Bloodfist V: Human Target (1994)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Chinese arms dealer James Stanton is shot in the head whilst trying to escape an NSA interrogation room & sent to the hospital. He wakes up a few days later with no memory. When the NSA Division Chief discovers this, he decides to use Stanton as bait for his former employer by making him think that he works for the NSA, even roping in one of his fellow agents as a guide. But when the NSA outpost they are based in is attacked by terrorists, Stanton & the female agent go on the run.The Bloodfist series was one of the 1990s' most prolific & enduring B-grade action franchises. Which is somewhat surprising since the series started with a cheap knock-off of Van Damme's early works, only with real martial artists cast in the film, then changed to prison flick (the underrated BLOODFIST III: FORCED TO FIGHT, which was the best entry in the series) to generic action. Bloodfist V: Human Target is the second film in the series to be made under the 'generic action' genre banner.To put it in simple terms, this sequel is better than the previous entry Bloodfist IV: Die Trying despite still having to contend with a weak plot. Although this time, the film's director Jeff Yonis manages to adapt the script to a reasonable degree of success. As with Die Trying, the focus is on terrorists wanting nuclear weapons, this time trying to obtain a container of plutonium that a rogue government employee is selling on the black market & only the amnesiac arms buyer hero can stop them. What makes this one different from the previous entry is that the plot twists, when they do come, are reasonably effective, although anyone with a sharp eye will notice the inconsistencies in the cover stories the agents use on Wilson's hero. Also of particular note is that Wilson is actually playing a bad guy for once in the series, although a bad guy that turns good soon enough.The action scenes are filled with martial arts & gunplay but are not as brutal as previous films had it. The terrorist attack on the NSA junkyard outpost is probably the closest the film comes to approximating the violent cheese of the previous films but it is not too effective in the long run. As the hero, Don "The Dragon" Wilson does his usual thing but is still hamstrung by his annoyed demeanor. The late Steve James adds some class as the NSA agent in charge of the covert operation & Denice Duff does more than being simply eye-candy.

Don Wilson and Steve James join forces to deliver one of the stupider entries of the series, this time Don has amnesia and so he has to find out who is trying to kill him and who is on his side, however being that he has mobsters and agents dogging him, he just beats them all up in the process. Bloodfist V is so amazingly awful it defies mere words. Literly this movie is so utterly brainless that you can actually feel your brain evaporate into a cloud of smoke. Well let's address the plot. Don Wilson is amnesiac in the first place due to being shot in the head, now i'm no expert on being shot in the head (Because i've never been shot in the head) but i'm guessing that memory loss from a gunshot would also include losing your coordination, ability to speak or walk and so on. Wilson is basically inhuman and for me it was dull to watch. Also for some reason the movie tries to provide twists that any viewer will see miles away, it is almost as if we too are one of the henchmen who know everything that Wilson doesn't but yet the movie goes on, as if we are clueless to the ridiculous approach. Worst of all is that it is never made clear whether Wilson was an undercover agent or if he was a bad guy. I for one didn't care after the 15 minute mark.* out of 4-(Bad)

I watch most all of the Corman fare, and this film stands out. It's plot driven with great twists and turns. The last twenty minutes are top notch. This could easily have been a big studio picture. The characters have edge and attitude, and the female lead is strong from writing to performance. I definitely recommend buying this one.

I took a peculiar interested in Don "The Dragon" Wilson a few years ago and sat down and rented all of his movies (although I still haven't seen Bloodfist VIII), and this is IMHO the best. OK, let's admit what we already know about the Bloodfist series: Don is not the greatest actor, the fighting is more conventional (I suppose some might say real) than in Hong Kong pics, and the plot's are pretty thin -- especially since none of the Bloodfist movies are related except that Don Wilson stars in all of them. It's just that there's something so easygoing and likeable about "the Dragon" that you keep coming back for more!This one at least has a decent plot with some nice twists as Don must recover his memory before getting snuffed by the cops, the mob...or both! The final twist is far-fetched but fun. Overall, a solid effort.