Truly Dreadful Film

Good idea lost in the noise

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I caught this Z-grade martial arts feature on Prime under the title X-TREME FIGHTER. It's certainly the cheapest film I've ever seen Don "The Dragon" Wilson star in, and that's saying something. The effects and feel of the film, which is in the field of virtual reality, looks like it comes from the early 1990s. Wilson's kid plays an experimental fighting game and his father joins him, but it soon turns that this game has a deadly side.Mostly this nonsense set-up is an excuse for various staged fight scenes in the countryside between a variety of outlandishly-attired fighters. Wilson is on autopilot but some of the fight choreography is okay, which is why this isn't the worst I've seen. Old-time actor Aki Aleong gets a nice role as the inventor while Cynthia Rothrock merely seems to be around to show off her surgically-enhanced assets in a revealing costume. Somewhat inevitably for this genre, Lorenzo Lamas appears too.

Story in short - old man wants to train fbi agents, buys gamecube, puts sticker over said gamecube and turns it into a powerful combat training game.....WHICH GOES BAD! Bad story, half arsed effects and crap choreography aside this isn't a bad film. If you should think that there is anything besides those three points. Well, there is some quality face-pulling.The only reason i would give this a two is because its so bad its laughable, and the monkey ninja is hilarious in the fact he doesn't actually do anything other than hop about like a monkey. On the floor. I could get a 9 year old to do just as good a job, and he'd probably do it with more gusto.In summary, rent/buy if its amazingly cheap (like a quid) or you really have nothing better to do. If you like Forbidden Warrior, you'd probably sit through most of this without laughing. I send out my pity.Go see Kung Pow or Shaolin Soccer instead. Now.

Widowed father Jack Tanaka (Don 'the Dragon' Wilson) feels that his son Brad is drifting from him. After catching his son drinking one sip of beer at a party, he grounds him for a week. The grandfather makes a custom virtual reality game in hopes of bringing the father and son closer together again. But when Brad get stuck in the game Jack has to follow him in and save him. No, it's not a exceptionally good film, but what the hell were you thinking when you rented a film starring The Dragon? Hamlet? I didn't think so. If you like Don, you probably will like this one , all others steer clear.My Grade: D+ (would be higher if it didn't have the Monkeyman in it)

Imagine my surprise and my glory when I saw this puppy at my local blockbusters, having appeared out of nowhere. I was excited about this all last year because it was a collection of B-movies star to make you proud. Don Wilson, Cynthia (Jubblies! I like the Jubblies!) Rothrock and Lorenzo Lamas. Unfortunately it ended up being standard Don fare with a ludicrous plot about a virtual reality fighting game that goes haywire and in essence is an excuse for loads of fights. The fights are very routinely done and Don Wilson continues his annoying trend of pulling his punches and forcing out the choreogrpahy slowly and without timing. I have never seen him look lightening quick in a film. Granted I have not seen all his movies but for a legendary kick boxer her certainly looks like he can't fight when it comes to his movies. Dan Mayid, who plays his son in this film puts him to shame and looks like he could have a bright future as an action star, he is certainly a better actor than his mentor. Mayid was interestingly enough cast at a marital arts convention. He is a big fan of Don, he showed him a few moves and they cast him as his son. Great stuff.Problems in this film arise because there are loads of fights and most are from Don, while Mayid and the other leads have a lot less to do. Rothrock has one fight which is good and she still kicks but like the best of them, whilst showing her ample jubilee off in a cleavage boosting low cut dress. Lorenzo has a brief bit but he is essentially a cameo part, which is a shame because he is the best actor of the lot, by far. I'd have preferred him in the lead because he fights better than Don. The film is still reasonably fun though because it is so cheesy and they have some clichéd and hokey drama in it that is so badly done you can't help but laugh.The film also features a score from Vince DiCola responsible for two scores I loved in the 80's in Transformers and Rocky 4, however this is not 80's style and his score is mostly generic, aside from some moments that have the Vince pazzazz. Overall this film has great curiosity value but for those expecting something great, you'll be disappointed. It was a fairly ambitious idea for a Don film but is letdown by poor execution on most parts. Only Rothrocks boobies and the potential of Mayid (An amazing athlete, and young enough to develop into at least an acceptable actor)make this worthwhile but that's about it. **