Low Blow
Joe Wong is a private investigator who goes in search of a young girl kidnapped by a religious cult. Destined to save her, he teams up with a Vietnam vet, a pro-boxing champ and a former cop to save her...
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- Cast:
- Leo Fong , Cameron Mitchell , Troy Donahue , Akosua Busia , Stack Pierce , Billy Blanks , Hope Holiday
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Reviews
Just perfect...
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Cameron Mitchell's career is varied to say the least. One minute he's Minessota Clay, next he's a crazed gangster in Medusa, or a cop in The Nightmare Never Ends. If it was possible to speak to him today, I'd set myself down next to him at a bar, slide him a beer and say "Hey Cam, what was the easiest gig you ever did?" Unfortunately he can't answer, but I'm sure he would have said: "Probably that martial arts film where I didn't even need to get out of a seat, wore sunglasses, mumbled a lot, and groped a young actress." That film would be Low Blow, an action film starring Mitchell (who was an ex-special forces bar man in Codename Vengeance), Leo Fong, with an appearance by Stack Pierce (of Pyshic Killer 'fame'). Fong is an ex-cop turned PI, who seems to spend his time dealing with endemic street crime in San Francisco. While he's out kicking the heads in of two bag snatchers, he's spotted and hired by businessman John Templeton, in order to rescue his daughter from a cheesy new age cult (led by Mitchell (who played a crap cop in The Demon), but run with an iron fist by his daughter/wife!). Mitchell (who was a slick businessman in Memorial Valley Massacre), who wears sunglasses, a hooded robe, and a star on his cheek, seems oblivious to all the armed guards and beating and rambles on about the meek and says 'Blessed' a lot.Fong pays a visit to the cult's plantation and immediately gets into bother with hired goons hanging around the place. He ends up rescuing a dude but reckons he's gonna need back up to get the businessman's daughter back, and you know what that means, right? Correct: A fairly pointless fighting competition, complete with Stack Pierce, ninjas, and a strong woman. Gang assembled, they all head off for a final showdown at the plantation (which involves needlessly killing hired goons whom, up until that point, had hardly hurt anyone.You won't get much in the way of gore in this film (except for the bit where Fong stamps his foot right through a guy's face!) as Low Blow is played more for laughs than anything. This is just as well, as some of the acting is dodgy to say the least (especially Fong's secretary). Mitchell as usual just falls into the roll smoothly (he always seems to be enjoying himself, which is why I enjoy most films he's in), put I wouldn't put this high up on your list of films to see. It's good enough, but no classic, that Low Brow film.
Leo Fong play Joe Wong a detective who is hired by a rich man to rescue his daughter from a religious cult headed by Cameron Mitchell. Somewhere just past silly this is a film with not very good action. There are times when you'll be laughing too hard at the alleged fight scenes that you may bang your head on the chair in front of you. The film opens with Fong thwarting a robbery in a local diner because he's bored. After killing all the bad guys he saunters out saying that the cook should forget his sandwich. I don't know what to say this is a really silly movie. If you want a silly action film give it a try, otherwise there are better ways to spend your time. (It should be pointed out that action stalwart and work out guru Billy Blanks who is listed in the promotional material on some of the DVD cases and is toward the top of the cast list here on IMDb, has little more than a glorified walk on as a camp guard.)
This movie reeks of 1980s, straight-to-video action: zero budget special effects, "filler" action sequences and some utterly loony acting. It may sound bizarre, but those are also the very reasons why I enjoy this film so much.In comparison the action movies of today, Low Blow seems positively wholesome. There is not much blood, no sex and the emphasis is more on fist fighting than high-tech weaponry. However, the film is never boring. The action is fairly constant and there are occasional touches of humour along the way.Leo Fong plays private detective, Joe Wong. Joe is hired to find a missing rich girl, Karen. Karen not only has a very unattractive hairstyle but is also completely moronic, as evidenced by her falling in with one of the most ridiculous cults ever depicted on film - complete with a black sheet wearing blind guru and a crazy woman played by real life Ghanian princess Akosua Busia. Leo Fong's dead-pan delivery and no frills martial arts style suit his character perfectly. A special mention must be given to Akosua who turns in the most ludicrous performance of her career.After having his butt kicked trying to infiltrate the compound, Joe realises that he needs assistance taking out the wackos and naturally enough, decides to hold a tough man contest to find some extra muscle. The scenes of the contest are some of my favourite in the movie. The fights are brief but varied and amusing. I particularly liked the wrestlers and the bizarre iron lady with the blond mullet. The film then comes to its rather predictable climax with some fun action and a good dose of humour.
On the box this movie reads "Hit hard, hit first and hit with a LOW Blow". Well, after watching this movie I felt that I had been hit with a low blow. This movie is shocking. The acting is truly abominable and the attempts at humour really are pathetic. The absolute worst part of the movie however, has to be the soundtrack. There is constant soloing guitars playing in the background and there is no relief from it. I felt like my head was going to explode from all the pent up pressure before the movie finally finished.Unless you're into bizarre forms of torture, don't watch this movie. I watched it when I was drunk and it was still bad. I'd shudder to think what it would have been like if I was sober...