Back in Action [DVD] [2007]

That's about all there is to look forward to from this B-action movie starring martial arts super star Billy Blanks and former wrestler Roddy Piper. The duo is not a cheesy matchup as I had expected. They actually do not know each other at first, and their first meeting in the film is a nasty bar room brawl between the two of them that is actually fun to watch. They eventually realize they need to work together for the same cause, and that is going after a local drug gang who has snatched both of their women - Frank's (Piper) girlfriend and Billy's (Blanks) sister.

The story/plot is bare minimal. The bad guys get busted in the beginning, but not caught, by Frank and Blanks, who have both intercepted the drug deals for different reasons. Frank is a cop attempting to take down the dealers, while Billy is attempting to rescue his sister - who is in love with one of the gang members. From there on out, the bad guys want to waste both Frank and Billy, and eventually Billy and Frank team-up to fight back and rescue their loved ones, who are eventually taken hostage.

What keeps things actually rolling in the entertainment department with this film is the action. There actually was quite a bit of action, and it was rather decent I must say. I wasn't expecting nearly as much good fight action, for I didn't recognize any popular martial arts actors from the villain side, but some of them still managed to give both Frank and Billy some good one on one's. I'm not a huge Billy Blanks fan, but in this film (despite the fact he is a good guy) he fights a bit dirty at times, obsessed with getting his sister back. It was fun watching Blanks and Piper fight in the bar room scene, it was actually a very even fight and both pretty much get the wind knocked out of each other.

If you are into B-movie action with lots of fights, this should be worth checking out. It's not the greatest fight action I have seen, that's for sure, but this was a lot better than I had expected. Blanks and Piper do make an inetersting duo who are not as cheesy as I had expected.

When Lethal Weapon was released in 1987, it spawned a slew of buddy-themed action inspirees and/or plain knock-offs; I'm happy to say that "Back in Action" - the first of two team-ups between champion martial artist Billy Blanks ("King of the Kickboxers") and former WWF champ Roddy Piper (They Live)- is more of an inspired work than it is a copycat. Alas, it's still but a B-grade movie that can only dream of living up to the likes of the Gibson/Glover treasure...but for what your money's worth, it's one of the better karate B-movies of its era floating around Amazon nowadays, so if you're a fan of either Blanks or the genre as a while, it might very well be worth a purchase.

The story: Billy (Blanks) is a former Green Beret whose sister Tara (Kai Soremekun, Love, Sex & Eating the Bones) has fallen in with a minion of the vicious mobster Kasajian (Nigel Bennett, Cypher); Frank Rossi (Piper) is a vice cop whose partner was slaughtered by one of Kasajian's men during a bust gone bad. With different methods but similar agendas, they eventually form a shaky partnership to put a stop to the gangster's reign of terror and redeem their losses.

In comparison to their following vehicle, Tough and Deadly, this film is inferior for that there is less action and the two leads do not get as much interaction. With that being said, however, don't think that you're walking into a snoozefest: there are eight separate hand-to-hand encounters (six for Blanks, one for Piper, and one shared by both), a car chase, and two shootouts. While the car chase is icky and the gunfights are unremarkable, the hand-to-hand fights range anywhere between pretty good and decent; and from one-on-one to four-on-one matches. Needless to say, Blanks steals the show with his amazing kicks - highlighted by when he strikes two attackers simultaneously in mid-air - but Piper's pro wrestling background is given a nod via a vicious bulldog takedown and dropkick. The choreography is good for the most part, save for the very boring couple of times where Billy clashes with a giant bad guy (Gary Robbins, Wrong Turn), so if you can live with approximately two minutes of crap, you'll be up for about fifteen minutes of good stuff.

The acting is give-and-take as action movies go: Blanks, Bennett, and top henchmen/stuntman Matt Birman are noticeably weak, while Piper, Soremekun, Damon D'Oliveira as Tara's boyfriend, and Bobbie Philips ("Murder One") as Frank's old flame/sassy news reporter perform respectively. Then again, Blanks takes his shirt off quite often, so I suppose we can let his chiseled physique speak for itself. There's definitely a spark of chemistry between him and Piper, but it would have to wait until their next movie together to be fully kindled...though this is solely on account of them having perhaps only five scenes together.

A film like this gives rise to the questions of why Billy Blanks didn't become at least as big of a star as Van Damme or Steven Seagal and how in the world Roddy Piper went from award-nominated John Carpenter films to DTV slugfests. Luckily, the film doesn't bother itself with asking questions: it's a flat-out guilty pleasure with serious intelligence issues, and deserves an audience looking for just that.

At first, I actually had no idea that Billy Blanks was an actor, but after seeing the poster for this film, my interest had been captured. I was treated to a really amazing beat 'em up fest. Billy Blanks and Roddy Piper sure know how to kick some butt.

The movie centers around veteran police office Frank Rossi, played by Piper, who after his partner Wallace is brutally gutted by a ruthless drug gang, becomes bent on avenging his partner's death. Meanwhile, Billy (Played by Billy Blanks), an ex-Special Forces agent, is trying to protect his sister from the same gang, lead by Kasajian, played brilliantly by Nigel Bennett. Rossi and Billy eventually team up after a number of confrontations when Billy's sister and Rossi's reporter girlfriend Helen (Played by Bobbie Phillips) are kidnapped by Kasajian's gang.

This movie really knows how to deliver. It's sad that there is really not that large of a following, but we can always hope that it will gain more cult recognition in the future. I hope Universal considers releasing a DVD of this movie someday, in widescreen.

Highly recommended.

EXTRAS: The tape contains a trailer for Mr. Write before the movie starts.

Not a bad film. Blanks plays a brother trying to stop his sister from getting mixed up with drug dealers. And piper plays a cop trying to avenge his partners death. Some good fighting scenes,a decent car chase and some decent gun fights. Not a bad film to waste some time with and see some good fights and solid acting

As to what I didn't like. The movie is decent in most areas,but never good. The only thing that stands out is the fighting scenes with blanks. I would have liked to see piper play the rouge cop angle more also. Would have been nice to see him going punisher style on gang bangers or something. Maybe he could have been had a drug or drinking problems. I would have liked to seen this character developed a bit more. The acting by blanks and piper is solid,but the rest of the cast delivers lines like they are in the first resident evil game for ps1. The main bad guy had to be one of the most boring and uninteresting bad guys in movie history. This film also contains a number of cheesy bad one liners like most low budget b films.

In any case it's not a bad time waster. I like billy blanks and got to see him do some good martial arts moves with some decent gun play subpar acting thrown in. Not a bad film to watch when your bored or just want to watch people getting punched,shot or kicked.

Back in Action (1994) Roddy Piper (They Live) and Billy Blanks (Showdown) star in this "Kops and Kickboxers" movie. Piper's the policeman whose partner is killed, and Blanks has the dangerous feet and the kidnapped sister, so pretty soon the blitz is on and the bad guys don't stand a chance. I'm really not a fan of the glut of kickboxing movies from this period, but I saw this because I like Piper. He's funny playing the stock loner cop character. On the flip side, though, we have the aptly named Blanks. Although he seem competent when he's applying his feet liberally to some guy's head, but he's not much of an actor. He's also extremely goofy looking. (And I hope he never reads this!) He should probably stick to his Tae Bo tapes. If you like the kind of movie where people throw down their guns so they can kick each other, you'd probably enjoy this. Otherwise, steer clear! Also with Nigel Bennett (Darkman III).