Fatal Blade Reviews

Fatal Blade is a Hong Kong martial arts-action movie dressed up like an American low-budget detective story. Kiyoshi Nakajo plays the traditional world-weary Yakuza hitman -- think Beat Takeshi in Sonatine -- who has seen enough killing and would like every job to be his last job. Gary Daniels, who shows some impressive kickboxing moves in the many fight set pieces, is the traditional rebellious U.S. detective (save for that English accent) in trouble with his boss and his wife, who defies them both to get to the bottom of things. There isn't much chemistry when the two finally realize their misunderstanding and team up to get the bad guys; not that we were expecting Rush Hour, but at least they could have shared a few scenes depicting personality. That would have given gravity to the inevitable confrontation with the villains. As it is, the finale just seems unavoidable. The best thing about the Fatal Blade are the action scenes, which shouldn't surprise anyone seeing a movie called Fatal Blade starring Gary Daniels. In fact, there are very few surprises, but even the ordinary here is better than most of its genre.