What is that poster supposed to be? It looks like some kind of future-set science fiction movie. The movie tagline makes you think Chuck Norris is some kind of possible space cop, or space bounty hunter maybe. And once again, the movie title doesn't really reflect the movie you're going to watch. It all looks and sounds like a future-set 'Commando' type feature.
What we end up getting is a rather drab-looking, typical 70's cop/detective crime action flick with Chuck Norris having to once again save the day cos the cops aren't up to the task. And no I'm not joking, Norris is Matt Logan, a Karate champion (ugh!) who the police hire to train a special undercover unit in combat. What is their task? Well, a drug dealer is running his drug trafficking operation out of his sports goods stores (not joking). It's up to this special unit, with Logan's help, to bust this drug-dealing operation. So, no originality whatsoever then.
In all honesty, I'm finding it increasingly hard to review Chuck's old action flicks. I use the term 'action' loosely here as most of these movies do not actually have much action. All these early movies simply feel like very limp excuses to showcase Norris in the ring fighting. There is literally nothing much else happening here at all. The movie is extremely dull for the most part with loads of dialogue or exposition sequences. There are lots of scenes with cops snooping around, discussing plans, driving around, eating and drinking etc...It's all very basic looking, unexciting, and much like any number of 70's cop shows on TV.
Every now and then we get a little snippet of fighting with Chuck or the main villain's enforcer, Jerry Sparks, who also just happens to be a martial arts expert (played by Bill Wallace). I've never seen or heard of this guy before, but, naturally, he is a real kickboxing champion (apparently one of America's first stars in the sport). This definitely clicks because the guy's acting is atrocious despite looking the part. He isn't really used that much. There are some kills by a supposed mystery killer that is obviously him, and we only get to see some good stuff right at the end when he fights Chuck. The actual main villain of this film is virtually non-existent and in no way threatening or intimidating.
Chuck does very little here, in fact, less than his previous early action movies. I can't help but feel he's desperately trying to come across as a serious actor...that can do martial arts. Visually, he looks just the same as in his previous movies, he dresses in the same way, acts the same, is always a martial arts champion etc...You don't really feel like you're getting anything new here, this movie blends in with many of his previous early movies. He merely spends most of the run time playing this morally righteous nice guy, and doing very little.
The only real action in this entire boring feature is the big martial arts fight between Chuck and Sparks at the very end, and truth be told, it's not even that great! We get a very brief martial arts fight where nothing much happens. Sparks does a runner when the cops show up, and after a brief car chase, the fight continues in a field or wherever. The movie then ends with a very familiar-looking shot that occurred in another Chuck flick.
Yeah so, this was pretty bad frankly. The poster and title are almost false advertising. The casting was reasonable, with the small unit of diverse cops being an interesting group that could have maybe led to a more interesting movie. But overall, production values are poor throughout; it's definitely a product of its time and hasn't aged well at all. Just another excuse to see Chuck Norris fight in the ring, but they don't even deliver on that.
3/10
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