Immortal Combat (1994)

Director:

Dan Neira

Writers:

Robert Crabtree
Dan Neira

Release Date:

7 May 1994 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

Indestructible warriors programmed to kill. This is no game.

Plot:

Rowdy Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba battle an army of immortal ninja warriors.

Plot Keywords:

Karate | Ninja | Ninja Warrior | B Movie | Ninja Master

Cast

Sonny Chiba	...	Jiro 'J.J.' Jintani (as Sonny J. J. Chiba)
Roddy Piper	...	John Keller
Meg Foster	...	Quinn
Deron McBee	...	Muller
Tommy 'Tiny' Lister	...	Yanagi (as Tiny Lister)
Woon Young Park	...	Osato (as Woon)
Lara Steinick	...	Andy
Roger Cudney	...	Stan
Kim Morgan Greene	...	Karen Keeler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Art Barr	...	Waiter
George Belanger	...	Captain Edwards (as George Bellanger)
Manuel Benítez	...	Guard #1
Rufino Echegoyen	...	Bellboy (as Rofino Eschegoyen)
José Escandón	...	Hotel Clerk (as Jose Escondon)
Hiroyasu Fujishima	...	Hiro
Mario Iván Martínez	...	Dr. Edward Collier
Mineko Mori	...	Jill
Michael Sabatino	...	Rudy
Kerry Knowlton	...	(uncredited)
Craig Mally	...	Davis (uncredited)
Pamela Roth	...	Andy's Mother (uncredited)

Directed by
Dan Neira

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robert Crabtree
Dan Neira

Produced by
Lamar Card	....	executive producer
Hiroyasu Fujishima	....	associate producer
Mitsuo Kumakura	....	co-executive producer
Michio Miura	....	co-executive producer
Dan Neira	....	producer
Erik Saltzgaber	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Ron Schwartz

Cinematography by
Henner Hofmann

Film Editing by
Joel Bender
Sherril Schlesinger		(co-editor)

Makeup Department
Ron McPherson	....	key makeup artist
Pamela Roth	....	makeup artist: Meg Foster: Mexico City

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kenny Bates	....	second unit director

Stunts
Perry Barndt	....	stunts
Sandra Lee Gimpel	....	stunt coordinator
Randall Oliver	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Carlos Silva	....	electric swing

Editorial Department
Andrew Hecker	....	trailer editor

Other crew
Jose Manuel Ballesteros	....	catering coordinator
Hiroyasu Fujishima	....	fighting coordinator
Erik Saltzgaber	....	fighting coordinator

Production Companies

• Blue Ridge Entertainment

Distributors

• A-Pix Entertainment (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Simitar Video (1997) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Resort to Kill" - USA (video title)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Mexico | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Germany:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Blue Ridge Entertainment

Quotes:

Quinn:When I close my eyes all men are the same.

Sequel to Mortal Combat? No, but it's still bad

Without a doubt, this is the best Roddy Piper/Sonny Chiba movie EVER. Not many people know this, but these two great action stars made over 200 films together, although this was the only one released stateside.

That's probably not true. At all. It would be funny if it was, though. Roddy Piper, a wrestler that knew his own acting limits and stayed within them (no "suburban commando" for him. just dumb and violent stuff, thank you very much), stars in this film that is kind of about immortal bad guys. I say "kind of" because this movie manages to veer away from the dumb-but-enjoyable premise of fighting the unkillable for almost two hours and needlessly complicate the matter by involving power-hungry white-collar bad guys. Who cares about the mortal baddies when the immortal have to be killed? Certainly not this movie's target audience: drunk college kids and boys under the age of ten.

My problem is this: former American Gladiator Malibu (Derron McBee) is the immortal bad guy. He has all the acting chops one would expect of someone who has been paid to joust with large Q-Tips on TV. Still, he's a ridiculously cartoony bad guy who makes the beginning scenes fun to watch. Then he's gone for about an hour, until the very end. Huh? Who plotted that? Does the audience care about Roddy Piper's sort-of romantic interest that doesn't get naked? No! Do they care about the non-immortal non-combatant bad guys? No!! Do they want to hear Roddy Piper fake a Southern accent? Well, maybe. It's pretty funny bad.

Sonny Chiba is in this movie, too. He's credited as Sonny "J.J." Chiba an his character's name is "J.J." too. Presumably, J.J. is his real nickname and he plays himself in the movie because the movie is based on events from his life. Sonny has a Caucasian daughter in this movie. There is some sort of drama involving her being surprised that he's not her real dad or something. It's hard to pay attention to all of this movie. I'm lucky to be able to recall even that much. This plot just sucks the interest right out of your body.

Oh, remember the wrestler Zeus? He's in this movie, too. He makes friends with Roddy Piper after he watches Rodddy break a guy's nose for pestering a woman. That isn't integral to the plot, mind you. It is, however, exactly the sort of thing that I imagine Zeus likes in his acquaintances.