Well, here's the film with Chuck Norris where he infiltrates the mafia (just to come closer to the guy who put him in coma for several years...). A usual cliché. I remember seeing this as a kid, it was one of the first films starring Norris that I saw. So, the story is next - Norris plays a cop named Cliff who was on the undercover mission with his partner, however his mission ended up almost fatally after someone betrayed him. After a couple of years in coma... well, what did you expect? It is easier to choke out an elephant than to kill Chuck. So, couple of years of coma, he wakes up an infiltrates himself in the Italian mafia in order to bring them down. The circumstances and further investigation brings him to the man who betrayed him.
Let's check the actors and characters: Norris... um, well... what to say? The man is clearly not an actor, which he also openly admits. So, he is usual himself. Calm, humble, quiet and down-to-earth tough guy. Sure, he brings out his lesser charm and charisma, which makes his performance tolerable, but for hardcore Norris fans, it is awesome. So, he was the usual self. His character of Cliff / Grogan is... well, kind of interesting. There is this slight development. He starts out as a jokester, but after the coma, he is a bit more serious. The character has some tiny depth when this kid named Tim enters his life. OK, this shows that he is not a cold, tough guy, but he also has some gentleness. Which is OK, I guess... Which brings me to this kid Tim Murphy (played by Salim Grant). Grant did OK and that's it. The chemistry between him and Norris is pretty OK. But, their relationship was based upon Chuck's personal life story. Of being small and weak, so let me teach you how to fight and stand up for yourself. We'll get to that part later. Michael Parks plays Ronny Delaney, Grogan's partner. Parks is without any shadow of doubt the best actor in the film. He really gives this well-balanced and discreet performance. Alberta Watson plays Christine, a love interest of Grogan. Watson was a great actress and she did OK, but her character didn't do much. She was used mostly to fill up certain scenes and that's it. The chemistry between her and Norris was... not that strong. So there are some interesting things about the characters and there are some good actors and performances, but of course since this is a Chuck Norris film, don't hope for more.
The director is Aaron Norris. He, he ... So, because of his younger brother, Chuck had a career back then. Aaron Norris is not a good director, but he used to make decently enjoyable action B flicks with Chuck... goddamn nepotism. Every film that Aaron had made, was basically like a birthday present for Chuck. That is what I meant when I mentioned the relationship between Tim and Grogan and how it was based upon Chuck's real life upbringing. That is the weakness of the director and writers (there were three writers for this film) and nobody could come up with something more different. But, I don't want to discuss it further, because Chuck is probably standing behind me. Things like cinematography, editing and production design are nothing special (pretty low budgeted), but compared to today's action / thriller films they are much more relaxing to watch. Action scenes were rather slow, but passable. The ending was satisfying. The supporting villains were ridiculous. In this film, besides Italian mafia, we also have Iranian drug dealers and mobsters. Because, they probably decided to use Russians for some other time. Only the music score by Joel Derouin was quite good. That good old bass guitar line and cool early 90s saxophone...
Overall, this is one enjoyable and adequate film. But of course, being a Chuck Norris film, as I mentioned... don't expect much.
Let's check the actors and characters: Norris... um, well... what to say? The man is clearly not an actor, which he also openly admits. So, he is usual himself. Calm, humble, quiet and down-to-earth tough guy. Sure, he brings out his lesser charm and charisma, which makes his performance tolerable, but for hardcore Norris fans, it is awesome. So, he was the usual self. His character of Cliff / Grogan is... well, kind of interesting. There is this slight development. He starts out as a jokester, but after the coma, he is a bit more serious. The character has some tiny depth when this kid named Tim enters his life. OK, this shows that he is not a cold, tough guy, but he also has some gentleness. Which is OK, I guess... Which brings me to this kid Tim Murphy (played by Salim Grant). Grant did OK and that's it. The chemistry between him and Norris is pretty OK. But, their relationship was based upon Chuck's personal life story. Of being small and weak, so let me teach you how to fight and stand up for yourself. We'll get to that part later. Michael Parks plays Ronny Delaney, Grogan's partner. Parks is without any shadow of doubt the best actor in the film. He really gives this well-balanced and discreet performance. Alberta Watson plays Christine, a love interest of Grogan. Watson was a great actress and she did OK, but her character didn't do much. She was used mostly to fill up certain scenes and that's it. The chemistry between her and Norris was... not that strong. So there are some interesting things about the characters and there are some good actors and performances, but of course since this is a Chuck Norris film, don't hope for more.
The director is Aaron Norris. He, he ... So, because of his younger brother, Chuck had a career back then. Aaron Norris is not a good director, but he used to make decently enjoyable action B flicks with Chuck... goddamn nepotism. Every film that Aaron had made, was basically like a birthday present for Chuck. That is what I meant when I mentioned the relationship between Tim and Grogan and how it was based upon Chuck's real life upbringing. That is the weakness of the director and writers (there were three writers for this film) and nobody could come up with something more different. But, I don't want to discuss it further, because Chuck is probably standing behind me. Things like cinematography, editing and production design are nothing special (pretty low budgeted), but compared to today's action / thriller films they are much more relaxing to watch. Action scenes were rather slow, but passable. The ending was satisfying. The supporting villains were ridiculous. In this film, besides Italian mafia, we also have Iranian drug dealers and mobsters. Because, they probably decided to use Russians for some other time. Only the music score by Joel Derouin was quite good. That good old bass guitar line and cool early 90s saxophone...
Overall, this is one enjoyable and adequate film. But of course, being a Chuck Norris film, as I mentioned... don't expect much.