Bad Blood Reviews

Skilled in acrobatics and kickboxing, Lorenzo Lamas is an impressive direct-to-video action star with aloof presence to burn. Boasting at least three smashing martial arts free-for-alls and a John Woo-style climax, BAD BLOOD packs the wallop of a streetfighting demo, if nothing more. Already stung by doing prison time for his ne'er-do-well brother Franklin (Hank Cheyne), ex-cop Travis Blackstone (Lorenzo Lamas) reluctantly agrees to broker the return of $100,000 his sibling lifted from a money-laundering bank controlled by Mr. Chang (Joe Son). Travis learns that Franklin actually ripped off five million and invested it in a real estate scam. While Travis' turncoat girlfriend leads Chang to the Blackburns, Travis forcibly retrieves the loot. After a shootout at Travis' hotel hideout, Franklin stashes the moolah in the trash at an abandoned building, then is kidnapped and tortured by cartel hoodlums. Homeless people unknowingly burn the cash. At a negotiating session with Chang, Travis levels the field of hired goons, but his ex-lover Rhonda (Frankie Thorn), who had left him for Franklin, joins her weasel beau in captivity. Travis keeps a rendezvous for a showdown at Sun Valley Salvage. As numerous soldiers-of-fortune kickbox, stab, and machine gun him, Rhonda and Franklin scurry for cover. Improvising with available auto-factory equipment, unbowed Travis wipes out the enforcers and kung-fus Chang into an acid vat. Travis exits with Rhonda and his scapegrace brother. Viscerally exciting (Although the staging of the numerous fight sequences varies in quality), this hopped-up celebration of muscle power can't override one crucial plot flaw: the unlikable, manipulative character that leading-man Lamas risks life and limb for isn't worth his or the audience's time. Since motivation takes a back seat to carnage in action pics, this won't prevent aficionados from enjoying the well-placed kicks, both literal and figurative. Since BAD BLOOD moves along in an action cyclone, viewers won't have much breathing space to ponder its illogic. (Graphic violence, profanity, extensive nudity, adult situations.)