science fiction action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
directed by
T. J. Scott
TJ Scott is a Canadian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, and former stuntman and actor. He is primarily known for his work directing television series such as ''Orphan Black'', '' Xena: Warrior Princess'', '' Gotham'', '' St ...
and starring
Bolo Yeung
Yang Sze (; born 3 July 1946), better known as Bolo Yeung, is a Hong Kong former competitive bodybuilder, martial artist and a martial arts film actor. Globally known for his performances as Bolo in ''Enter the Dragon'' (starring Bruce Lee), an ...
,
Jalal Merhi
Jalal Merhi is a Brazilian-born Canadian action film producer and martial artist. He was born in Brazil to Lebanese immigrant parents.
Career
He started his film career by selling his jewellery business to start a film production company. He ...
,
Billy Blanks
William Wayne Blanks (born September 1, 1955) is an American fitness personality, martial artist, actor, and the creator of the Tae Bo exercise program.
Early life and education
Blanks was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. He began his study of th ...
,
Bobbie Phillips
Bobbie Phillips (born January 29, 1968) is an American actress.
Career
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Phillips moved to Hollywood in 1990 and began working in television soon after. Her first acting job was guest-starring with Halle Berr ...
,
Matthias Hues
Matthias Hues (born 14 February 1959) is a German-born, naturalized American actor and martial artist. He was born in Waltrop, Germany, to Dr. Josef Hues and Maria Humperdinck Hues who still reside in Germany. Maria is the niece of Engelbert Hu ...
, Harry Mok, and Kelly Gallant. The film was written by T.J. Scott from a story by J. Stephen Maunder and Richard M. Samuels and produced by Merhi. The soundtrack was composed by VaRouje.
Plot
In 2020, ecological disaster has driven the wealthy to an
underground city
An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of thes ...
. Jason Storm is part of an elite
security force
Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several nations, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of military and paramilitary forces (s ...
called the Tracker-Communicators who protect the city against the surface world survivors who could not afford to escape. Zoey Kinsella, the deceased founder's daughter, joins him as his rookie partner. After a raid by starving surface world survivors breaches the city's force field, Zoey comes to believe they have inside help. Storm acknowledges the possibility but is more concerned with his clashes against the Controller, the leader of the city's security, and his enforcer, Bigalow. The Controller wants to use a cybernetic project to replace the Tracker-Communicators, but he can not find any volunteers!
Niki Picasso and his gang penetrate the underground city's force field and head directly to a disused area of the city. There, in a hidden cache, they find ammunition and an automatic rifle, a weapon that has become extremely rare. While Picasso pins down Storm and Kinsella, an unseen adversary shoots Kinsella dead. Convinced of a coverup, Storm angrily resigns, only to have the Controller send Bigalow to kill him. When Storm escapes the city, the Controller frames him for Kinsella's death and sets the security forces after him. Unknown to Storm, the Controller has Kinsella resurrected as a cyborg and programs her to be his personal assassin. Her first mission is to seduce Picasso and recruit him to take over a research facility guarded by the Lifers, a powerful gang.
On the surface world, Storm encounters a martial arts master, Sumai, and his daughter. Sumai helps Storm infiltrate Picasso's lair, but the cybernetic Kinsella easily defeats Storm. As Storm recovers, Sumai trains him. Sumai, former head of security at the research facility, tells Storm that Kinsella's father was the person who founded it. The facility was originally meant to counter the ecological damage but was converted into a chemical weapons factory. Suspecting that the Controller seeks the biological weapons to take over the surface world, Storm and Sumai recruit fighters who are willing to stand up to Picasso. As Picasso overpowers the Lifers with his rifle, the Controller murders the city's leader, the Overlord, and joins him.
After launching the chemical weapons, the Controller double-crosses Picasso. As the Controller flees the facility, Picasso confronts and kills him, though he is now, most unfortunately, left trapped in a silo. The chemicals, though currently inert, will kill every surface dweller unless a countdown is aborted. After defeating Bigalow and his men, Storm and Sumai break into the control room, where the Controller has left Kinsella. Storm helps her to remember her true self, and she guesses several passwords. Finally, with time running out, Sumai guesses the correct password and saves the surface world. Picasso calls for help; when they ignore him, he vows revenge.
Cast
Release
The film was released directly to video on August 18, 1993, by MCA/Universal Home Video in the United States, and in Canada that same year by Cineplex Odeon. A DVD is available in the UK. Vinegar Syndrome released the film onto Blu-Ray in 2021.
Reception
''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' rated ''TC 2000'' 2/4 stars and wrote that while the non-stop martial arts action "can be tiresome", the film does a good job of showcasing Blanks.