What struck me about "Samurai Cop" was not the lead actor's hilarious lack of a performance (he makes me miss the quiet dignity of Miles O'keefe in "Ator The Fighting Eagle"), or the porn queen level moves being presented by all the female actors, or the cheesy synth and drums score, or the "Lethal Weapon"-wanna-be fight choreography (stiff, disjointed, and unconvincing), or the half-shouted dialog that sounded as though it had been dubbed by a "Speak And Spell"..
It was how well Robert Z'Dar came off in this role compared to his parts in bilge like "Future War" and "Soul Taker".
No, I'm not kidding. I have stated elsewhere that I hate Z'Dar as an actor because he uses his acromegaly as a special effect to get cast in bit parts in terrible Sci-Fi movies. (Nothing against him personally, of course. So I guess I actually hate his casting directors.) But here...someone had the bright idea of putting a beard on him and doing something different with his make-up, and as a result, his face no longer hijacks every scene he is in. He almost looks...normal...well, like a big, muscular, physically impressive guy with a strong jaw (of course). And somehow his performance is the best I've ever seen from him. (He's completely miscast as a Japanese "hit man", of course, but that's just this movie for you.)
As for the rest of it...Pure craptastic direct-to-video aping of the action classics, with 10% of their budget and 5% of their talent. Worth seeing just to be amazed at how bad everything is. Except for Z'Dar, who also sucks, but in a way that lets you see how he could possibly deliver a good performance at some point in his life.
It was how well Robert Z'Dar came off in this role compared to his parts in bilge like "Future War" and "Soul Taker".
No, I'm not kidding. I have stated elsewhere that I hate Z'Dar as an actor because he uses his acromegaly as a special effect to get cast in bit parts in terrible Sci-Fi movies. (Nothing against him personally, of course. So I guess I actually hate his casting directors.) But here...someone had the bright idea of putting a beard on him and doing something different with his make-up, and as a result, his face no longer hijacks every scene he is in. He almost looks...normal...well, like a big, muscular, physically impressive guy with a strong jaw (of course). And somehow his performance is the best I've ever seen from him. (He's completely miscast as a Japanese "hit man", of course, but that's just this movie for you.)
As for the rest of it...Pure craptastic direct-to-video aping of the action classics, with 10% of their budget and 5% of their talent. Worth seeing just to be amazed at how bad everything is. Except for Z'Dar, who also sucks, but in a way that lets you see how he could possibly deliver a good performance at some point in his life.