Karate Raider (1995) User Reviews

Wonderous

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 21 June 2021]

Jake Turner (Ronald L. Marchini, who co-wrote and co-directed this) is on a rescue mission to liberate Jennifer Boyden, a DEA agent and the daughter of his old sergeant, who is being held by Pike (Joe Meyer, who has been in a bunch of Marchini's films), an American drug lord in the jungles of Colombia. I mean, what was he doing anyway? Punching people for money?

Joe Estevez is in this, in case you need to know about the quality level of this film. This is a movie made for those with the kind of resolution that can watch five Philippines-shot war movies in a day and tell each and every one of them apart.

Also known as Fight to Win, this was also given the completely wrong title of Karate Commando: Jungle Wolf 3, a sequel in name only. In Greece, it was called Hamos stin agria zougla (Doom in the Wild Jungle). Now that's a movie title.

Perhaps the nuttiest thing about this movie is that the co-writer was Joe Carnahan, who went on to make Smokin' Aces, The A-Team, Boss Level and The Grey, as well as the upcoming Western version of The Raid. Or is it? Because this is a movie that has Burt Ward as an evil doctor who helps out the drug kingpins and it's just a cameo. And it's also a film that was only released in the Netherlands, which must have appreciated an Indiana Jones-referencing title 24 years after Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Karate Raider remains one of the rarest Marchini's.

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 1 September 2014]

Jake Turner (Marchini) is in Colombia Punchfighting for money and generally looking for a new assignment. His old buddy Bill Digger (Estevez) contacts him about a missing government agent, Jennifer Boyden (Gaunt). It affects both of them personally because she's the daughter of their old Marine Sergeant. Digger has already sent another soldier to try and find her, a man named Edwards (Rogers). But Edwards was captured by the evil super-criminal Pike (Meyer). When even Digger falls into the hands of Pike, Jake Turner now has to save him, Edwards, and Jennifer. He certainly has his work cut out for him. Can Jake save the hostages and finally defeat Pike? Find out today! Sadly, Karate Raider was Ron Marchini's last film role. But it's the first credit ever for Joe Carnahan, who wrote the movie with Marchini. Carnahan went on to direct Narc (2002) and become a big name in Hollywood. So, circle of life. It's also the only role for one Shelly Gaunt, who played Jennifer. But it's probably just as well. It's pretty surprising, given Marchini's off-screen status as a Martial Artist, and the penchant for Punchfighting movies at the time, that he never made an out-and-out movie about Punchfighting. Karate Raider is as close as we'll get, with one scene. Then his film career ended, in our opinion, prematurely. But judging from Marchini's vest and fedora, as well as the musical score, and the title of the movie, it seems this was his answer to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). While no one is going to mistake Marchini for Harrison Ford, there are still moments to be savored here.

On the cliché radar is the fact that Digger gets Turner for this mission because "he's the best". And you have to love a baddie that not only wears a tracksuit for the entire movie, and his eyepatch looks homemade from black construction paper. That sort of craftsmanship was truly Pike's peak. Worth noting is the preponderance of great yells and screams in this movie. It's not known whether these were written into the script by Carnahan and Marchini, but it seems in most of the fight scenes, at least one person does an extended (too long?) bellow of "Aaaaaaaaggggghhhhh......AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" And this yelling is going on when there's no bickering between the unlikable Jennifer and Marchini, or the shooting of baddies. So the formula seems to be kicking-punching-shooting-bickering-yelling, so it's no surprise that the movie slumps at times, but utter absurdities like the helicopter/raft chase and Marchini's completely unnecessary and amazingly wooden narration keep things afloat. Much like Jake Turner's badass raft. (Yes, he has a badass raft. You got a problem with that?) Also in the "Huh?" department is a brief sit-down role from Burt Ward. His front-and-center placement on the box art doesn't exactly match his screen time. But I can see why the distributors did that. We can't count the times We've been in a video store, just browsing, and we picked up a video that We've never heard of before and yelled "BURT WARD's in this? Sold!" Or maybe we're was just confusing him with Burt Young. Nevertheless, the presence of Ward is really, in actuality, just a testament to how much Marchini must have loved the old Batman TV show - let's not forget Adam West is in Omega Cop (1990).

Karate Raider remains one of the rarest Marchini's - to date it has only been released on VHS in the Netherlands, just like Jungle Wolf (1986). He must have an amazing fanbase in that part of the world. Regardless, it makes a decent enough capper to his screen career, but we have to say, we were left wanting more. Mr. Marchini, it's never too late to come back.