Reviews

Florentine is an absolute genius.

This is the best movie he has ever done and if you miss seeing this film you will kick yourself 1000 times over. Lets just hope you don't kick yourself like this kid Scott Adkins does to Michael Jay White.

If you like fights that are totally out of control and awesome this is the film for you.

But hold on ladies this one is for you as well. Just wait till you see the ending their wasn't a dry eye in the theatre when we seen the screening of this film.

DO NOT MISS IT !!!! DW

One Of the Best Hong Kong-Hollywood Crossovers, No wonder this film

became a cult film - GREAT FIGHTS!!

The film's greatest flaw is its marketing. From the generic cover art which

appears to have been pilfered from the real Navy SEALs' official site; you might imagine that the film attempts to portray actual SEALs operations in a

conventional sense. It's a direct-to-video release but what it offers is much more akin to an average Tsui Hark action film where excess in terms of explosions, sound effects, and martial arts combat is the norm. So, put away your Heckler & Koch MP5, your Combat Rubber Raiding Craft, and your disbelief for this film

does not do the frogman justice. For Hong Kong action films lovers, U.S. Seals 2 is loaded with slick action choreography. The film's pacing is consistently fluid and the action is exaggerated, but fierce.

An excellent film that was totally under rated. the film comes across as having a very "pulp Fiction" feel to it, and yet it delivers a lot of fun action!! . "High Voltage" really marked the action debut of Shannon Lee , alongside Antonio Sabato Jr looking the most impressive martial arts wise he's ever looked.

A Spaghetti western with Martial based on a real character Joseph Charlemont and real events (Serving as an officer in the French army in Mexico in 1865), who was one of the creators of the French Kick fighting Savate. A powerful martial arts movie, in the wild west with good acting light entertainment with some very good fighting scenes.

Bob Wall is certainly a one of a kind. After watching this documentary and listening to him talk about his relationship to Elvis, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme, and Steven Seagal I am jealous that any one person could have known so many of my heros in the movie biz. Then when you see his fighting and Chuck Norris fighting in the early days I become red with envy. All in all totally entertaining and informative.

What can you say bad about a movie that Elvis had touched with his own hand and his own money? He commissioned the movie in 1973 to be done by George Waite and Bob Hammer. The movie is rough in a finished state but if you are like me and love the karate of the 70's then you will love it. The music selected by David Crosby andGraham Nash is perfect and movie was shot by Paul Davio and John Hora who were later both nominated for academy awards. The movie is excellent and even though it is slow in the middle the fights between Benny Urquidez and Roy Kurban and the fights between Ron Marchini and Geert Lemmens are spectaculiar. Check it out you will love it.

Director Isaac Florentine's follow-up to his cult hit, U.S. Seals 2 revisits

America's military with more Hong Kong style action and martial arts. Budgeted at a mere $1.3 million, Special Forces manages to push the limit on action

filmmaking within a grimly patriotic story set in the shadow of the bloody

Bosnian-Serbian conflict.

Although unrelated to U.S. Seals 2, Marshall R. Teague returns, this time to

headline the film as Major Don Harding, in addition to acting as military advisor. He's the real deal when it comes to portraying a no-nonsense military officer. His mostly non-emotive persona, echoed by hisfellow team members offers a

nice stabilizing force to ground the stylized action.

Wendy Teller (Daniella Deutscher) is an American photo-journalist in

theEastern European country of Moldavia who stumbles upon local military

forces executing villagers. The commander is a veteran of the Bosnian War

named Hasib (Eli Danker) who captures the woman and attempts to exchange

her for captured war criminals. Its a bad call as the only response he gets is Major Harding and a team of Army special forces flown in to rescue her. Once

down, they settle in to discover her whereabouts with the aid of a local

schoolteacher and a seasoned SAS operative named Talbot (Scott Adkins). A

bitter, past encounter with Hasib fuels Harding's desire for revenge as well as to save the journalist. But after an attempted rescue is thwarted, his team members are either killed or captured. Armed with lethal martial arts ability, Talbot steps in to assist Harding in completing the mission.

Director Isaac Florentine has toned down the stylized action for this film while retaining the excitement of previous efforts. His credits include directing 70 episodes of the popular children's action series for television, the Power

Rangers. This fact and his love for modern Japanese action filmmaking in

general has led to his past use of exaggerated sound effects and camera work

suitable for genre filmmaking, but often at odds when paired with real-world

scenarios. Initially, martial arts combat is used sparingly and with quicker results in neutralizing targets, more in keeping with real combat training. This limited display of hand-to-hand combat may come as a bit of a disappointment to some, but the film adequately compensates in two ways. First, there is relative

newcomer Scott Adkins, who plays the Special Air Service operative. He's

appeared in smaller roles in films such as Extreme Challenge (2001) and The

Highbinders (AKA The Medallion). This could be considered his first breakout

performance as a martial arts star and an impressive one at that. This leads to the second compensation for action buffs, the end fight. You know its coming. The lead villain's sidekick, who does little else throughout the film is present for the sole purpose of taking on Adkins. This scene is outstanding and features the highly competent choreography of Akihiro Noguchi, another Power Rangers

veteran. But this is no kid's stuff. Scott's kicking ability and range of motion are outstanding. The fight is fierce, extended, and only briefly interrupted by

Teague's less potent, but solid brawl with Eli Danker. There may be more

gunplay and explosions than anything else, but Adkins' two or three fight scenes are good enough to warrant martial arts fans taking more than a passing

interest. Any way you slice it, Florentine, himself a martial artist, is clearly committed to filming some of the best martial arts scenes outside of Hong Kong. Its all the more impressive given that he's doing it on a small budget and in an industry not always receptive to allowing quality martial arts in their films.

Special Forces also scores points for it's ambitions. The film begins with a

sobering mass execution of innocent civilians by machine gun. To know that

similar acts have actually occurred in numerous countries and in many conflicts, especially in recent years, sets this film apart from your standard independent action film. This was written after 9/11 and was originally meant to be set in Afghanistan, putting it in touch with the fight against terrorism. Due to a change of plans, location shooting moved to Lithuania and the film's backdrop became ethnic cleansing. The authentic setting and the assistance of the local military further raise the scale of the film.

Depicting the role of America's special forces to any degree of authenticity

presents many challenges and this cast and crew surmount some of them. But

in the end, Special Forces remains a stylized action movie first by giving way to heroic fights and even bigger fireballs. For perspective, the Navy Seals actioner Tears of the Sun starring Bruce Willis shares the same fate on a $70 million

budget. The small budget is a limiting factor, but quality fight choreography, decent acting, and a notable action performance by Scott Adkins makes this

effort Florentine's best yet.

U.S. Seals 2 has become a hit among martial arts film fans. The film is full of stylized Hong Kong action. This is not a big budget film and yet the scope of the film is highly impressive. For Hong Kong action films lovers, U.S. Seals 2 is loaded with slick action choreography. The film's pacing is consistently fluid and the action is exaggerated, but fierce.

Director Isaac Florentine is with out a doubt that he is one of the most talented yet sadly under rated directors working in the action Martial Arts genre. the film delivers in any department. the action the excitement and the humor.

It's a strange film but definitely Dolph Lundgren's best in long time. Director Isaac Florentine certainly knows how to get the most out of his budget. The film has a epic feel to it. It is beautifully shot and the story barrels along with enough pace to cover any plot holes.

Lundgreen looks his most heroic in this film and gets a nice chance to let loose with his Martial Arts skills.

The video rental and sales industry has for some time given birth to a whole mess of independent and low budget action films. While most are forgettable, a few rise above the pack by offering something that big-budget Hollywood films do not. In the case of Isaac Florentine's Cold Harvest, we see the continuation of a long tradition of bringing Western martial arts action to the small screen. Florentine brings his Eastern-inspired action, lightly peppered with a certain over-the-top playfulness to the well-tread, post-apocalyptic genre and throws in a dash of Spaghetti Western sensibility. As a B-movie, Cold Harvest is a cut above thanks to director Isaac Florentine's emphasis on quality martial arts action. Akihiro Noguchi, one of Florentine's cohorts from his Power Ranger stints offers competent choreography.

The concept of a bounty hunter/hero in a frontier post-apocalypse is a challenging one to pull off successfully with any budget. The few past successes like Escape from New York, The Road Warrior, and Six-String Samurai all had more to offer overall. But solely on the grounds of martial arts content, Cold Harvest, along with Jean-Claude Van Damme's Cyborg (1989) are leaders in this over-played sci-fi category. Gary Daniels fans won't be disappointed.

An Excellent yet underrated actioner, with a "Pulp Fiction" feel. that never got the respect it deserved. Sabato has a star quality. good action, good humor and good drama. No wonder this film became a cult movie to Martial Arts/action fans.

An excellent off beat Western , loosely based on a real events and real character, Joseph Chalaemont, who was a key figure in the evolution of the French Boxing - Savate.

Good acting, good Martial arts and great western filming

An interesting movie, which incorporate martial arts philopsophy with Native American mysticism. I like the style of fight choreography in the film, its rough but still maintains a martial arts feeling and certain level of realism.