A Force of One (1979)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Matt Logan (Chuck) is a Martial Arts expert who runs a Dojo, teaching children by day and fighting in the ring by night. His life is consumed by Karate, which is exactly why the San Diego police department seek out his expert counsel. It seems that a ruthless assassin is out on the streets, ruthlessly killing cops who get too close to the center of a drug operation.Soon Logan becomes personally involved and is searching for the killer himself. A Force of One is pretty typical early Chuck: the pace is on the slow side but it does provide plenty of Chuck fights and the movie as a whole isn't bad.Then there's Bill "super foot" Wallace. You kind of know what to expect from someone nicknamed "super foot." Wallace is good at kicking. At acting, not so much.The action is good. Norris designed the fights himself, giving them a more authentic feel. In all, A Force of One is a decent, harmless, and enjoyable-enough Chuck Norris film.Overall 7 out of 10

And, that force is Chuck Norris, a master in the martial arts, preparing for the big fight in a tournament, called upon by a California narcotics division to train the detectives in how to fight a mysterious adversary who killed two cops with his bare hands during a secret raid(they did not call in for back up). A kid on a skateboard is the one who helps transport the drugs from one place to the other while a crooked cop is in cahoots with a drug-dealer using a sporting goods store as a front to distribute smack, coke, and other powder junk.Jennifer O'Neill glams down(sort of)as a detective, Mandy Rust(getting top honors in the cast over Norris) who becomes close friends with Norris' Matt Logan, her hair cut, dressed in casual "cop" attire(..although she's still a knockout in a cocktail dress), who suspects a fellow partner in her squad(..the film establishes who this person is as he is doing business with the mastermind of the drug operation). Clu Gulager is the chief of the narcotics division, Dunne and Ron O'Neal is a fellow detective Rollins. Bill Wallace is Sparks, the man Logan is to fight in the big main event.Mandy is the one who helps lure Logan into assisting them in martial arts training. It was kind of neat seeing Norris(and his brother Aaron who helped choreograph the fight sequences)training the detectives in one particular sequence, on offensive and defensive maneuvers.Important sub-plot added by director Paul Aaron(..initially called in just to help in rewrites of the script, celebrated by the add campaign as being co-written by Ernest Tidyman, due to his heat on helping pen The French Connection)provides Logan with an adopted son, Charlie(Eric Laneuville)for whom he has raised and trained, both hoping for much future success. This success will never come to fruition due to a hunch Charlie gets regarding his uncovering key figures responsible for the drug operation, including the identity of the martial artist killing cops. This killer with superior skills and power than Charlie, doesn't allow him to leave, because of what he has learned.This sub-plot, of course, gives Norris an excuse to get seriously miffed(to put it mildly), exercising his right to deliver a major ass-kicking to the one responsible for Charlie's death. Many of Norris' movies feature a tragedy, the murder of a loved one or buddy, which motivates his characters to get even with the scum who commit the deed that resulted in the loss.Mix of detective drama and martial arts showcase for Norris with a tidy conclusion as the guilty parties will be brought to justice and Logan is allowed to get his revenge. Interesting decision to shoot combat between Norris and his opposition in slow motion(opening an opportunity for scrutiny such as Wallace's elbow clearly missing Norris' face, yet he reacts jarringly anyway as if he did), inside and outside the ring. Known as a follow-up to Good Guys Wear Black, neither film resemble each other in any way either in content or characters(this is mainly because American Cinema Pictures distributed both films, opening a door for Norris' stardom, although ultimately it would be the third collaboration, The Octagon, that would hit pay-dirt). The killer, who sneak-assaults detectives who uncover locations containing the hidden drugs, wears a black ski-mask and jeans, explosively subduing them before they have a chance to defend themselves, hence the training of the other cops. While A Force of One gave viewers a chance to see Norris in action, expressing his abilities, The Octagon really was the movie that let him break out as a force to be reckoned with.

Chuck Norris may have had top billing, but it was the debut of Bill Wallace as the psychotic "Sparks" that drew some of us to this one. The first full-contact middleweight karate champion of the world, Wallace was ideal for the part: he had the charisma as well as the genuine physical skills (as his reign as undefeated middleweight champion attests) to pull it off. (Even better than the fight scenes here are the fight scenes with Jackie Chan in THE PROTECTOR.) Wallace also went on to do some of the ringside commentary for the first of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. (The most recent UFC- 91- was a throwback to UFC 1, when there were no weight divisions: the hulking Brock Lesnar- big and strong and fast and mean and unafraid to prove it to a man half his size- hammered sentimental favorite Randy Couture into submission in the second round. Prior to the mismatch, Lesnar had loudly proclaimed himself big and strong, etc., and made a clear delineation between himself and the classier prizefighters of yore. Like Wallace.)

Most people know Chuck Norris for his TV show Walker, Texas Ranger, and some of his later films. A Force of One is an early Chuck Norris film.Basically this film is about police officers who are killed by someone who uses martial arts to defeat the officers. The police decided that the officers need martial arts training, which is taught by Matt Logan (Chuck Norris) who is also a pro kickboxer.What makes this more than just average is that Bill "Superfoot" Wallace is in this film. Wallace was the current Middleweight Kickboxing World Champion during the making of this film.The lines are cheesy and some of the acting is a little wooden but the fight scenes are well made. While this is not the best film that has Chuck Norris in it, it is a good film to watch if you are a fan of his early work.