After his wife is executed and with his young son held captive, the gangster Jack (Frank Prather) arranges to sell out his best friend, the ruthless killer Savitch (Cash Flagg, Jr., kind of a smaller Jason Scott Lee with Justin Whalinīs baby fat), to crimelord Mal Locke (Andrew Hewitt, dressed as a Trigun character from some Anime convention). Assisted by his aide Rita (Pam Grierīs lookalike Patricia Williams), Mal has concocted this scheme to take revenge on Savitch, who had left him crippled many years ago.
When Jack's ambush goes wrong, the truth is revealed. Savitch escapes but is later cornered by Jack and Mal's masked goons. After a violent shoot-out, Savitch spares his pal's life, allowing Jack to take him by surprise and run him over with a Ford Saturn. Mal arrives, takes Savitch back to his hideout and proceeds to torture him by trepanation (i.e., boring holes into someoneīs skull with a power drill). But Savitch breaks free and wipes out everyone. Jack manages to rescue his son, but before they can escape, Savitch confronts them. With paternal love pitted against killer instinct, no criminal is left unpunished or innocent left unscathed in a blood-soaked climax - and an ending tremendously absurd (and hilarious), as if some prankster plastered "To be continued" over THELMA & LOUISEīs finale.
Y-a-w-n. Sounds just like any other plot from the Tarantino Wannabeīs Factory, right? Not quite. Try to imagine a Tarantino script - not directed, but ANIMATED by Chuck Jones. Well, I donīt know if thatīs the effect newcomer director "Sir" Alvin D. Ecarma tried to achieve with LETHAL FORCE, but donīt let the generic film title mislead you. Right at the cartoony first sequence we know that this isnīt your average John Woo rip-off. And a quick look at the official movie website www.lethalforcethemovie.com, where the flick is announced with a 70īs-styled poster and a bogus line of action figures (!!!), weīre darn well sure that Ecarma knows where heīs coming from, where heīs going and what heīs doing.
Shot on film with a budget of 50.000 dollars, LETHAL FORCE blends every pop culture riff ever imagined, with compositions taken directly from the comic book pages. But he also gives us the most important thing since Daguerre moved his first picture: likeable characters. Weīre not talking AIRPLANE! humor here, kids. Some absurd sequences reminds those old Looney Tunes (like the "Wonder Woman" bit at the end, that made me spill my chips with laughter), but the homoerotic relationship between the leads is believable (look at the big cigars they munch during the flashback sequence with the, uh, vietnamese ninjas), and soīs Jack relation with his son (played with gusto by young actor J. Patrick Collins Jr.). And the best thing is that Ecarma donīt let the "homages" get in the way of the storytelling. At little more than 70īs minutes, the movie moves REALLY fast, and only drags a little during some sequences (the one at the nightclub, for example, but thatīs redeemed by the gorgeous legs of Jen Dunkelberger).
LETHAL FORCE is filled with great low-budged action sequences, including the best dummy-thrown-from-a-tall-building scene EVER (the doll even flips over like a real corpse!). All begins with an exciting fight between Jack and "Psycho Bowtie" (a silent karate-fighting goon played by the multi-talented Eric Thornett, who also directed a cool indie film called 23 HOURS), and ends with a long, gore-drenched, over-the-top finale complete with nods to Abel Ferraraīs DRILLER KILLER and every duel-at-sundown western, decapitations, crucifications, tongue-ripping and exploding heads - not to mention the priceless blood-squirting eyeball from the trailer (BTW, in this movie the blood doesnīt just drip; it GUSHES like something out of a Crying Freeman comic!).
This movie has only one fault: itīs not yet available on the home video market. But thanks to the success LETHAL FORCE is making in the festivals circuit, that soon will be corrected. And before Ecarma gets hired by a Hollywood major and starts milking his talent in lots of big-budget action flicks, remember: youīve heard about him first right HERE!
Review by Sergio Martorelli
| Directed by "Sir" Alvin D. Ecarma |