Best movie of this year hands down!

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

**SPOILERS*** After Chuck's, Jim Kelly, team of karate fighters win the L.A Tournament of Champions in karate in a winner take all match the mobster Rossi, Peter Dane, who had the matches fixed for Chuck's opponents to win takes off with the cash,$400,000.00, leaving Chuck's team high and dry! As for Chuck himself he get worked over and shot by Rossi's thugs when he tried to get the winners share, all of it, of the 400 G's that his team so rightfully won.With Chuck's good friend and promoter of the karate matches Ralph, Richard Roundtree, getting nowhere with Rossi who's planning to skip town with the cash he's reluctantly forced to call for reinforcement in the persons of his bad a** butt kicker friends from New York J & Cal, Jim "Slaughter" Brown & Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, to help him get the job done. And they do it with both fists and guns as well as style.***SPOILERS*** Far better the the movies prequel "Three the Hard Way" in that it doesn't overdo the action scenes and gives the film a much better storyline to follow with the big three, Brown Williamson & Roundtree, intimidating their enemies far more with their presence not their fists or guns. Speaking of guns both Brown & Williamson, J & Cal, have in the movie hand guns with barrels as long as M-16 assault rifles! In the end the boys rescue both Chuck and his girlfriend Trei,Paula Sills, who were on the run from Rossi's thugs whom the two Blaxploition heroes made mince meat and swiss cheese out of.The one thing that was a bit strange in the movie is just how J & Cal as well as the entire cast of the movie seemed to all have all ended in what seemed like New York City, we get to see a number of scenes of the NYC World Trade Center, from all the way in L.A for the films second half without the scrip explaining how? Was it tela-transportation or just bad film editing!

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs Ralph (Richard Roundtree) and Chuck (Jim Kelly) are two kung fu champions who have set up a tournament to see who is the best.However,they've encountered a problem in the shape of the mob,who are putting pressure on them to rig their tournament.When they instinctively offer resistance,they find themselves the subject of an attack and find themselves relying on pals Cal (Fred Williamson) and J (Jim Brown) to stand up to them and offer retribution.Throughout the 70s and into the early 80s,the 'blaxploitation' movie was a big thing and enjoyed a huge following as it did it's thing and played a huge part in bringing black culture into mainstream cinema.Two of it's most iconic figures,Jim Kelly,the unforgettable Williams in Enter the Dragon and Shaft himself Richard Roundtree,who added much to the action element of this movement with their baaaad-asssss attitude and hard personas,enjoy prominent billing in this one,but each have only supporting roles and very limited screen-time.As it is,this movie is carried by two other black players,Jim Brown and Fred Williamson,fairly charismatic guys with a fairly effective rapport and presence between them.The main problem with the film is the story.It is simplistic as hell and churns on at a robotic pace as the movie rolls on and on.Aside from being one of the lead stars,Williamson also administers directorial duties here and sort of allows his own pet project to meander along at his own comfortable,slumberous pace.The film is simply okay but so nothing special from any other of it's ilk.Overall,this is,for the most part,a robotic and plodding entry into it's genre.However,if you want to watch a fair bit of 'black attitude' and style,a cool,funky soundtrack,not to mention some okay martial arts here-and-there,this might just fill a hole in your stomach.***

Contrary to another comment on this film. "If you like the stars in this film then you will like this film." I, like many others, always keep a look out for any Jim Kelly fliks knowing that you're in for some irrepressible charisma and perhaps even a irrepressible 'Fro. But any bias I have to the stars in this film just couldn't persuade me to actually say that I enjoyed the film.Scenes dragging themselves to their graves, suspense voided build-ups to anti climatic events and of course some cardboard acting are all expected and forgivable in this genre of film. But with the cast at hand you hope you're gonna have some on screen personalities reaching out of the screen and giving you a good smack in the face. If there is a cast to do it then surely this is it. Unfortunately the lot of em die on their asses in their attempts with this movie. Shame.

With this once-in-a-lifetime cast (reuniting the four greatest blaxploitation stars of the early seventies), this picture should be more fun than it is. Someone seems to have drained the life out of these performers; Jim Brown, in particular, comes off very badly (judging only from this movie, you'd come to the conclusion that he can't act). The film is also poorly structured, keeping the stars away from each other (and from any enjoyable interaction) for laaaaarge periods of time. And Williamson must have really had it in for Jim Kelly; he barely gives him 1/5 of the screen time devoted to the other leads, and he features him in only two brief fight scenes (he even loses in one of them!). Cool score, though. (*1/2)