True Vengeance (1997)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All Allen Griffin (Bernhardt) wants to do is play Mouse Trap with his Asian daughter on her birthday. Unfortunately, the Yakuza ruins his plans and kidnaps her. So Griffin dons his revenge togs and goes on a no-holds-barred mission to save his beloved daughter before it's too late. Complicating his quest is the presence of a man known only as The Specialist (O'Keeffe), a mercenary of some sort and a shadowy figure from Griffin's past. Also a detective, Emory (Lutz) has teamed up with some sort of Naval intelligence officer, Wilson (Johnson), and they are hot on Griffin's trail and they may curtail his mission before he gets a chance to complete it. Of course, Griffin is an ex-Navy SEAL and knows how to handle himself in a combat situation - but will he make it out alive? It may start off like The Specialist (1994) (even O'Keeffe's character is named 'The Specialist'), and carry on like a cross between Commando (1985) and Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991), but believe you-me, this movie is 100% Bernhardt. It truly is his best work - Bernhardt at his best, as you've always wanted to see him. Dressed in a SWAT-style flak vest with a black duster coat, Griffin is almost Punisher-like as he blows away the baddies with no mercy. Sure, many characters over the years open their hidden gun stash and put on their black revenge outfit towards the end of the movie, but Griffin does it in the first third, and keeps it on. Plus, he keeps his cache of weaponry at work, not at home. We see - in great detail - how much he loves his guns. Plus he can knock down an iron gate with a dirtbike.Sure, his resemblance to Van Damme is uncanny, hence why we call him "Van Daniel". But he really comes into his own here. Plus, he's not alone in the lookalike department. Johnson resembles Pam Grier, Lutz resembles Fred Dryer, and some other guy resembles Lou Diamond Phillips. Too bad they all couldn't be together, but this is a close-enough approximation of what would have happened. Even the production company, FM, is remarkably close to action stalwarts PM. But, honestly, except for O'Keeffe and Bernhardt, the cast isn't what matters. It's the action, and they don't skimp on that.Many clichés we know and love are here - yelling while shooting a machine gun, the baddie says "no more mistakes" to his goons, and the phrase "we've got company!" is also uttered. The shootout in the strip club is probably the centerpiece of the film, and the "Direct to Video John Woo on a budget" vibe indeed wins over the audience. However, at times, the whole outing, underscored by this scene, feels like a parody of action films. It probably isn't - at least we HOPE it isn't - but it was the late 90's, after all (even though visually it looks like it was the early 90's), and irony was starting to creep in and ruin things. It is unlikely that director Worth would do this, as he's known for being the director of Kickboxer (1989) - and, at least on our site, known for Lady Dragon (1992) and Lady Dragon 2 (1993), along with Soldier's Revenge (1986) and Chain of Command (1994). But he does allow some wacky things to go on in the cinematography department, notably some crazy, headache-inducing swirling camera-work that seems pretty unnecessary.True Vengeance does indeed deliver the action goods in true DTV 90's style. We may have a few minor quibbles with it, but nothing is perfect. It's nothing a few wacky screams from Daniel Bernhardt and a copious amount of gun-shooting can't solve. If you can find it, go back to the glory days - you'll TRUE-ly enjoy the experience.

Saw this on TV years ago, I was surprised to see Daniel Bernhardt, I like his martial arts on screen, and he proved that after "Bloodsport" sequels, although he copied Van Damme a lot. I think that the director of this film was obviously inspired by Commando (1985). It has that good old element of daughter/son kidnap and than, usually a rampaging dad (who is, of course an ex-navy seal) go berserk, armed to the teeth, seeking his little precious bundle of joy and have his revenge. I liked this film, because I think that fighting scenes are good and I love Yakuza element here. All other things, do not pay any attention to them, this film is extremely low budget, so try to enjoy in solid action. Do not expect anything from actors either, Daniel Bernhardt is pretty stiff, trying to look like Van Damme in some scenes… now… when you look at him, he looks like John Matrix dressed all in black, to look more cool, you know, tall, dark and handsome, he had that long trench coat, ah yes and there's a scene where he enters a striptease bar and he spreads his coat just for bouncer to see that he is fully armed. That element was used before Matrix (1999) in this film. Keeanu Reeves, eat your heart out! Bernhardt did it before, and to mention that Bernhardt appeared as agent Johnson in Matrix Reloaded (2002)… as for other actors, we have George Cheung who appeared in most of these low budget martial arts films, he was solid as a leading villain, we have Miles O' Keeffe who plays a supporting villain who came back to serve his own revenge to Bernhardt and we also have martial artist Leo Lee and Roger Yuan, who did good job at kicking some butt. And to mention smoking hot Beverly Johnson as a military lieutenant Kada Wilson, the girl can't act, but she was, oooohhhhh… so hot! That body, those legs… marry me, Bev! :) OK, only kidding… this is strictly for martial arts fans, so enjoy in it.

Being a martial arts film fan has its ups and downs, as you come across a lot of dross. However, this film was refreshing in that it was quite brutal about it's content. It was an adult action film therefore it had adult action in it. The main character was single minded in his objective and nothing would stop him. Basically he was a hard man.The fights are pretty much by the numbers stuff but there is at least one kick of note, allowing Bernhardt to show his flexibility. It was pretty well paced and contained all the conventional set-ups for a fight (eg; has to ask some "tough guys" some questions they don't want to answer) As in all these B movies the gunfights have no basis in reality but are done with enough aplomb to be passable.All in all a real Friday night treat. Pizza and beers boys and you'll enjoy. And by far better than Perfect Target or Bloodsport 3 & 4.

This is a decent action film although with a bigger budget it could have done better, but the fight sequences are good and the plot is reasonable. This would have to be Bernhardt's second best film after Bloodsport 2.