Softwing
Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
Doomtomylo
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Comeuppance Reviews
Ramon Ortega (Guerrero) is an Interpol agent living in the Philippines. His professional and personal relationships have never been better, including his marriage to his hot blonde American wife Ann (Kay) - until one day tragedy strikes. A gang of super-evil baddies kill Ann, destroy his life, and, to add insult to injury, cut off one of his arms. Naturally, Ramon then spirals into alcoholism and depression. After threatening to kill all his assailants, his boss Wo-Chen (who can only be described as an Asian Tommy Lee Jones) states "you're not ready" (and insensitively warning "hands off"), and puts him on a grueling training regimen. Now back in fighting shape, Ramon sets off to make good on his promise of revenge. But will he complete his mission what with his handicap of having, you know, only one arm? Find out today! In our world, at least, The One Armed Executioner is a video-store classic. Producer/co-writer/director Suarez had previously lit up drive-in screens with gems like Cleopatra Wong (1978), but now he's firmly in the VHS era. He would follow that up with American Commandos (1986) to further reinforce that. TOAE was originally released on VHS in the U.S. on the great Paragon label. As great as that was, it's nice to have the Dark Sky DVD which offers a cleaned-up, widescreen version, and it's paired up with the aforementioned Cleopatra Wong as a double-feature. The tone of TOAE is much darker than the sprightly Wong, as befits the revenge movie style. Seeing as how revenge movies are among our personal favorite genres, this can proudly sit with the others in our revenge collections.The movie gets off to a bang, features plenty of fighting, shooting, and blow-ups, and, of course, a classic, extended training sequence (in the woods, naturally). The music by Gene Kauer is killer and keeps you engaged. Even some guard towers get blown up, and this isn't even an Exploding Hut movie. As the baddies are attempting to flee in their speedboat towards the end of the movie, we see there's a swastika emblazoned on it. Apropos of nothing, as if the baddies weren't bad enough, we're now clearly shown they have a Nazi Boat. What follows is a helicopter-boat chase (Nazi Boat, specifically) - did you expect to chase it with another boat? But this isn't your average heli. It also has a large logo emblazoned on it, but it's not a swastika. Oh no, these are the good guys. Naturally, their logo reads "The Small Fry". It looks like the sign for a restaurant. Presumably all restaurants in the Philippines have their own attack helicopters. At least that's what we believe based on what we've seen of their country.It truly was a different time, so do check out the Dark Sky DVD. You get two sides of Suarez: the fun side and the dark side. And you can hark back to the days of hunting down revenge movies on VHS, so it's a win-win.
Scott LeBrun
Franco Guerrero stars as Ramon Ortega, hotshot Interpol agent. He's getting too close to nefarious drug kingpin Edwards (Nigel Hogge), so the master criminal sends out his goons, led by the physically imposing Mike Jason (Pete Cooper). The bad guys subsequently murder Ramon's lovely blonde wife Ann (Jody Kay) and lop off Ramon's left arm. Ramon sinks into a pit of despair, self pity, and alcoholism, before being rescued by his associate Wo Chen, who trains him in the martial arts and to be able to operate without the use of a limb.Admittedly, "The One Armed Executioner" is not a high quality production, but it's a great deal of fun. Co-writer / director Bobby A. Suarez ("American Commandos") is not the slickest of filmmakers when it comes to this genre, but he does alright, giving this amiable actioner decent pace and acceptable set pieces. As could be expected, the performances and dubbing aren't so hot, but that doesn't mean that they don't entertain. Guerrero is a passable hero, the briefly seen Kay is appealing as the loving wife, and Hogge and Cooper are decent bad guys. Cooper in particular is fun, given the way that he chortles nastily while doing his dirty deeds.Location work is adequate, and the music is enjoyable. It's also nice to see that this was shot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. People who favour the cheap and the cheesy are likely to have a reasonably good time watching this one.Seven out of 10.
Woodyanders
A group of evil drug-dealing mobsters dismember Interpol agent Ramon Ortega (stolid wonder Franco Guerero) and kill his lovely wife Ann (fetching blonde Jody Kay). Ortega sinks into a grim morass of self-pity and alcoholism prior to undergoing extensive grueling martial arts training so he can exact a harsh revenge on the bad guys. Ineptly directed by Bobby A. Suarez, with an on and off plodding pace, clumsily staged action set pieces (the amazing crippled fu fight stuff is a hilariously tacky joy to behold!), a cruel tone, shoddy gore, startling moments of brutal violence (Ortega shoots one nasty hood right in the groin!), amusingly lousy dubbing, poor acting, and icky moments of cloying sentiment (the sappy flashbacks showing Ortega with his wife are sickeningly mushy), this flick overall sizes up as an enjoyably crummy hunk of rancid dime-store junk. Nigel Hogge hams it up shamelessly as Texas-accented main villain Edwards while Joe Zucchero contributes a funny turn as Edwards' obsequious smartaleck flunky Milo. Jun Pereira's widescreen cinematography offers several clunky zooms and makes occasional strained use of strenuous slow motion. Gene Kauer's get-down funky score hits the right-on groovy spot. Fun schlock.
EyeAskance
Charmingly unpurified nonpareil evincing the titular "one armed executioner" character who is, surprisingly, the protagonist of the story. Between swallows of beer...hopefully lots of them...you'll be sounding off in ebullient support of his virulent vigilante mission...to destroy the evil mobsters responsible for stabbing his pretty wife to death and leaving him...well...erm...disarmed.Are you hungry for a film which guiltlessly sacrifices the fine points of quality, integrity, and tact in order to bring you multifarious stripes of misconduct and a lion's share of karate-chopping action? If you answered "YES", then put on a bib and dig in. If you answered "NO", then here's a piece of gum, now get the Hell out of my kitchen.
