dee.reid Don't let the really cool-looking cover art for David DeCoteau's "Prey of the Jaguar" fool you - it's really not about a man who transforms into a giant humanoid cat and begins killing people. Although that concept would have been kind of cool (even better when combined with its real plot), unfortunately that's just not what we get here.No.It's simply about a retired government agent named Derek Leigh (Maxwell Caulfield) who becomes a high-kicking superhero - known only as "The Jaguar" - versed in the martial arts after his pregnant wife and young son are killed by a ruthless Los Angeles drug dealer named Damien Bandera (the late Trevor Goddard); the overall concept of "The Jaguar" is based largely upon a fantasy created by his murdered son. And while the police are not particularly supportive of Derek Leigh/The Jaguar's vigilante actions, he does find one unlikely ally in homicide detective Cody Johnson ("The Exorcist" Linda Blair), who investigated the original murders of Leigh's family.This is a fairly typical superhero-action movie romp from the mid-1990s (1996, to be exact). The movie is particularly noteworthy for its formidable cast of "B"-movie regulars, the most appealing, of course, being a post-"The Exorcist" Linda Blair - even though she's not on the screen that much and only appears in a few scenes. I guess the one really good thing to be said about this picture is that it moves through its by-the-numbers motions pretty quickly and it does appear that Maxwell Caulfield is doing the majority of his own martial arts fight sequences (which is about the most authentic thing about them in the first place).It's a really good way to kill an hour-and-a-half of an otherwise really boring weekday (or weekend) afternoon.4/10

Mike_Noga 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: Pray your fast forward button doesn't jam!, November 24, 2008 I like B movies, superhero movies and revenge movies, so when I find a B movie superhero revenge flick, well that's some of the sweetest cream of all. Unfortunately though, this cinematic cream is close to turning bad. It's not curdled yet, but it's starting to chunkify. It's more like cinematic Half and Half, half good movie and half not so good. It breaks down like this; Derek Leigh is an undercover agent for the SOC, an agency so Top Secret that we never clearly learn what the acronym SOC means. He puts away the son of a huge drug lord, Bandera, and then drops into the Witness Relocation Program so that the drug lord can't get revenge on him. The movie starts 8 years later. Bandera is locked up in a Federal pen, which is remarkably short of both federal employees and prisoners. I knew something was up with this movie when Bandera steps out of his cot wearing leopard skin print underwear. I know there is a prison in the Southwest where the warden makes the prisoners wear bright pink skivvies in order to make their stay less pleasant and them, therefore, less likely to return. But I don't know what kind of prison issues leopard skin underwear and I'm not sure I want to know. Anyhow, Bandera's cartel breaks him out while the prison is transferring him to another facility. The cartel is well funded and organized and they manage to pull off the break out easily, although not without employing some inept martial arts. It was the same style martial art practiced by Gil Gerard and William Shatner and other middle-aged action heroes, a style with a name like Creaky Mantis or Winded Monkey. Luckily they were so inept they were funny. Of course Bandera ices our hero's family and although that bit of violence happens off camera, we are there when he discovers their bodies and let me tell you he emits a "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" that would put Darth Vader to shame. Bandera tries to ice Derek at his job site (He's a roofer! Thanks a lot Witness Protection Program!!!) But the metal wine flask he carries in his pocket saves Derek. "Whatever the vintage" says the cop who finds his unconscious body, this wine saved his life". That cop is played by none other than Linda Blair. I have to warn you though that this is not the sultry, pouty, "I don't care if she's possessed because I would pork the devil out of her" Linda Blair from the woman in prison movies. This is the late 90's Edie McClurg in training Linda Blair. She and her partner, a detective who looks like a statue of Dennis Franz sculpted from cottage cheese, end up trying to track Derek down once he becomes Jaguar. Now this is an interesting little angle. Derek's kid loved superheroes and he created his own little comic books. His favorite creation was Jaguar, a man who made his body and mind strong so he could fight crime. Derek patterns his crime fighting costume very closely after the costume his kid had designed, in order to honor his son. Wow, that's different, and probably the most interesting angle in the entire movie. Unfortunately the design of the costume doesn't work very well on film as Jaguar looks like one of the Village People of the Future come back through a wormhole in time. I won't spoil the rest of the movie for you except to say Jaguar's revenge involves the liberal use of explosive tipped crossbow bolts. This movie wanted to be Batman meets Out for Justice but didn't achieve that awesome synthesis because, in a word, it was half-ased. The writing, directing, acting and design were all done to a half measure. That's too bad because it had the potential to become a nice little low budget gem. Instead it's more of a zirconium. It's one of those movies that truly deserve a good remake.

saugoof Wow this was bad! This really felt like a McBain movie from the Simpsons. The basic plot premise in a few words, a special operations cop working for some shadowy government organisation puts a bad-ass drug dealer behind bars, and in the process killing his son and dad. The drug dealer, who for reasons unknown has an English accent despite having a Spanish name, breaks out of prison 8 years later and goes after our hero who has since retired. He's also been in witness relocation and managed to get himself a family that is too perfect for words. Bad guy drug dealer finds him, kills his wife and kid, then kills him, only our hero doesn't die and is out for revenge.This is a cheaply made, entirely predictable, badly directed movie that features some of the worst acting ever put straight to video. The scenes where Maxwell Caulfield laments his killed family are so bad they end up being hilarious. There is no revenge movie cliché that is left out here. Let's see : - bad guy kills hero's family - check - hero's wife is pregnant when she's killed - check - hero is retired and just wants to be left alone, until they come after him - check - hero is killed, only he doesn't die - check - shadowy government organisation - check - the bad guy sports an accent - check - lots of easily disposable henchmen - check - ancient Chinese martial arts teacher - checkI feel sorry for Linda Blair for ending up in trash like this. Here she plays a cop who, unlike the rest of the police, is supportive of our vigilante hero. The entire film feels like it's a set up for a series of movies with Linda Blair playing Commissioner Gordon to Maxwell Caulfield's Batman. Pray that they failed!

movieguy-36 Move over Superman and Batman, take a vacation. Maxwell Caulfield seemed to be in a slump after the lame No Escape, No Return, so he made a good decision. Dave DeCoteau does his finest with an action film filled with crazy camera angles, good dialogue, and uh, did I mention action? Plenty of it, too. I especially love those exploding-arrows. God this movie's so good I'm gonna stop writing this review to go watch it again.