After Dragon Wilson, reviews of whose film activities I have already repeatedly wrote, I decided to refresh my memory of the work Gary Daniels. As a child, I often came across his films on our regional channels, but due to clumsy direction or performances, only a few stuck in my memory, while the rest got mixed up with each other in my head due to their monotony.
In general, I remembered about him because of his small appearances in "Expendables", where he is remembered for his spectacular death from double team Jet Li и Jason Statham. It turned out that to this day he is actively acting in action films. But let's go through the ones in which he starred before. I looked at several of them.
"Highest Measure" (Capital Punishment, 1991)
One of the first hand-to-hand action films with Gary, where he was entrusted with the main role, and not the image of some minor jock. They also play in the action movie David Carradine and quite famous for his roles as ninja villains Tadashi Yamashita; the trailer on Kinopoisk tells us that these heroes will fight each other; I’ll say right away - this is a lie.
The plot is very difficult to understand without reading the synopsis and carefully listening to the dialogues, but I’ll try to convey that the hero once trained with the Japanese master of Ninjutsu (Yamashita), then stopped, working as a fight in the underground. Then the hero is KIDNAPPED by the cops and demand that he infiltrate the former teacher into the group. Immediately, without leaving the police (or FBI?) they try to kill the hero. Throughout the film, the hero is kidnapped several times, framed, betrayed by everyone possible, but he gets out thanks to an incomprehensible policewoman.
Here I will repeat after many reviewers of his films and fans - Gary is very good on the screen, but he is catastrophically uncomfortable with the directors: after watching most films where he is the central character, this thought will not leave the viewer. Daniels himself did an excellent job - there are a lot of fights here (more than 65% of the film) and they are varied - in addition to the annoying high kicks and high kicks from a turn, the hero uses throws, and combos, and weapons, and impaling enemies on decorative objects, and various grabs, creases and so on, which you rarely see in other B-category films, in which, apart from the mentioned high kicks, there is nothing else. The hero also uses all sorts of tricks like coins in his sock and pushing a stronger enemy off the roof - there are few questions about his action in general.
Enemies, like in beat-up games, attack Gary with increasing difficulty, which is good and more interesting to watch. But a number of moments ruined everything, the main ones being obscure plot points, holes in the story, and the leaked final fight with Yamashita. Contrary to promises, Carradine he doesn’t fight - he has several scenes here, according to his role, where he busily says something on the phone, and the final mismatch in the truck. For a B-category action movie, which already has problems either with the sound, or with the camera or acting due to the budget, these mistakes are unacceptable - the audience was waiting for the fight with Carradine at least (however, the same theme was in Kill Bill, where the fight the heroine was very disappointed with him).
Hack and predictor Aviator: a film for one viewing, a C+. Watch only for fans of Gary (who is very good here both in acting and fighting) and VHS old stuff, for the rest - look for clips of Daniels fights on YouTube.
"American Fighter" (American Streetfighter, 1992)
According to the plot, the main character was a petty gopnik and one day he and his friend, on the orders of a mafioso, decided to blow up a canteen. In the process, a friend was killed and Daniels’ hero goes abroad out of harm’s way. After 10 years, he is already a big businessman, but his idyll is interrupted by a call from his mother - the hero’s brother got involved in underground battles. The hero returns and wants to get Borat out of this shit.
The rather promising trailer and plot hide the many flaws of this very weak film. The hero takes the place of his brother in underground battles, and here a set-up awaits the viewer - the coolly presented hero fades away (and shamefully) in the very first battle and the plot immediately sags for half a film due to his snot and lack of suffering. Yes, I don’t argue, the hero was leaked at the beginning of the tournament and in other films, to dilute the plot of action films (for example, in Mike Moller’s action film about street fighting) with such moves that the viewer would not think. that everything is so simple. However, while the hero was boringly recovering from his injuries, most of the film passed, and I almost fell asleep.
At the end, the action disinhibits and the hero penetrates the citadel of the main villain and, together with his unkillable one-eyed teacher of two and a half guards, kills the main villain, played by an actor who is comical enough for a serious story Gerald Okamura.
For the reasons described above, I do not recommend this film - again, there are too many unforgivable mistakes for the already long-suffering “B-category Action” genre, and Daniels burned much less here than in Supreme Measure. 2 out of 5 for stupidity and sagging in the plot - there is at most 40% of the action in the film and that is mostly not punchy.
"White Tiger" (1996)
The promising cast in the trailer is Daniels, Cary "Orthodox Shang-Tsung" Tagawa, Julia "Rambo's Girlfriend" Nixon and Ron "Hey, it's that guy who plays small-time Chinese villains!" Ian, it immediately makes you want to watch this movie. I watched it a long time ago, I used to like it, but now I don’t like it very much. I'll make do with a list:
- In terms of acting, there are few complaints - the cast was assembled for a reason: Daniels fights and shows the audience his naked torso, Tagawa makes villainous faces and kills people left and right, Nixon shows his bare breasts, Ian beautifully merges at the hands of the hero. The direction here is a little better than the films described above, so the other “bots” are also trying to play something. It's acceptable for an action movie of this category.
- The action in the film is okay (at least 40% of the running time), but the emphasis has shifted towards shootouts. However, there are still a lot of fights, but there could be more; too much time is taken up by unnecessary drug-addicted dialogues between Tagawa and Nixon on the topic of lack of love and lack of betrayal.
- Another disadvantage is the attempt to combine a police action drama with a hand-to-hand action movie - it didn’t work out very well, the dramatic moments towards the middle of the film will begin to strain and the viewer will wonder - when will there be fights?
- The plot and script, as expected, with a certain amount of “action stupidity”, are generally forgivable, but not without sagging.
- The main strengths of the film are the action from Daniels. I consider the main fight of the film to be the fight with the villain’s bodyguard (Ian) - an abundance of various techniques and the final strangulation; The final battle looks faded compared to this, although it is quite long. Why turn the classic villain Tagawa at the end of the film into a junkie in love with a slut, I don’t know. This was a huge detriment to the film and I didn’t see the “clash of the titans”.
Сonclusion: watchable, 4 with a huge minus for action films of this kind. In fact, it's a classic "Action Movie Starring Gary Daniels."
"Anger" (Rage, 1995)
By the end of the 90s, the mood of Gary's films shifted from hand-to-hand combat to shooter-adventure. However, his first film, “Extreme Measures” about the Vietnamese jungle, which was a copy-paste of the action films about Delta Force (more on that some other time), “suffered” from this (or “enjoyed”, it’s up to the viewer), but at the end of 90 -x, it was this subgenre that became popular - “shooting-adventure urban” (not to be confused with “shooting-John-Vushny”), about terrorist takeovers of skyscrapers, about the FBI in jackets with badges and boring office and family dialogues for 5-10 minutes. The Wrath of 1995 is just a transitional version.
According to the plot, the main character, a modest teacher, is accidentally (!) kidnapped by an organization that conducts experiments on people. The hero is injected with the serum and, enraged, he remembers that he, it turns out, knows martial arts and is a good shot with a weapon - and confidently destroys the laboratory. Then, for the rest of the film, he bravely escapes from the police and the FBI. Is it worth watching? I think yes.
There is a LOT of action in the film, the hero is constantly in action for more than 70% of the film. But another question is what kind of action it is: in the film the emphasis is shifted to shooting and overcoming obstacles, and with the classic jambs for a B-movie: the hero is almost invulnerable to bullets, the enemies are falling in packs, there is no need to reload the weapon, even though the cartridges are running out, and thank you for that . There are hand-to-hand fights, but there are fewer techniques and variety, mainly blows to the nose and the notorious “high kick” and constant rolls with jumping over obstacles. There is no final boss as such; what replaces him hardly fights the hero. There is also a chase, quite long, with a lot of explosions and extremely cliched.
An attempt to mix the genre with a journalistic detective story helped to sluggishly close the holes in the already weak plot, but somewhat distracted from it. The dialogues in the film and the almost complete bloodlessness of the action indicate that the film is for TV viewing on a Wednesday morning, when you skipped classes in the sixth grade, or for killing time in the family circle, provided that the wife also loves action films.
Сonclusion: One-time use. This can also be called a “Classic action movie with Daniels,” but for the period “95 and after.”
"Blood Moon" (Bloodmoon, 1997)
To my surprise, I didn’t know about this action movie AT ALL until recently, but following a tip from very good people, I watched it. And I’ll tell you in advance - this is Daniels’ BEST of the films where he plays the main character.
Pros:
- Finally, Gary Daniels was lucky - he took on the production Tony Leung - and this gave the film the drive and variety of Chinese action films, mixing it with classic American B-action. The action in the film is very cool - a variety of techniques in a fight from striking to wrestling up to the ground, bends and strangulations, a variety of weapons are used and the environment is almost completely destroyed by sticking the faces and bodies of the characters into them.
- Good acting and a good attempt to develop their images: a retired and calm cop in the person of Gary Daniels, a humorous “typical black partner” (Chuck Jeffries) and an evil, champion-hating killer played by the now deceased Darren Shahlavi (one of the best roles of his career) with bells and whistles in the form of armor, metal boots and iron fingers. The latter played so brilliantly that he even eclipsed the main characters.
- The secondary characters are also striking: the champions in Rob Van Damme, Hakeem Elston и Ken Kensei They have adapted well to on-screen styles (boxing, wrestling and kendo), as well as to their roles - a dim-witted wrestler, a confident boxer and a calm-as-water sword master. I even feel sorry for the latter, he was killed so cruelly. Naive kickboxing girl Kelly (Brandi Sylfae) is also well played.
- The plot, oddly enough, is tense until the last moment, even for such an action movie. I won’t reveal it, this film is worth watching for yourself.
Cons:
- There are a lot of holes in the plot, the motives of the villain are not fully revealed, the backstory of the main character is not fully understood.
- Despite the large amount of action, I would have liked even more (after all, there were more Masters and many of them were killed off-screen). A number of “Petrosyan moments” could have been replaced by at least one fight between Killer and one of the champions.
- Unfired guns. For example, the Negro’s magic skills were in fact almost of no use.
- Well, the classic cliches of mixed genres: “rope” jumps and throwing bodies from the Chinese, inaccuracy of weapons, endless cartridges and “dumb adults and a smart schoolgirl” from the American movie.
To the credit of the film, I noticed the disadvantages only upon re-watching.
Grade - 10 of 5. It’s a shame to classify this film as a B-action movie; I put it on a par with such mastodons as "Bloody sport","Mortal Kombat" And "Trouble in Little China".
Thank you for getting through this whole sheet. Generally, Daniels a good actor of the genre, but, as I already said, he lacked good writers and directors. Yes, and a lot could be said about his work, for example, about "Fist of the North Star"with an epic scene of killing a crowd of villains with high kicks one at a time, as well as presence in other films in supporting roles, but I’ve had enough of Daniels for today, some other time.
Peace to all and bye!
Author: Uran
Especially for Fight-Films.Info
Home » Reviews » Author's reviews »
Tags: American Streetfighter, bloodmoon, Capital Punishment, Rage, American fighter, Supreme Measure, Gary Daniels, Darren Shahlavi, David Carradine, blood moon, Tony Leung Chu-Wai
Tags: American Streetfighter, bloodmoon, Capital Punishment, Rage, American fighter, Supreme Measure, Gary Daniels, Darren Shahlavi, David Carradine, blood moon, Tony Leung Chu-Wai
"Wrath" and "The White Tiger" still look good for the B-movie category. But there were better films with Daniels. "Bloody Harvest" for example.
Well, “Blood Moon,” fortunately that it was partly produced by a Chinese team led by Tony Leung Siu Hungg, is still watchable thanks to the well-crafted and filmed action scenes. Veteran Hong Kong action cinematographer Derek Wang and choreographers from the Middle Kingdom allowed us to see what American actors/athletes are truly capable of.
I agree with the fact that Gary always needed a good director to make him look a little more convincing not only in the places where he needs to act, but also where he needs to fight.
- Who are you!?
- The fist of the north star!
I liked “Fist of the North Star”, it’s such a micro Mortal Kombat.
I also remember the crazy “City Hungter” with Jackie Chan and Richard Norton. There Gary turned up the heat, and together with Chan they revived Street Fighter. For those who haven't seen it, I recommend it! Positivity is guaranteed.
..Back to the JUSTICE MISSION.
I looked at it today during my rest hours. And even two MISSIONS. Hong Kong and American. In the first, Gary Daniels himself flashed at the beginning. But just as it appeared out of nowhere, it disappeared into nowhere. However. Even Hong Kong sometimes doesn't use good texture fighters. Despite this fact, the film turned out to be very dynamic in action and interesting in fights. But...we're not talking about him now, but about his American namesake.
I recently caught myself thinking - I don’t really like American cinema. As a rule, I usually watch it once and rarely have the desire to rewatch something. Perhaps the exception is Van Damme's films. So, this attitude towards American cinema, and in this case, the action movie of the 90s with Wincott, Sheppard, Hughes and other people, left me with... Yes, it left me with nothing at all to talk about. It flew into one eye and flew out of the other.
I can say one thing - Wincott is good in his own right! The fight in the garage and the passage to Brigitte Nielsen's heroine deserves some attention, BUT... provided that the cameraman and editor are changed. Americans generally don’t know how to film fights using BI, much less edit them. With rare exceptions. Some people may like it, but personally I don’t. I appreciate the film for its totality, not just the BAMs and OHAs.
Speaking of exceptions.
I recently rewatched NINJA 3. SUBMISSION with Sho Kosugi. And let me tell you, GREAT MOVIE! And it still looks like it was from the 80s. Unlike the same AMERICAN NINJA. Brrrrr... Creepy!
Well, in general, something like this about the MISSION OF JUSTICE.
After watching it, I caught my eye WHEN PERFORMING 4. I watched it again with pleasure! Here is an example of a GOOD ACTION FILM! Easy, high quality and interesting!
jaidev,
It's strange that I didn't like it, the film is actually interesting. I'll have to look at the Hong Kong one too.
uranium,
I also think it’s strange. Perhaps in the predictability of the plot. Everything is clear as day and you are already watching the fights. 2 good fights, but I can’t perceive them due to the not very good level of camera work. I don’t know if this is good or bad, but this is how I now approach the action genre. Many films are eliminated in my brain from what I watched before, and many are strengthened. The other day I rewatched FURY OF HONOR (I think that’s what it’s called) with Sho Kosugi. He was also called the BEST FIGHTER on videotapes. Great movie. Good action and decently shot. Constant dynamics, changing locations. The plot seems simple, but it constantly throws new wood on the fire.
Here's the weird thing with the FUSE and DOUBLE TEAM. I know that Vanya has a lot of understudies, and I’m no longer watching films that are not in the top ten. But in the MISSION they seemed to do everything themselves and this is a fact.
In principle, you can also review films with the participation of Richard Norton...he was also a good fighter in his time and some of his works can be called classics of hand-to-hand action films.
den50393,
Didn't someone review it here?
What can I say - Daniels showed the highest level of quality of his capabilities in "City Hungter" and in "Blood Moon". He didn’t have any better films than these... After “Rebel” he began to star in all sorts of slag, I apologize for the expression :-)
His little luck flashed in "Tekken" - the spitting image of Brian Fury from the game!
There is also the film "Man vs. Cyborg" from 1995, where Daniels plays the main negative fighter. I kept this film in my collection because... there the main role is played by Keith Cook - a rare guest on movie screens - this is Reptile from MK 1 and Subzero from MK 2.
Gary Daniels has a good action movie - "Revenge of the Hawk" from 1996, I think. From the 2000s, his films include “The Reluctant Fighter” in 2011, where he shows MMA.
Why I noticed Daniels - in his action films of the 90s he often showed a cross split, and better than Vandamm's :-)
Vladimir,
I hope these films have a lot of action and little tedium.
I noticed him in City Hungter and in a number of minor films. Also, Axel from the famous game Streets of Rage was sculpted from him.
guys, well, let's not cut the guys who made our childhood happy! in action he showed the wonders of tripwires and spinners! Well, it’s funny!... of course, now you can look at this with a smile and sarcasm, and look for all sorts of conclusions in plot holes, cables during battles, etc... let’s better laugh at those who try to do it tremble.....Alexander Nevsky for example....!!and there are all sorts of other obscurantists whose action movies, with computer-generated shots, without even pressing the trigger on the gun, are trying to play action movie stars!
Vitali,
Nobody cuts it like a nut. For me, the first thing is the interestingness of the movie and, depending on the genre (in this case, a category B action movie, the “hand-to-hand” subtype), its correspondence to the genre.
It has already been said that Gary is very good on his own, but he has no luck with screenwriters, apparently he does not know how to say “no” or influence the script, as hinted at in interviews with him. For example, I was expecting a cool showdown with Tagawa in the White Tiger, but in the end he got stoned and the fight turned out so-so. Or that movie where Carradine is. You'll probably be upset if the same Daniels plays the villain in a movie with VanDamme, but instead of the expected cool final high kick, VanDamme just shoots him. So I don’t enjoy it either. But thanks for the criticism.
Next, about schoolchildren - in the review I mentioned something like this for the film Anger.
What about "City Hungter"?)
Anthony Vantala,
I watched mostly those where Daniels is the main character. About him in minor roles some other time.
With Trimble: Full Contact, Fire Breather, Master / Long xing tian xia (The Master) (1989), Lady Terminator (1993).
With Wincott: Outlaw Cop, No Way Out (1995), Curfew 2, Deadly Rate, Open Fire (1994), Law of the Jungle (1995), Last Man Standing (1995).
Ohrim,
Wow, thanks, I'll take a look.
I don’t like Wincott at all? Trimble? Well, he had a good movie - FIRE BREATHING. To be honest, I don’t particularly consider American movie fighters in my native cinema. Everything is weak, sluggish and dull. Even the smallest fight in a Hong Kong movie with their participation looks much more authoritative than any long movie sparring in an American film. There is rarely something worthwhile that you want to review, much less discuss.
Well, what do they care about our directors of hand-to-hand scenes!!!!!!!!!!!!
30-Destroy!, Master of the East, Screw, Man in the Green Kimono..... just a sample of the canon. and comparisons with those described above!
Vitali,
By the way, that’s what I’ll do with them.
jaidev,
The Chinese fight well, no doubt about it. But sometimes there are too many slams (the fighters start knocking on each other’s blocks or slapping hands to see who will slam who) and ropes.
Wincott's Mission of Justice is not bad - a lot of hand-to-hand fights, a lot of famous faces (Bridget Nielsen, Hughes, PayMei from Kill Bill and Karen Shepherd), a brutal woman's fight and a good start to the plot. If you have time, take a look, there seems to be some kind of review of Wincott here, I’ll have to find it. If not, I'll do it later.
uranium,
I was thinking about the troubles - Why is everything this way? And I understood. For Americans, fighting is a way to win. For the Chinese, sovereignty comes first. And of course, only then victory. This is what they base their traditional, so to speak, choreography on all the time.
Thanks for the tip about JUSTICE MISSION. I'll have a look then! It seems to me that I definitely didn’t see him.
jaidev,
I'm looking forward to your feedback on it right away)
I watched a lot of films with Gary Daniels and even videotapes have survived.. In addition to these films that were listed above, I still like to watch “Fist of the North Star”, “Firepower”, “The Fugitive”, “Deathsight”, “Revenge of the Hawk” , but at that time I remembered his negative role of the cyborg Zao, which for me Gary Daniels played perfectly, eclipsing the role of Keith Cook. On my videotape the film was called “Heat Seeker”, and on other editions “Man vs. Cyborg”.
In principle, this is exactly what happened with Daniels!
Uran, what do you think of REBEL? Which is GOLD HARVEST. It was also called BLOODY HARVEST on ancient videotapes before Pyramid began showing it.
jaidev,
At one time, I watched more than 15 action films with Gary, including those where he is not the main character, and, as already mentioned in the review, many of his action films are so monotonous that they got mixed up in my head. Rebel is one of them, I'll continue to review old B-action films and maybe I'll get to him. Is there anything else to recommend with Daniels, Trimble or Jeff Wincott (besides the Mission, which I’ve already watched three times)?