Avenging Force
1986; directed by Sam Firstenberg

Despite what you might think about its' pedigree, Avenging Force manages to transcend its' B-movie lineage. Director Sam Firstenberg and star Michael Dudikoff manage to create a surprisingly hard-boiled effort that manages to remain entertaining even after over twenty years after its' initial release.

In the film, Dudikoff plays Matt Hunter, an ex-secret service agent in New Orleans to visit his buddy, Larry Richards (Steve James), who is running for senate. Because Larry is black, he draws the attention of "The Pentangle", a white supremacist group. After Larry's son is killed, Matt and Larry team up to take on The Pentangle, who uses the "sport" of hunting humans to recruit new members.

With the New Orleans setting and the people hunting gimmick, Avenging Force does definitely draw some comparisions to John Woo's US debut, Hard Target, which perhaps not coincidentally also starred another US B-movie mainstay, Jean-Claude Van Damme. Unlike the slick cool of Woo's picture, Avenging Force exudes a violent grittiness that came very much appreciated in this day and age of sanitized PG-13 efforts masquerading as action movies.

The initial scene with various members of The Pendrragon taking out some prey while they all wear outfits straight out of the Sega Genesis game Pit-Fighter initially generates some chuckles. But by the time the target is taken out, Avenging Force shows itself to be a film that means business. Things don't let up from there; even women and children aren't same from this movie's style of rampage.

Sure, Avenging Force fully earns its' B-movie imprint with its' lackluster acting and somewhat lazy filming style. At times, it threatens to veer off of the tracks into the realm of total awfulness. But when it's firing on all cylinders, Avenging Force hits a sweet spot of over-the-top action film-making that a whole hell of a lot of movies, before and since, have failed to hit.

RATING: 7