the leading man is my tpye

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Like a train wreck you won't be able to look away from this movie, no matter how awful it gets. At times you'll ask yourself if they were trying to make a bad movie on purpose just so we could laugh at it in the future. If you like Kung Fury and want to see the exact kind of over the top martial arts cop movie it was spoofing this is it. The acting, horrible. The action, completely ridiculous. The plot, written by a ten year old boy. I've literally never seen cheesier acting, fighting choreography, editing, or music, all with every 80's cliché you can think of wrapped into one movie. Entertaining? HELL YES!

Beefcake actor Martin Kove joined the ranks of action genre stars with this routinely plotted but fairly amusing vehicle. Kove plays genial Vietnam veteran John Steele, who goes into action when his wartime comrade Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim), now a police detective, is assassinated along with most of his family. Helped and hindered by former colleagues like Bennett (Ronny Cox) and Tom Reese (Bernie Casey), John goes up against a wartime associate named Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh), who's now a drug lord in America masquerading as a crusading businessman.I'm going to give the filmmakers (led by writer & director Robert Boris) the benefit of the doubt here, and say that the amount of laughs to be had from watching this are intentional. If one does see it as tongue in cheek, it may yield greater entertainment than if they take it seriously. "Steele Justice" does have its moments. For one thing, it stops cold for a rock video that is eventually interrupted by the ongoing battles between Steele and Kwans' minions. But the unqualified highlight occurs when Steele is shot with a poison dart, and almost nonchalantly, he removes the offending dart, sucks up and spits out the poison, and does a fine job of improvising when it comes to cauterizing the wound. The action sequences are all reasonably well done.Kove is engaging as our sardonic hero, often to be seen with a smile on his face. Oh is an enjoyably hammy villain in the action movie tradition. Sela Ward is a lovely woman, but as the heros' ex-wife, she offers a pretty insipid performance. Ditto for Jan Gan Boyd (the young lady who was hot for Bronson in the movie "Assassination"), cast as Van Minhs' supposedly teen aged daughter. Watch this and you'll see why she never had much of a career. There's a pleasingly large amount of familiar faces in the supporting cast, although some of them have no more than cameos or walk ons: Joseph Campanella, Sarah Douglas, Peter Kwong, Al Leong, Shannon Tweed, Irene Tsu, David L. Lander, Asher Brauner, Phil Fondacaro, Kevin Gage.Any completist of 1980s action movies should have a pretty good time with this.Six out of 10.

Look, I have no idea what was going on in this movie, but that's partly due to the fact that at one point, a midget cowboy, wearing sunglasses in a bar, sitting by himself, and rocking to some random country band had me so excited, that I basically had to sign up on IMDb so I could tell everyone that this movie has a midget cowboy in it.I thank the Netflix Gods for his sublime performance.Oh, and apparently, all Asians know martial arts, and then they use the arts whenever they're least needed (I've heard this is true).It certainly isn't Citizen Kane (that movie was in black in white), but it is the greatest movie ever made in color (named Steele Justice).

Why, why, why do these formulaic "vigilante" movies keep proliferating by the numbers? Anyway, Martin Kove stars in this occasionally exciting action picture as Lt. John Steele, a disgruntled, Vietnam veteran. Steele unfortunately is not able to find his niche in America. For example, he keeps losing his jobs, he continues missing his many opportunities, and his wife, Tracey (Sela Ward) is divorcing him. Steele himself...is just a raging drunk.Twelve years ago, in the year 1975 (STEELE JUSTICE takes place in 1987, a.k.a. the so-called "modern times."), Steele was an honorable soldier, fighting alongside with his friend, Lee Van Tranh (Robert Kim). The two were tough soldier boys, fighting in the Vietnam War at Chi Chu Province. Steele and Lee were ambushed by one of their most formidable allies, General Bon Soong Kwan (Soon Teck-Oh). Both Steele and Lee have fallen for Kwan's trap and they have taken the bait. Kwan has just embezzled 20 million dollars worth of "lost" CIA gold and now, he's leaving Vietnam as a rich man. As Kwan quoted himself, "The war is over." Kwan shoots both Steele and Lee, leaving them for dead... However, Steele is resilient, like so many other hardened souls...Now heading to 1987, Steele must forget about his troubled past, and continue on with his life; but as he has gradually learned, the war isn't over, it has "just changed location." In a violent shoot-out, Steele's best friend and old Vietnam War buddy, Lee was shot and murdered by a ruthless group of underlings controlled by the modern Vietnamese Mafia in Southern California. Their emblem is best known as the "Black Tigers." People shall remember their name. Guess who are the ringleaders? They are none other than General Kwan himself, and his son, Pham (Peter Kwong). Kwan himself has now become a powerful drug lord in Southern California, systematically creating fear among the Vietnamese communities. His spread of narcotics and his reign of power are more powerful than ever...It is now up to the aggressive, over-the-hill once proud marine John Steele to find a way to avenge the murder of his best friend, Lee, and Lee's family. Steele must also take care of Lee's daughter, Cami (Jan Gan Boyd) as well as fight the corrupted Vietnamese Mafia, the Black Tigers. Steele will take no prisoners as this tough-as-nails Vietnam Vet will unleash a new way to annihilate the sadistic drug lords... With no help from the skeptical police, Steele must utilize his own firepower and skill to stop Lee's murderers not to mention the elite drug traffickers...John Steele obviously has a proclivity to use violent methods to teach the bad guys some respect. However, in real life, one must learn that "revenge" does not justify brutality... STEELE JUSTICE is cliché, violent, and even jingoistic at times. It has bursts of action and there are tons of explosions in this film, but the retribution formula is so obtrusively used frequently that this once fresh and innovative concept has become mere platitude. STEELE JUSTICE offers absolutely nothing new to the action genre. In fact, the story of a bitter ex-military soldier going on a retaliation spree is strikingly baring resemblance to an earlier film, James Glickenhaus' THE EXTERMINATOR (1980). In turn, the character THE EXTERMINATOR is a rip-off of Charles Bronson in DEATH WISH (1974). Talk about credibility here, folks! Again, STEELE JUSTICE is a trite, superficial action film that is indistinguishable from a whole bunch of already made action films, languishing on the video shelves. This film features a better cast than usual. Included in the ensemble are Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Asher Brauner, Al Leong, and (down guys), Shannon Tweed. She does sport a nice bikini. STEELE JUSTICE is a violent thriller that has some explosive firepower and a cool climax. (CAUTION: *SPOILER...* Anybody who intends to see this movie should skip the next two sentences.) This is where Steele uses a tank to blow away the bad guys. Now that is what he calls "Steele Justice!" The high energy violence compensates for an otherwise routine action film that has Steele and company delivering too many wisecracks to each other as well. If you enjoy action films, STEELE JUSTICE is mediocre at best. There's enough action in this flick; but it's just the racially biased undertones which I also despise...Frankly, this movie does have a lot more racial bigotry then intended. Asians especially may be offended by the stereotypes portrayed in this movie. (i.e. Asian youth gangs, etc.) If it were not for the potential racism, then this film might have had a chance of earning a higher rating. Oh well, too bad!Yes, the video cover looks spectacular, but you cannot judge a movie by it's cover art...RATING: *1/2 out of ****.