What attracted me to this low budget Filipino drive-in movie was its premise, that being the tall and muscular actor James Iglehart wielding a samurai sword and slashing his way through the American mafia on a quest for vengeance. Admit it, that premise sounds pretty cool. However, I didn't think that the movie quite lived up to its potential. The main beef I had with the movie was how the first half of the movie played out. It's kind of slow, and almost totally devoid of real action. Some more action sequences in this part of the movie would have greatly helped. However, once Iglehart makes his way back to America and begins his samurai vigilante antics, things do pick up considerably. Some of the fight sequences are surprisingly good, filled with great energy and some very convincing choreography that really makes you believe the participants are fighting for their lives. Weighing the first half of the movie against the second half, what you end up with is an okay low budget Filipino actioner - far from the worst of its kind, but at the same time you'll see potential that was not quite realized.
Review of Fighting Mad
