The Silent Force

Loren Avedon has come a long way from the "No Retreat, No Surrender" series - unfortunately, I don't mean that as a compliment! Don't get me wrong, he's still got the moves, but he doesn't get to show them much. The best fight scene in "Silent Force" comes within the first 10 minutes, and it's actually just a sparring match between Avedon and multiple "opponents" / trainees; nothing that comes later is equally good. Even more disappointing is the fact that Karen Kim gets absolutely NO fight scenes at all; although it is mentioned at one point that she could out-fight and out-shoot everyone at the police academy, she gets captured and used as a hostage by the bad guys TWICE, without putting up much of a fight. With one exception (a man locating his own executioner through a telescope), the action scenes are uninspired, and there are parts where you're wondering if the filmmakers are going for intentional comedy (bad guy aims at Avedon from a close distance and pulls the trigger, but the gun is empty; this happens at least twice). Even Matthias Hues' uncredited cameo doesn't help much - you just keep wondering where the hell he came from, and where the hell he goes afterwards. *1/2 out of 4.