li's, and really not even any Mark Dacasco's in the cast, each scene is shot well, highlighting the strengths of each individual cast member while covering up their weaknesses. None of the fights are all that intricate, but they're tightly edited and paced, making them seem a lot more complex than they actually are. From time to time, you notice the relative sluggishness of some of the fighters, but the camera never stays static long enough for you to dwell on it. Some fight scenes opt for cleverness rather than competence, and works out pretty well. For instance, one scene has Savitch surrounded on all sides by mask-wearing thugs. All we see is everyone's feet. We see Savitch's feet leave the ground, followed by fifteen seconds or so of dubbed in impact sounds, then we see Savitch's feet landing again as all his assailants collapse. It's a witty, enjoyable way to work around some short-comings, and much better than approaches I've seen in the past, the worst of which was in the otherwise cool little film Kungfu Rascals. In that one, our heroes are cornered by some bad guys, smile about the ass kicking they're going to do, and then the next scene is them in some inn talking about the ass kicking they just did. You know, sort of like how Rudy Ray Moore and his cronies teleported to Los Angeles in Human Tornado.
When Savitch finds out his best friend has sold him out, he shows little sympathy for his former partner in crime, although the movie does take time out for an amusing John Woo style flashback scene (complete with music stolen from A Better Tomorrow!) to all the fun the two had mowing down hundreds of people in "the war." They even spoof the famous "Chow Yun-fat lights his cigarette with a burning counterfeit hundred dollar bill" scene from A Better Tomorrow. The remainder of the film is basically people trying to kill Savitch as he battles his way through kungfu strippers, a giggling woman in a fez, dozens of mask-wearing henchmen, and a tough female ex-cop working undercover to wipe out Savitch, Mal, and any other criminal who gets in her way. Savitch gets thrown down seven stories or so, and staggers off with only minor disorientation. When the bad guys catch him, drive steel blades through his hands, and drill holes in his skull for torture, it pisses him off, and he leaps into action, using the blades upon which his hands are impaled as weapons! The finale sees Savitch challenge Jack's ten year old son to a Sergio Leone-style showdown! Truly, Savitch is a hero for the new age! This movie has a lot going for it. First off, it's well-written. Scripts are always the bane of no-budget video films, and most people mean well but deliver mythically inane scripts. While the dialogue here is minimal and meant to conform to all the expectations of overblown action film prose (you know, from those movies where the bad guys always have to quote Shakespeare and Milton), the lampoon nature of it is handled well, something even most big-budget scriptwriters can't seem to handle. They're idea of clever parody pretty much boils down to, "Wait, what if we spoof that slow-motion time-stopping effect from The Matrix! I bet no one has done that!"
Lethal Force showcases a pretty intense knowledge of the world of action cinema, especially from the 1970s (when action cinema was at its best). It's pretty pedestrian to spoof blockbusters, so Lethal Force sticks to far more entertaining (at least to me) spoofs of drive-in, low budget, and foreign action films. Sometimes, they'll throw a forgotten big budget film into the mix. I'm still chuckling about the inclusion in the Lethal Force trailer of a reference to The Man Who Would be King, one of my all-time faves. That they are so familiar with the ins and outs of obscure (in the US, at least) action cinema from across continents and decades means the satire here is a lot smarter than most action satire, not to mention a lot funnier for us fans of the source material. A Matrix spoof may not be funny to me, but I'll crack every time I watch the scene between Savitch and Jack where they stare with great emotion into each other's eyes, and all of a sudden, the A Better Tomorrow harmonica music kicks in. On top of writing that, if not sparkling, at least doesn't make you ashamed for the entire race of man, the movie is tightly put together, avoiding most of the sloppy pitfalls common in these sorts of movies. Most of the time, bad lighting, camerawork, editing, and sound are the direct result of a couple things: lack of experience and lack of money, which also means lack of good equipment. As I've covered in past reviews of homemade films, bad editing runs rampant in them, and while lack of skill at a job as surprisingly difficult as editing is certainly a major contributor, the lack of decent editing equipment has also been a bugbear to the would-be independent filmmaker. Lethal Force is one of the growing number of films to benefit from the drop in cost surrounding newer desktop editing systems. For an initial investment of a couple thousand dollars, tops, you can get yourself a decent video editing system. You'll spend even less if you already have a good computer and a friend from whom you can borrow a copy of Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro. You know, for evaluation purposes. While editing on one of these non-linear systems is by no means a laugh-a-second day at the nude beach, it's a hell of a lot better than the old days, and a film poorly edited on a non-linear system will almost always look better than a film poorly edited in some analog fashion, simply because it's easier to make cuts and arrange things. Granted, if you really suck at editing, a non-linear system can't fix that for you, but it can facilitate you learning the tricks of the trade faster and being able to do them with less frustration and less of the, "Fuck it, we'll just leave it in!" attitude that invariable bubbles to the surface after you and your friend have spent three hours trying to edit something on crappy old analog equipment.
Luckily for us viewers, the people behind Lethal Force had access to good equipment and good eyes for editing. Although actors and, to a lesser degree, directors get all the credit for making a film good, all it takes is one badly edited film for you to see just how important a good editor is to the process (to say nothing of a good cinematographer). The only justice for editors rarely getting any credit for making a movie good is found in the fact that a poorly cut film is often blamed on the director as well. So let us not make the same mistake. Good job, Ronald Edwin Hunkler. Bad editing in a homemade movie is usually far worse than bad editing in a bigger budget film. The most common offense is the ol' shot of someone standing around listlessly while they wait for a cue or an effect to occur. I'm also a fan of the one where someone is supposed to interrupt someone else, but when the first person reaches the point at which they're supposed to be interrupted, the second person is a second or two slow with their cue. So you basically end up with someone abruptly halting their sentence for no reason, a second long pause, then the interruption. How often do you stop speaking the very millisecond someone interrupts you, let alone in anticipation a few second or two before?
Granted, that has more to do with bad timing on the actors part, but I felt like bring it up anyway. Editing is especially crucial in an action film, and astoundingly important in a martial arts film. Forget the skill of the actors and the choreographer. Editing is what can make or break a kungfu fight regardless of who's involved. As important as it is in a martial arts fight, it's even more important when you're staging a martial arts fight between actors who aren't very good at martial arts. Ching Siu-tung and Yuen Wo-ping may be able to employ thousands of dollars of wire tricks and pulley mechanisms to hoist actors around, but most films have to rely on the editing to pick up the pace when the actors can't. As I said earlier, the editing and camera placement in Lethal Force does a spectacular job of covering the deficiencies in the fights. It keeps things moving fast even when they're actually moving slow, and it makes the fights seem intricate when it's really people doing the most basic of exchanges. Not that everyone is bad, mind you. Star Cash Flagg Jr. is actually quite adept at the kicking of ass, kungfu-style. With some more money and more polished choreography behind the scenes, this guy could shine. He's already more fun to watch than Don Wilson or Olivier Gruner, and with some practice, he could be on par with Mark Dacascos, the best b-movie fighter on the American scene right now. It'll definitely be interesting to see what sort of success he's able to attain in the future.
Attached to the well-done (despite their limitations) fights is a staggering amount of violence, much of it quite grisly. Since these guys are pulling off spoofs and drawing influence from Hong Kong's heroic bloodshed to gritty Italian cop films to splatter, there's a truly epic amount of violence on the screen. Some of it's bloody, some of it's brutal, and some, of course, is just plain silly (like when the female cop bites a guy's tongue out and spits it at him). Although not a horror film, Lethal Force certainly has enough gleeful gore to keep the horror-hounds howling. Savitch crushes skulls with his kicks, causing blood to gush out of eyeholes. After he is angered by his own experiences with trepanation and crucifixion, he slashes his way through an army of thugs, resulting in geysers of blood no doubt inspired by the old Lone Wolf and Cub films of the late 1970s. People are shot, crushed, beheaded, tortured, stabbed, and toward the very end there's even some head exploding action that would make Gianetti di Rossi proud. All things considered, Lethal Force, despite the many comedic elements, is one of the most violent action films around. Not to say that's it's gruesome, although you can't really say that a movie featuring trepanation and explosing heads isn't at least a little gruesome. Like Peter Jackson's early work in films such as Bad Taste, the gore and violence is so over-the-top and delirious that it never comes across as hard-hitting or grim. It's purposely undercut by the humor, and it's so insane and exxagerated that you can't really consider it shocking. It's a rolicking good time that just happens to feature crushed skulls and drills to the skull. Speaking of all that, I should also mention that the effects are pretty damn good. I've seen much worse in multi-million dollar productions. The blood flows freely, and not once did the special effects strike me as poorly done. Hey, they even invested in a dummy to throw down seven stories that doesn't do the thing where one of the legs flops backwards. Everything else is top notch, and not just for a film with a very low budget. Having pulled off a lot of good stuff, the movie stumbles predictably when it comes to the quality of acting. To be fair, it's better than you'll see in a lot of bigger, studio-produced action films, and even the most average actor hear could still teach a lot about the craft to Liv Tyler. No one here is going to win an award for their acting, unless that award has been inspired by the collected performances of Michael Wong. Cash Flagg Jr. mumbles all his line in steely-eyed Clint Eastwood fashion, which is okay. Jack sounds not unlike a whiney relative complaining to you about something a co-worker did to him. The female cop and Mal are both competent, though the former does go through some rough deliveries. Then, she also gets to bite a guy's tongue out, so who's complaining? Since everyone is basically a broadly drawn caricature, the acting is secondary to how well they fulfill the various action film stereotypes, and at that they are all aces.
As the credits role after a truly twisted and glorious finale involving exploding heads, stolen Ennio Morricone music, and Savitch forcing Jack's ten-year-old son into a shoot-out (even John Woo didn't do that - although he did once make a kid chew the torture stitches out of his own father's eyelids), I'm left with the conclusion that Lethal Force is definitely one of the best, if not the best homebrewed movie I've ever seen. It's cleverly written and brilliantly executed. Because the writer(s) know a lot about the genres they're spoofing, and because they obviously love them, the satire works well rather than being a crutch upon which they can rely if things come out weak. I know the makers of the film have really been pushing it hard, and they deserve whatever good attention they draw. Hopefully, someone will give them some money to make a sequel or redo this one with more lavish production values. Working against the film is the staggering amount of stolen music, which could attract the attention of some cranky copyright lawyer looking for an easy buck. On the other hand, you can also see the stolen music as yet another clever spoof of the many genres being lovingly roasted here. After all, Hong Kong action films, even the biggest ones, are notorious for stealing music from other movies -- to say nothing of the old kungfu films that stole such difficult-to-recognize minor movie themes such as the main song from Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Despite being one of the hugest cult film exports from Hong Kong, John Woo's The Killer steals most of its soundtrack from the Jim Belushi - Arnold Schwarzenegger "action-comedy" Red Heat. A Better Tomorrow lifts liberally from the Peter Gabriel score for the film Birdy. And I don't think an Ennio Morricone song has been written that hasn't been lifted by some kungfu or Hong Kong action film. In light of that, the frequent lifting of music for Lethal Force is perfectly in character for the film, though I still think your average copyright lawyer would miss the subtle satire behind the action. Music from For a Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and even Our Man Flint highlight the soundtrack.
Minor gripe, really, at least on my part. I don't own the copyright for any of the songs, so it doesn't matter much to me if someone borrowed and used them effectively. Lethal Force is, to put it simply, a tremendously enjoyable, well-crafted, funny, and violent as hell action film. Forget its no budget origin, because it manages to exceed every low expectation I have for such films. It's a fun film even if I don't apply the forgiveness for various foibles I usually grant SOV fare. Director Alvin Ecarma (who, in true Ray Dennis Steckler form, bears an uncanny resemblance to star Cash Flagg Jr.), really has something special here, and if the right people see it, I can't imagine good things won't come to the people behind this movie. It's rare that even moderately budgeted direct-to-video studio productions attain this level of wit, energy, and accomplishment. It's also rare that I enjoy a homemade movie as much as I enjoyed this one. Usually,these types of things are only entertaining to the people who made them, and to weirdos like me who delight in just about anything. Not to be a jerk about it, but Lethal Force truly outclasses the pack by distances unmeasurable. It's hard now to look at a sloppy, poorly-thrown-together mess like any of those Alternative Cinema stinkers (which, although bad, at least compensate for it with high levels of Misty Mundae nudity) or any of the ten thousand crappy horror films and list them as classmates of Lethal Force. They can't even come close. That's not meant as an insult to them - it's meant as another of my many compliments to Lethal Force. In fact, with a buget closer to $20,000 than the $20 I think goes into most of those productions, it's not even fair to compare them. Money can't buy you a good movie though (case in pointL the collected works of Michael Bay), but being willing to spend so much on such a weird, over-the-top wonder is proof that the people behind it were really willing to sacrifice everything to get the movie made. Lethal Force exists closer to the realm of all those direct-to-video action films, and you know what? Even at a fraction of the cost, it still manages to kick their asses without breaking a sweat. With this movie, Ecarma and his crew have set the bar for low-budget movies very high indeed. If any one film can be half as much fun and exhibit half as much skill and cleverness as Lethal Force, then we're in for a gaggle of treats. If not, oh well. I can always watch Lethal Force again. return to top » © Copyright 1998-2003, Keith Allison and Teleport City Heavy Industries. All them rights is reserved, baby! Email us for reprint information and permissions. Those caught stealing our content will be subjected to a Mario Van Peebles movie marathon. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
