Back in Action 1993/1994 by AverageMansReviews

Back in Action 1993/1994 by AverageMansReviews

Review Time

Warning: there is flashing effects/colourful effects/shooting/stabbing/burning/disfigurement/biting/drugs

Two connecting situations: in summary an undercover drug deal goes wrong which consequently Detective Frank Rossi [Roddy Piper] is seeking justice for his dead partner Detective Wallace [Barry Blake.] Meanwhile Billy [Billy Blanks] an Ex-Special Forces, Green Beret; nowadays current Taxi Driver is desperately trying to keep his sister Tara [Kai Soremekun] away from her boyfriend Gantry [Damon D'Oliveira] which is connected to this drug dealing with a life.

The pacing of this roughly 88 minutes film is like the vast majority of it safe and reliable.

The action is solidly good; we get to see some wrestling moves; Frank vs. Billy where we see a clothesline from Frank at the beginning section of their combat sequence, then later on he performs a bulldog and then a dropkick on Chakka [Matt Birman] through this patio slide door which is nice and conveniently open in their action sequence. Slightly moving on now for those that are old enough to remember this; we have this Asian martial arts slow motion effect; Bruce Lee used to have them to signify the final blow or death, but in this film it could mean impact of the move and then the sequence may continue or like I said the final blow of the sequence [On a quick side note; now re-watching this they do it the bulldog and the dropkick as well,] much later on there is this tag team move between Frank and Billy they run from opposite ways with hench-people's heads to bang these two individuals heads together. We also have a little bit of art where Billy is leaving a calling card for his sister to be returned in the form of her name being left somewhere, in particular using a blowtorch to write "Tara" in this metal material and finally we have drugs of comedy where for an example in a nutshell Rossi is in a difficult situation so he is forced to give this interview about this ongoing situation to this news reporter/relationship thing with Helen Lewinsky [Bobbie Phillips] which he attempts to block his boss viewing it from seeing it on TV  Lt. Burns [Sam Milkin] but he is unsuccessful on seeing it; which it is a completely deadpan interview that Rossi gave which Lt. Burns paraphrasing is highly impressed; you will never have you on TV again.

The character developments and the performances are mostly solidly good; but individually or together Blank or/and Piper lead this cast with clear and strong performances you know; they know who they are and what their motivations are, yes in the interest of fairness and balance the same can be said for Lewinsky as well.

This film receives: 5/10, this film is mixed; will to be more precise it is a solid film and this mark is the closest I can justify it to and there is a miniscule extra scene over the ending credits to begin with.