Best of the Best: Without Warning (1998)

Director:

Phillip Rhee

Writers:

Phillip Rhee (writer)
Fred Vicarel (writer)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

The Newest and Hardest-Hitting of the Series!!

Plot:

A group of Russian mobsters have stolen a huge supply of paper for printing U.S. currency, and are now flooding the market with conterfeit bills...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Hostage | Tae Kwon Do | Repetition In Title | Kung Fu

Cast

Phillip Rhee	...	Tommy Lee
Ernie Hudson	...	Detective Gresko
Tobin Bell	...	Lukast Slava
Thure Riefenstein	...	Yunika Slava
Jessica Collins	...	Karina
Chris Lemmon	...	Jack Jarvis (as Christopher Lemmon)
Art LaFleur	...	Big Joolie (as Art La Fluer)
Sven-Ole Thorsen	...	Boris (as Sven Ole Thorsen)
Jessica Huang	...	Stephanie
Jill Ritchie	...	Micky
Ilia Volok	...	Ilia
Garrett Warren	...	Viktor
David 'Shark' Fralick	...	Oleg
Monte Rex Perlin	...	Sergi (as Monte Perlin)
Marco Verdier	...	Black Cop

Also Known As:

Best of the Best 4: Without Warning (USA) (closing credits title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence, and for a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:18 | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:18 | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | USA:R | Iceland:16

Goofs:

Continuity: This movie is set in 1998. Tommy has a daughter that is clearly at least 5 years old. It also shows old footage of him and his "wife" who is supposedly deceased, who he would have known for at least 5 years. In Best of the Best 3, just 3 years earlier, he had no wife and no daughter.

Quotes:

[Boris shoots the truck-driver, and then moves his dead body to the passenger-seat when he gets in the truck]
Boris: You can ride shotgun!

Movie Connections:

Follows Best of the Best (1989)

Best of a bad series...

Phillip Rhee stars as Tommy Lee, the same martial artist who must rescue his daughter from Russian (?) spies who want him to give them back the disc that he's gotten a hold of in exchange for his daughter safe and sound, much kung fu ensues. I actually enjoyed this the best, to be fair I sort of liked the first one, but this one had all the silliness and action that I've come to expect from the typical kung fu/actioner. This loses the racist elements of the abominable third entry and gives us more martial arts, stupid plot threads and a hot love interest for our hero. Phillip Rhee, while no gifted thespian, is surprisingly likable and seems far more exciting in the fight sequences than he was in parts 1-3. Indeed, his fight sequences are intensely choreographed and Rhee proves to be an excellent director as martial arts sequences go. Also the cast includes Ernie Hudson, Tobin Bell (Jigsaw from Saw) and Art La Fleur. Also there is torture that involves a pitching machine, bad guys who screw up a traffic light, to cause an accident and tons of kickboxing. Indeed the film is an excuse to give us Phillip Rhee at his ass-kicking best and frankly, who on earth can hate such a flick?

* *1/2 Out Of 4-(Pretty Good)