Like the ones I already mentioned Gary Daniels и Don Wilson, kickboxer Jerry Trimble I also wanted to act in action films, exchanging sports fame for cinematic fame. As a child, I came across action films with his participation, some I liked, some I didn’t, and in some cases I only found out later that it was Trimble who played such and such a character. In discussions on this site, I asked for advice on which Trimble action films are the most famous and watchable, and they told me a few. I'll tell you about them. Again, I warn you about spoilers, but on the other hand, we don’t always look at the plot for action films.
"Full Contact" (1993)
I had already seen this film once, but everything about it was so inexpressive that I remembered only three things - Michael Jai White, which DIDN'T FIGHT, a female fight, and a final twist with the main villain. When I found out that Trimble was the main character, I watched the film again.
In short, this movie's plot is a complete copy-paste "Bloody Fist-1" with Don "Dragon" (which is itself a plagiarism), which I have previously reviewed. The script is copied almost exactly the same, but there are several differences:
- The action takes place in America.
- Wilson in Fist learns noticeably faster and this is more logical, because he already knew how to do something before entering the tournament, but here Trimble’s hero, who cheerfully scatters enemies at the beginning, suddenly turns out to be incompetent and learns to overcome himself again. This is a jamb.
- A woman's fight is thrown in. Catfighters may be interested, but in reality the fight is so-so - they exchanged fists and that’s it.
- Wilson’s tournament seemed to me a little (a couple of percent) more technical, but here everything was somehow monotonous. But at the same time, Trimble has less hack work by the same percentage.
- Trimble has better fights at the beginning and at the very end (outside the tournament)
- Trimble tries to differentiate himself from Van Damme by throwing a roundhouse kick not to the face, but to the BODY. This would become one of his signature features. Although no, the only one.
- Trimble's film is more realistic in terms of atmosphere.
- Trimble's ending is much more positive, but leaves the viewer to figure out what's next.
Actually, that's the whole difference. Otherwise, it’s almost a complete copy - even the editing of the fights is somewhat similar: for example, in the last fight of the tournament, Trimble has a similar editing to the fight between Wilson and Blanks. Hence the conclusion - the same garbage. Only fans of Jerry Trimble should watch it, he fights okay here, but the rest of the film is passable, don’t copy the crap, it won’t make it look like candy. Fans of Michael Jai White - pass by, he's mostly sitting pompously in a chair here.
"The Master" (1992)
Here Trimble plays the main villain. This film is more Chinese than American, but there is noticeably little clash of cultures - basically everyone fights in kung fu styles, only the villain has more of a kickboxing touch.
The plot is simple - the hero Jet Li comes to America to visit his teacher, but does not find that house: he was beaten by a former American student (Trimble) and is now hiding. Having made friends with local gopniks and "turning them to the Light Side", the hero finds a teacher and together they go to defeat the villain. Is it worth watching?
I say - YES, it's worth it. But there are also problems:
- The film can’t decide on a genre - it’s a standard hard action (a teacher is brutally beaten, injuring him with glass), then a Jackie Chan-style comedy, then again brutal (bandits beat and drag away a girl), then it turns into an emigrant drama. Because of this, the film begins to sag in several places and creates a feeling of unevenness.
- The secondary characters were somewhat irritating - former gopniks and the shady teacher himself, who either fights coolly or pretends to be hysterical. Some will say that they added realism to the image, but this is the result of the previous point, and against the background of everything else, it somehow falls out of the overall picture.
- After watching the epics from Jet Li (Once Upon a Time in China, etc.) you expect more from him - but this is unimportant, since this is one of his earlier works.
- There are too few memorable characters for such an action movie - only Trimble, the main character and that’s it. For me, the teacher is a bit weak as a character, but he fought well.
Most of these disadvantages are covered by the fights - they are staged perfectly here, I was especially pleased with the final showdown on the roof of a skyscraper. The rest of the fights are also good, especially the one at the beginning. Jerry himself fits well into the image of the “alpha villain”, but not much time is spent developing his image.
Overall - pretty good, but everything is spoiled by an uneven script. It's definitely worth watching, but only once.
"Lady Terminator" (Terminator Woman, 1993)
This film should not be confused with another film with a similar title from 1989. In this film, Trimble shares the main role with the notorious Karen Shepherd, an excellent stunt actress, they spend about the same amount of time on screen. The film was staged Michel Kissi, Van Damme’s friend (often played in his films, for example Tonga Po), so the B-action atmosphere with the accompanying cliches is preserved and this is a plus.
According to the plot, the main characters are a couple of police officers/agents who crossed the path of the main villain (played by Kissi himself). The heroine is kidnapped, but she is freed and they act separately with the hero, progressing to the finale. In this way, the plot is reminiscent of beat-up games with increasing complexity from level to level, only the characters need to be “managed one by one.” Is it possible to watch this? Let's figure it out in order:
- The main advantage of the film is definitely Shepherd. And she knows how to fight, and shakes the prominent parts of her body just right, men, as they say, will appreciate it - the cameraman specially films her from the right angles. The fights with her participation are not bad - she picks up weapons, plays around with her covered legs, and shoots well. Her final fight on the boat has firmly entered the playlists of fans of women's fights, thanks to the addition of catfight elements to the fight. Karen is definitely "believed" on screen, and not only in this film.
- Trimble is also not bad: despite the fighting cliche beloved by Americans "Lots of high-kicking", Jerry tries to diversify his techniques with different combinations and tricks, and the closer to the end, the better. I assume that this is the merit of Kissi as the director of the film.
- Kissy looks brutal, but that’s where all his advantages as a character end - the villain is not expressive and even the scar on his face doesn’t help. Trimble’s final fight with him, as they say, “will work,” but basically Kissy misses high kicks on the scoreboard - he probably liked receiving them from Van Damme. However, he died in the end according to the canons of the genre, and that’s a plus.
- The rest of the characters are not particularly memorable, even the villain - I would have found someone more beautiful to play her role.
The main disadvantage is that the film does not live up to its title. There are two heroes and they occupy the same amount of screen time, but the plot is more focused on Trimble’s hero and his investigation than on rescuing Karen from captivity. If they called it "Lady Terminator"so let the film bring Karen to the fore - but this is more likely"Duet of fights". According to the assessment, the film is worth watching, a classic B-action movie in which almost everything is in place, even an exploding helicopter.
"Breathing Fire" (1991)
Here Jerry again plays the main villain and he is not alone - he came to his aid Bolo Yen. Did it help the film? Yes, but the main advantage here is not only them.
According to the plot, Trimble's hero is the leader of a gang that robs large banks. One of the accomplices refuses to continue doing business with them and is killed. The daughter of an accomplice is saved and falls under the protection of a drunken karateka military man and his nephews... Who turn out to be relatives of the main villain. At some point, the drunk gets seriously injured and the brothers will have to take on all the remaining action.
There are a lot of fights in the film - both with the participation of the brothers themselves and their uncle and father (at least 50% of the running time). Bolo Yen looks the best and most charismatic of all - but there is not as much of him here as we would like, although this is even a plus than a minus for this film - he stands out too much from the background of the heroes (especially after watching "Double Impact", "Shootfighter 1-2 " and "Bloody Sport"). However, there are enough fights and jokes with him and he will not get lost during the course of the film.
The second plus is the brothers themselves, who provide very beautiful fights and 70% of all the action on the screen. They are constantly doing something, training effectively, fighting together, using daltims and alone both in sports and on the street.
Trimble is somehow lost here, speaking intelligently only at the beginning and at the end, in a fight with one of his sons. A fight with his drunken brother at a disco is spoiled by unnecessary blackout - after all, Trimble could have simply worn a mask. His last fight was also lost - I expected that both brothers would fight with their father, but only one fought, and he won thanks to his uncle. This was necessary for an unnecessary and stupid, in my opinion, plot twist pitting the brothers against each other and the subsequent final fight between them, which, although colorful, slightly overshadows the ending.
The rest of the characters are somehow so-so: if a black defector and a stupid Latino were all right, then why was a woman needed in the camp of villains? The heroes' girlfriend was also removed from the screen after she fulfilled her scripted role, but they could have pitted the brothers against her (which would have been much more logical) or, having also taught her to defend herself, pitted her against the villain in a duel. I also noticed minor gaps in the logic of the script - the brothers, defeating the jocks in competitions, learned from their uncle as if all over again (Full contact, hello!), and their style did not change much after training.
A few words should be said about the music - the awesome Paul Herzog (Bloodsport and Kickboxer) is responsible for it and this is a big plus. However, the compositions here are not the best of his career, you get the feeling that he was working to “get rid of it” or gave the director something that was not useful in his other films and yet his music made me nostalgic, especially in the fight scenes of the uncle brothers.
Nevertheless, despite all the disadvantages, the film is excellent and is recommended for viewing for a large number of well-choreographed fights, but Jerry Trimble himself, whom we are talking about here, is not its main advantage. And yes, children, don’t repeat what you saw at home. PS - I suspect that the creators of the series were inspired by this film"Assassin Fist" - also multinational heroes brought up as brothers, similar harsh training and co-op movements in fights and the same final where he won, IMHO, not the one who should have.
To summarize, I would like to say that Trimble is still inferior in charisma and technical skills on the screen to his fellow B-action films (the same Daniels or Phillip Rea), but, unlike them, he is a little more picky in scripts (just look at his filmography - he participates in many famous films, albeit in 28 roles). I’ve seen other films by him, but it’s been a long time and he’s either not in the title role (Heat) or the film is passable (According to the Law of the Fist), so the films described above will be enough.
Author: uranium
Especially for Fight-Films.Info
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Tags: Breathing Fire, Full contact, Terminator Woman, The Master, Bolo Yen, Jerry Trimble, Jet Li, Don Wilson, Karen Shepherd, Michael Jai White, Michelle Kissi
Tags: Breathing Fire, Full contact, Terminator Woman, The Master, Bolo Yen, Jerry Trimble, Jet Li, Don Wilson, Karen Shepherd, Michael Jai White, Michelle Kissi
I'm glad that the site's reviewers don't forget about the "classics". I really don't have enough time :(
Therefore, thank you for the short reviews and for reminding me of these films.
In fact, “Full Contact” rules! :))
Guys, say what you want, BUT - today I spent half a day leafing through fights from Hong Kong films of the late 80s, early 90s - Cool!!! All the same, Asians are great in terms of the aesthetics of the frame and its editing. You can say whatever you want, like - Yes, all this is nonsense! The main thing for us is fights! No! The Chinese make excellent use of material in their most average films. Or they were operating! Couldn't the Americans have adopted the operational and technical potential of the Chinese? What kind of sheep are they??? And apparently sheep!
I rewatched the fights from THE FURY OF THE BLONDE with Cynthia and CHINA O BRIEN. It is clear that the choreography in the first is much higher than the second, BUT... in essence, both Cynthia, Norton, and Cook did their best very well! If their efforts were filmed like in Hong Kong, even with this choreography, it would be chic!
In BLONDE, every frame is in its place! And sometimes it’s filmed with an interesting approach. Of course, action veteran Peter Chong edited the whole thing.
Now I’m reviewing Sammo Hungg’s films from this time - a lot of stupidity, of course, but the fights are excellent! No match for modern ones. Everything is verified and accurate!!! Shine!
Florentine, by the way, could have presented all this well, and if he had not gone off into pure bang bang bang, he could have made a good movie. It's a pity!
By the way, one more thing - in Asian cinema, a film can be about anything and the hero does not need to show the wonders of training, which cannot be said about America. In most cases, if a hero owns something, then he must be made either a master, or a retired cool guy, or... well, you understand what I mean.
Nonsense! Making the film even more limited. Personally, I never understood this.
On the subject:
Of all the above, FIRE BREATHER evoked cool emotions! It was unusual to see Bolo YengA in a fairly free manner of fighting, and even coolly filmed! I even recorded fights and training on VHS from this movie!
It will be necessary to reconsider.
In "The King of Kickboxers" Trimble played a drug dealer, a small role, but the fight with Avedon was not bad!
Thanks to the author for the review!
I once watched all these films on VHS as a child, but I didn’t know the names of the fighters))) Except for Bolo)))
That's right, Trimble has the most worthy films listed above!
Vladimir,
If there are any others (which I doubt) where Trimble plays either the hero or the main villain or his right hand, then recommend it, I'll look later.
uranium,
The rest of Trimble's films are crap films that don't deserve a review)))
There was such a Hong Kong action movie "Untamed" in 1992, the action takes place in Africa, in the Foreign Legion, there were Jerry Trimble and Billy Blanks in the episodes. There are no fights there, as far as I remember, just shooting.
“The Master” with Jet Li and Trimble stands out because there are no cables in battles, otherwise Jet usually always sucks in battles with opponents, where he is thrown up)))
There was also a very good film with Trimble, a warrior alone in the field. Where his grandfather dies under mysterious circumstances in some village and he comes there to find out. There are also quite a lot of colorful fights. I recently rewatched it. The film is definitely worth watching.
Thank you! I'm glad to see here the wonderful film "Fire Breather" where, by the way, the kungfu master Ed Niel was filmed and there are some fighting scenes with wushu "in practice" and realistic with it. For this alone, the film can be given 10 points!
I myself had the idea to write a review of “Fire Breather”. The best thing about the film is the music, Bolo Yong and the awesome Uncle David Moore played by Ed O'Neill, about whom I can't find anything on the Internet yet, except that he starred in the 90s TV series "The Mighty Ones" Rangers" and also appeared in an episode of the film with the amazingly original title "Fight to the Death" in 1994, which I watched, by the way.
I consider the very interesting fights with him to be the main feature of “Fire Breather”.
Jonathan Ke Kwan, the child star of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, also appeared in the role of another brother.
Ravenside,
and I, in turn, would like to stake out “Man vs. Cyborg” by Albert Pyun. Daniels, Kate Cook and Thomerson are there. It's a fairy tale)
Yuri Skromny,
I remember. At the time, this film didn’t convince me; the fighting game was staged too poorly. Perhaps they emphasized realism or something like that - but I'm waiting for a review.
uranium,
one is already on its way to "Kastet". Coming soon)
Ravenside,
Write, no one will mind - I’m reviewing Trimble on the screen based on his main filmography, a more detailed analysis of “Fire Breather” would not hurt. In “The Fire Breather,” I would highlight the brothers themselves rather than the other characters.
By the way, many actors from the film were lost after it. The same O'Neill and both brothers.
Thanks for another job! I am very pleased with this activity.
barsug,
For now I will continue, fortunately there is someone to tell about.