"Crime Lords" is an unpretentious, entertaining actioner marking genre lead Wayne Crawford's first helming assignment. Direct-to-video release benefits from snappy packaging.
Crawford, whose push for big screen recognition was stillborn with the failure of his 1986 title roler "Jake Speed", has been cranking out action pics ever since, often on location in South Africa. This one is convincingly set in L. A. and Hong Kong but the crew once again includes many South Africans.
Crawford comfortably essays a scruffy, burnt out L. A. cop working for the car theft squad who's unwillingly teamed with a new partner, cocky ne'er-do-well Martin Hewitt (a long way from "Endless Love").
Hewitt screws up a stakeout at a warehouse and the duo are suspended. So they improbably take it on themselves to go to Hong Kong to pursue James Hong and his gang of thieves.
With cute little girl Mel Castello tagging along as a mascot, they find the baddies but are outsmarted by Hong's main squeeze, beautiful Susan Byun. The anticlimax has them uncovering a smuggling operation while Byun turns out to be a good guy after all.
Sentimental ending has Crawford adopting the waif Castello and bringing her back to L. A. to be a playmate with his own daughter. Silliest scene has an oriental henchman about to slice Hewitt in the worst way, but it turns out to be his ear that's lopped off.
Crawford's easy going manner carries the picture, and hot-blooded Hewitt makes a good foil in the buddy cop genre. Byun, who's also starring in Troma's "Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD" is an eyeful, and she has a sex scene with Crawford. Villain Hong gets to act in both Chinese and English in this one.