Angry Ranger isn't a movie about a teed-off park worker. Rather, it's another entry in the series of blood-spattered Triad-oriented action movies helmed by Johnny Wang Lung-Wei during the mid 1980's to early 1990's. The film isn't as violent as some of Wang's other work like the cult favorite Hong Kong Godfather, which makes the picture's shortcomings all that more apparent. But, all things considered, Angry Ranger is still worthy enough viewing material if you're into low-budget 80's Hong Kong action.

In a rare heroic (at least as "heroic" as these types of films can get) lead role, Ben Lam plays Peter, a man just released from prison. Wanting to start over and go straight, he heads to his home neighborhood, only to find it under control of various gangs, including one led by AIDS Lun (Jackie Lui). Peter stays out of the fray for a while, but after Mr. AIDS messes with his family, Peter sets out to take out the trash. If you're slow, that means he's gonna use his fists of fury to kill a whole bunch of Triad punks.

As you might expect, the actual bits of killing are the best parts of Angry Ranger. None of the fights in the movie involve guns; it's hands, feet, knives, and, of course, huge "choppers" that are the weapons of choice here. Even with Jackie Chan's big nose making its' way into the action scenes via his stunt team, there isn't the prop-heavy acrobatic style you might expect. There's a dark and brutal feeling generated by the fisticuffs that gives them some extra impact.

That extra impact is a good thing, because the exposition scenes presented here are fairly dreadful. Angry Ranger throws out cliches left and right, resulting in totally uninteresting plot development. The actors' performances don't help either -- they seem to be either sleep-mumbling their lines, or just yelling them out. But if you're not really interested in seeing a deep or polished film, and are just in the mood for seeing some solid ass-whipping, then you could do a whole lot worse than sitting down with Angry Ranger.

RATING: 6