Jan Strydom After hearing about James Hellwig's (a.k.a THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR) untimely death, I kept thinking about it not believing he was actually gone. But while going through my DVD collection I spotted this film and suddenly it hits me. James Hellwig played the villain in this movie and he was awesome. I remember when I first saw this film in the early nineties, the scene where Hellwig steps into the death ring to face Gary Daniels, I was so afraid for Daniels's character that I just kept saying, "please let him get out of there alive." That's how scary Hellwig's portrayal of The Swordsman was to me.The film itself is actually very entertaining and a bit fun. I kind of thought of it as a MAD MAX meets BLOODSPORT type of film. The two lead characters played by Chad McQueen (the son of Steve McQueen) and Gary Daniels are quite likable and do grow on you after a short while. The film's only less impressive sequences are the two car chase scenes, but the majority of the film mainly consist of a reasonable number of fight sequences all well choreographed and directed.As far as recommending it goes, I'm not entirely sure what audiences today might think about it, although if someone is curious enough to see it then I would strongly recommend it. As well if the person happens to be an early nineties "B" movie enthusiast.

Comeuppance Reviews Set in the far-away future of 2007, two cops/friends, Braniff (McQueen) and Sledge (Daniels) are some of the toughest police officers in L.A. Making their job much harder was the creation of areas known as "Zones of Personal Freedom" which later devolved into highly dangerous, lawless areas called "Hell Zones". In order to break a counterfeit AIDS vaccine ring, Braniff and Sledge must go undercover into the Hell Zone. Ground zero for their investigation is an illegal Punchfighting ring run by the super-evil Drexal (Ruskin). They are fights to the death where competitors take on names and personas, and they are even given certain weapons at specific times, controlled by Ruskin and his lackeys. The unbeatable man-mountain known only as The Swordsman (Hellwig AKA The Ultimate Warrior!) not only is unstoppable in the Death Ring (as its called) but is also a destructive criminal in his own right. Will Braniff and Sledge survive enough death matches to take down Drexel and The Swordsman? Find out tonight! Chalk up yet another winner for PM. PM always seems to know just the right elements to keep action fans satisfied. And at least there are some ideas at work here, which is more than you can say for a lot of movies, action or otherwise. But it certainly doesn't skimp in the action department, as there are car/motorcycle chases, gunfights, blow-ups, radically awesome lasers, exploding helicopters, loads of hand-to-hand combat and naturally the PM standby of "car flipping over in the middle of the street". There are plenty of fun moments and the movie as a whole is never anything less than entertaining.We always love when movies are set in the future but is now the past. We try to collect those. You'd think the filmmakers, knowing full well their movie would exist on the video market, might last 15-20 years. But they make some surprisingly relevant comments about insurance rates and gas prices that are perhaps truer today than they were back when the movie was filmed. But that aside, The Ultimate Warrior is in this movie as the main baddie! His hair alone is worth seeing the movie for. Too bad this Swordsman wasn't in the Lorenzo Lamas' Swordsman (1992). 'Warrior's only spoken (or more accurately, roared) dialogue consist of him bellowing "Raaaaaahhhhhh!!!", although, to be fair, at one point diabolically laughs "heh heh heh".Chad McQueen is still sleeveless and loving it as the main hero. But without Gary Daniels to brighten things up as his partner, the whole movie might have been a crashing dud. We think this is one of Gary's most fun and upbeat roles. He truly adds life and energy to the proceedings. Whereas McQueen just seems to phone in his typical Chadditude.Don't forget this was around the time of the dominance of American Gladiators, and clearly PM wanted in on some of that action. That would explain why characters are named Viper (played by Art Camacho), The Swordsman, Maniac, Dr. Death (the same Dr. Death from Ballistic, 1995?) and Sledge becomes "The Hammer" naturally, and McQueen becomes the fearsome "Alley Cat". Plus Gerald Okamura is in an uncredited role as a fighter, and fan favorite Lawrence Hilton Jacobs does an awesome job as the ring announcer, even though he is unseen throughout the film. Also in the movie Braniff plays Super Nintendo with his son. Must be retro gaming.Not leaving any details out, there's an end-credits song, "Hell Zone" by Adrienne Heath. While we're not entirely sure why the movie is called Firepower, as it's primarily about Punchfighting, we can definitely recommend it. Check it out.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Frank Markland Chad McQueen and Gary Daniels star as 21st century cops (This was obviously made in the 20th century) who fight a giant lummox who is the king of cage matches, also on hand is a fake AIDs cure and science fiction elements which make NO sense at all. One of the great things about my PM binge is that i'm revisiting movies from my past that have long vanished from my void I call a memory, of the last four movies i've reviewed it's only one that I saw for the first time. (The Underground) However this Chad McQueen/Gary Daniels dud is a movie that I wish I could forget. I seriously don't remember this movie being so awful. The fight sequences in particular are terrible beyond belief. Chad McQueen is so slow and lackluster as a martial artist that he looks like he belongs in a Road House sequel, it's hard to believe the man was trained by Chuck Norris. Steve McQueen's son also has marginal charisma, lacking most of his father's screen presence. Thesping-wise, he's only slightly better than Gary Daniels. However there is no question who outshines McQueen on the martial arts side of things, Daniels has fast reflexes,stylish kicks and great technique. McQueen looks slow and so it's contrived that he's the main martial artist. In the end this is just a very dull exercise in low budget science fiction and a prime example why Chad McQueen is lower on the action food-chain than even David Bradley. Avoid it, unless you're a huge Gary Daniels fan.* out of 4-(Bad)

DragonFire99 `Yeah, well keep your ‘stick' in the ring. Don't practice on my girls. I need them to concentrate on their jobs, so my business doesn't suffer...' In the year 2007, crime has risen at an exponential rate. Once highly populated metropolises such as Los Angeles are no longer inhabitable. These cities have transformed into `Hell Zones,' ruled by violent street gangs. Talk about Y2K!Two brave cops, Braniff (Chad McQueen), and Sledge (Gary Daniels) must risk their badges...and their lives when they enter Los Angeles's `Hell Zone.' Entering the Hell Zone is insanity...escaping from it is impossible. The Hell Zone, formerly called the `Zone of Personal Freedom,' is a safe-haven for criminal warpaths everywhere. This Hell Zone in LA is controlled by a criminal mastermind named Drexal (Joseph Ruskin). For the sake of entertaining his crowds of decadent losers and underlings, Drexal has staged a series of lethal, no-holds-barred matches in the `Death Ring,' where the winner takes all of the glory...while the defeated one shall lose his self-respect (or maybe just his head).Meanwhile, Braniff and Sledge are obliged to go undercover in a clandestine mission as Death Ring fighters themselves. Sledge is actually having fun roughing up his Death Ring rivals while Braniff finds his martial vows in jeopardy as he himself becomes attracted to a beautiful woman named Lisa (Alisha Das). However, this married cop must remember his priority. Braniff, along with his robust and agile partner, Sledge, must fight for their lives in order to expose an alleged `black market' involving the sale of counterfeit AIDS vaccines. Will these two men triumph against all odds in the Hell Zone alive or will they pay with their very lives? FIREPOWER is probably one of the most ridiculously contrived thrillers ever. This film is completely inept, with terrible acting and an incoherent plot. The script, full of pathetic one-liners and inane drivel, is also embarrassing enough. Incidentally, to make everything worse than it already is, this film is not quite as exciting as the title promises. For instance, the action scenes lack that poetic style. Sure, we have the heroes and the villains shooting at each other and trying to beat one another, but all of these action scenes lack that flair. There is no sense of excitement involved when viewing these action sequences. Also, the fight scenes lack the brutal realism; instead, they just seem like child's play. The fighters constantly beat, maul, maim, and mutilate each other, yet not a single fighter (save for the ones who are murdered in the Death Ring) seems to be displaying any severe injuries. The one-on-one death matches as well get repetitive. Listless action scenes are just part of this movie's innumerable problems. The dearth of both an intense musical score and smooth camerawork only injures this movie even more substantially... Although FIREPOWER is an appalling movie, I found one factor which almost redeems this whole unpleasantness: The fact that this movie is amusing, whether it wants to admit it or not. The acting especially is funny. The main adversaries, Drexal and Mendez (Pablo Marz) are more asinine than frightening. You would expect Drexal to be insidious and sinister, but he appears to be more of an ersatz Vincent Price. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs provides some amusing commentary as a ring announcer. Chad McQueen lacks the appeal and charisma of his father, the late (and terrific) Steve McQueen, but you will chuckle at how he tries to develop his relationship with Lisa. As for Gary Daniels, I must attest that he is one of the most impressive fighters ever. Granted, Daniels does have a thick accent, but after seeing this guy showcase his martial arts skills, you would not even want to comment on his accent! If you do, then prepare to defend yourself! (By the way, his accent does happen to distract from the impact of his one-liners.)The best acting though, is displayed by Jim Hellwig (known to professional wrestling fans everywhere as the `Ultimate Warrior') as the Swordsman, a barbaric character who yells as if he was raised in the jungles. The Swordsman himself, a formidable opponent, only understands the language of violence. Also, I must comment that a lot of these fighters featured in this movie DO NOT know how to fight! As for the action scenes, it is just awesome how the car crashes and explosions can be seen from different angles in this movie! It is just brilliant! The (mostly unintentional) humor keeps FIREPOWER from becoming too lackluster.It is a complete shame that FIREPOWER could not be a better movie. The special effects looked silly, but they worked, and the plot too held some potential. The sub-plot in particular, about a counterfeit AIDS vaccine seems very promising. It is quite sad that the filmmakers did not take advantage of that opportunity; it would have given the film more substance. Unfortunately, the anemic direction by Richard Pepin and the mediocre cinematography are unacceptable as well. Anyway, FIREPOWER is not worth the time if you happen to watch it by yourself. Instead, gather a group of friends, sit on a cozy couch, and prepare to have fun. Trust me, your colorful comments for this movie will be uninhibited! RATING: ** out of ****. (For a high amusement factor.)