Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
... View MoreThe story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
... View MoreMostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
... View MoreIt's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
... View MoreA routine action vehicle for Jim Kelly (ENTER THE DRAGON), directed without any flair whatsoever by Al Adamson, one of the kings of the "exploitation quickies" along with Andy Milligan and Larry Buchanan. This is deeply clichéd stuff which manages to get by through the interesting and funny characters, the upbeat groovy '70s music and the martial arts sequences, which make up for in quantity what they lack in finesse.Enter Jim Kelly, fresh from his success and short-lived career as a martial artist, as a "mean and moody" cop who likes to wear red shell suits on occasion. Kelly spends most of the film fighting and little time acting, as he repeatedly finds himself attacked by lots of bad guys. These fight scenes are hardly what you would term "well-photographed" but they are very entertainingly done, complete with over-emphasised sound effects.Now, you would think that a film containing plentiful action (plus a couple of topless women for exploitation purposes) would have to be pretty exciting, right? Wrong. Adamson's tacky and cheap direction is evident at all moments, sucking vitality from the movie; loads of scenes consist of people arguing whilst sitting around in darkened rooms, which is hardly what I would call fun.Kelly is pretty athletic in the lead role, but gets no chance to act or develop a character. George Lazenby (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE) co-stars as Kelly's chief; Harold Sakata plays the chief villain, the Pig, and his line readings are a hoot; it's a shame that it's impossible to take him seriously! Also around for good measure are a hulking black bodyguard with a nasty scar across his face who likes to break people's arms and necks, a couple of prostitutes who take their clothes off a lot, an incredibly evil-looking tortoise (the scariest tortoise I've ever seen in a film, actually) and lots of dumb criminal henchmen who appear from nowhere.DEATH DIMENSIONis a bad film, to be sure, but quite an entertaining one, mainly for the interesting cast alone. I forgot to mention the Bruce Lee clone who actually ends up being called "Bruce Lee". Guess they had to throw in as many personalities as they could here. Lots of boredom is countered by lots of action, making a pretty fair movie in the end, which isn't that bad.
... View MoreThis is one of the films that best shows how silly some exploitation films of the 1970's could be and still be entertaining.The plot has a scientist making a freeze bomb for a gangster who intends to sell it the highest bidder. The scientist implants a microchip into the brow of his comely assistant and sends her off to get the information to the proper authorities. The scientist then burns his notes and commits suicide to prevent the weapon from getting into the wrong hands. In police headquarters Jim Kelly is assigned to find the assistant and to get the goods on the bad guy. Of course Jim Kelly is barely on the case when people begin to take a run at him. From there the film progresses in a series of very good action sequences punctuated by dialog scenes that drive the plot into a completely nonsensical direction.In all honesty the film makes no sense what so ever but you won't mind because the film moves along at a good clip. The film's nonsensical plotting also assures that you're going to continue watching simply to see where its all going. Where its heading is toward a truly unbelievable ending that had me scan back and playing it a second time (thankfully its just as funny the second time.) Kelly, co star of Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and well known in some circles as the star of Black Belt Jones is one of the few American stars who consistently made good martial arts action films. He's one actor who could both act well in the dramatic scenes and look like his fights were more than staged fights (Kelly always looks like he could hold his own in real life). I think the reason that this film works at all is simply because he is such a good actor that he sells the utter nonsense happening around him.Is this a great film? No, actually it's probably not even a good one, but its an enjoyable one that's worth a bowl of popcorn and a soda.
... View MoreWell, the cast of this movie certainly has great cult value: Jim Kelly, George Lazenby, Harold Sakata. The movie itself, however, is not as much fun as it could have been. Kelly still has the moves, but while some of his fighting isn't bad, it is spoiled by the unslick presentation (lighting, framing, etc.). Sakata is, for me and many others, an iconic presence: his Oddjob is arguably the best henchman in the entire Bond series. However, his role here adds nothing to his stature, in fact it probably detracts from it. Lazenby's participation is minor. The film is poorly directed, and obviously drawn-out at the climax. Worth a look for its cast, but don't expect too much. (*1/2)
... View MoreI think anyone studying film making should be required to watch this film, and learn how NOT to make a film! This is just plain stupid!! I can see why the "Goldfinger" director had OddJob mute. Because Sakata's line readings are so bad, they might as well have dubbed in his voice. Why was poor George Lazenby cast to play in such trashy films? Was he really that bad in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"? Did the director of this film think that by casting two Bondian actors in this film that he would be raising the production value of such a horrible script? The action scenes are so tame and unexciting, that you can't believe why Jim Kelly would allow this to be vehicle in his career after the success of "Enter The Dragon". The only one aspect of this film worth viewing (with the exception of the Bondian actors) is the soundtrack. Not that it's completely brilliant, but it definately has a Rare Groove edge to it (if that's your bag), but I doubt a Soundtrack album ever accompanied this "drive-in" "B-" movie. Oh, and Jim Kelly has a cool red jump suit to wear. But that's about it. If the opening scene (with a woman getting stitched up in a nauseating slow pace) doesn't get you to turn the video off, the action will slowly put you to sleep. Only interesting if you were ever curious to see what George Lazenby got up to after his turn at James Bond.
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