Firewalker
A pair of adventurers try to track down an ancient Aztec/Mayan/Egyptian/Apache horde of gold.
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- Cast:
- Chuck Norris , Louis Gossett Jr. , Melody Anderson , Will Sampson , Sonny Landham , John Rhys-Davies , Ian Abercrombie
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Reviews
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
I love movies like this, but honestly....this is one of the few that I just can't watch anymore and I really can't understand why. It's not the quality, I've given 10 of 10 to a ton of badly made films just because they were like this.Movies like this were awesome...huge from the Golden Age of the Silver Screen into the '90s when they started to peter out until, well, until they vanished leaving us with nothing but Super Hero films to fill the void......I have nothing against Super Hero films, but I love adventure films too.I can see where folks would not like it, especially the people that take themselves too seriously. It is stuck in a genera that is at once extremely pulp and kind of serialized. Even if it's not a sequel, you know the story.The Goonies, Nate and Hayes, Jake Speed, Romancing the Stone, Vibes, Big Trouble in Little China, Young Sherlock Holmes...and of course the crown, the king, the Indiana Jones movies.They are all close enough to one another to really fit into the same mold. The characters change, the concepts stay the same and....we love it.Enter the Roguish hero and the damsel in distress in an exotic location to find X marking the MacGuffin, but first they have to work their way through obstacles both natural and man made in the form of a nasty antagonist and a couple of henchmen. Throw in a semi-bumbling sidekick and you have what I like to call "High Adventure." "Firewalker" follows that outline and if you are the kind of individual that is still young enough at heart to love adventure films...you will inevitably like this movie.If you are the kind of man or woman that takes everything extremely seriously and refuses to play at all, not matter what it is. If you are the type that would use the word "compete" instead of "play" or "game" than you are going to hate this movie.
Max Donigan and his partner Leo Porter are two soldiers of fortune. Leo is thinking of calling it quits, but when a young lady, Patricia comes by with a map and asks for their help of finding a lost treasure. They take up the task with adventurous results and must face El Coyote, a descendant of Indian priests.What a team! Chuck Norris, Lou Gossett and Melody Anderson gave this buddy flick much-added spark with their cheerful banter and charismatic persona. "Firewalker" does go for that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" appeal, but only in small doses and in a very cheap foray. The comic book premise is outrageously silly and pure corn, but it's an eventful ride with spontaneous actions making it unpredictable and the mockery was a nice touch. It even walks a fine line between the supernatural / superstitious elements. There's not doubt it's quite childish, far-fetched and it might not be a successful blend, but director J Lee Thompson makes great use of the fiery performances, easy-going script (even though it will make you roll your eyes for most part) and stunning locations, which kept me involved. It took a while before Norris released those infamous skills he bestows, but when in the flow. Watch the damage occur! As Norris is on the job. Gossett chips in with nice array of wisecracks and the two formed a great, side-splitting and believable team. Anderson simply radiates in her quirky role. Sonny Landham makes one hammy villain with a hokey evil laugh. At best these are cartoonish characters with a lot of charm and a growing appeal.It maybe wasn't as fun as I remembered it to be when I saw it ages ago, but it's a enjoyably lightweight and unpretentious romp with Norris kicking in with his slow motion jump kicks. Oh yeah!
Chuck Norris and Louis Gossett Jr star as two adventurers who find themselves running after the "Firewalker" which leads to a cave of huge treasures (Which look like brass) and along the way they are joined by a nutty blonde (Melody Anderson) who hires them out to help find the cave. While Sonny Landham stars as a big buff Native American with an eye-patch that switches eyes (Which then vanishes altogether in the climax) who is "El Coyote" the main villain of the peace. Firewalker was awful back in 1986 and is even worse now. The sets are laughably unconvincing and because the movie is PG it lacks R rated action. Worst of all is that it tries to be comedy and Norris is too humorless to make the transition. Louis Gossett Jr overacts and Melody Anderson gives a typically moronic performance (Remember she was the worst thing in Flash Gordon) and it basically is a dull rip off of the vastly superior Romancing The Stone. (We will not even compare this to Raiders Of The Lost Ark) The only good thing about the movie is, uh, the way a guy throws himself off a cliff after seeing "Firewalker" That was priceless in its unintentional hilarity.* out of 4-(Bad) (And i'm being generous...)
"Firewalker" is more than a bit of a mess. Like most movies from the Cannon studio, it's not low budget enough to dip into Ed Wood land, but not well done enough to rise to a major studio production. The sets are cheap and the story is not much more than a vaguely connected series of scenes referencing better films--but I think the filmmakers were well aware of these and other shortcomings and set a self effacing, tongue in cheek tone from the start. Though as sloppy and slapdash as most of director J. Lee Thompson's other 80's efforts, "Firewalker" shows Thompson turning these attributes to his advantage and giving us a breezy, goofy, self-aware-yet-totally-clueless, low budget pop culture gem. I don't think anyone was under the impression that they were making the next "Raiders of the Lost Ark," they just wanted to give us some old fashioned fun. I mean, an Academy Award winner costarring with CHUCK NORRIS? How could it not be great in its own way? And while we're on the subject, this is one of the few films where you couldn't call Norris "Old Stone Face." In this film Chuck gives one of his liveliest, most natural performances ever--almost charming. Too bad he didn't work with Thompson more often.