The title of this movie really leads you astray in my opinion. It's a good title, sounds cool, sounds like you're in for some hard-hittin' action, possibly stealth-based. What you actually get is Chuck Norris vs. Michael Myers. Yes you read that correctly, Chuck Norris goes up against Michael Myers.
Okay, so it isn't exactly Michael Myers from the 'Halloween' franchise, but let's be brutally honest here. The character that Chuck faces off against in this movie (John Kirby, played by Brian Libby), is a large, well-built, mute male who has essentially been brought back from the dead, and runs around in a light grey boiler suit. He's even invincible and keeps coming for more. The only thing missing here is a mask.
The plot is completely the opposite of what you'd expect from a Chuck Norris movie, obviously. A mentally ill man kills his family and is taken down by the cops, led by Sheriff Stevens (Norris). Near death, he is taken to an institute (but not a hospital?) where two crazy doctors decide to save him with a special formula that one of them created. Said formula enhances cellular strength and regeneration. So they inadvertently create a Frankenstein-esque monster who goes off on a killing rampage. Did they not see this potentially happening? The man went nuts and killed his family.
What follows is your typical horror flick type scenario as the silent killer goes after Stevens and his family, anybody nearby, and finally the doctors who created him. Because of the fact he has enhanced cellular strength and regeneration, this makes him virtually unstoppable, creating many predictable sequences that we've all seen before (although, maybe not as much back in 82).
But there are so many weird choices in this movie, and so many questions. Firstly, much of the movie feels like your standard goofy buddy cop flick. Stevens has a rather tubby partner who looks and acts like a character from a Burt Reynolds Southern-set comedy movie. Then there's the bar fight with a bunch of biker thugs (best bit of action in the movie), which again feels like a completely different movie. It feels like the director and writers couldn't decide what to do.
The entire gist of this movie just feels so wrong. Having Chuck Norris essentially running around trying to tackle this Mike Myers-type guy just felt so incredibly badly thought out. People don't go see a Chuck Norris movie for horror, they see him for martial arts. Yes there is some martial arts in here, such as the bar fight, but that's pretty much it. The big finale sees Norris square off against the killer, which was decent but kinda ridiculous. The guy was invulnerable, if bullets and being injected with acid doesn't work, a few high kicks isn't gonna stop him. The ending doesn't even resolve the issue, leaving things open for a sequel! We could have actually had a Chuck Norris vs. Michael Myers franchise.
4/10
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