Ulterior Motives (1993)

Simply Perfect

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

On the eve of a US-Japan trade summit, a reporter gets a tip that the Japanese-American head of a big aerospace firm will be selling trade secrets. Intent on getting a scoop, the reporter hires private investigator John Blaylock to help her find out just what information is being handed over. In the course of snooping, the pair are discovered, but not before they learn that the Japanese contact is a member of the Yakuza. When the executive turns up dead after an apparent suicide, the pair realise that some very big secrets are being kept by some very important people.....Oliver Gruner, Jeff Speakman, Jalal Merhi, Brian Bosworth. If you were of an age during the early nineties, these were names you'll recognise. They all had one decent movie, and then went on to make some awful movies.Much like Griffith, and this movie. I've still yet to see Crackerjack, but I think that will be his defining movie. Yes he was in Vampires, XXX, and Karate Kid 3, but they were not vehicles like this.The film promises so much, but if your looking for a straight up action film like they used to make, fight, talk a little, fight more, and then fight the main bad guy, you'll be sorely disappointed.The marketers are to blame for this, name dropping two of the biggest action stars of the time on the cover is a big mistake, as this movie is more like Lundgrens Cover Up than anything else.The cast are fine, its full of your generic typecasts and the good looking lead, but nothing else really happens.A pointless movie.

Erica (Keller) is a reporter trying to get to the truth about an American selling secret aerospace/military aircraft schematics to Japanese rivals. For help, she goes to private investigator Jack Blaylock (Griffith), a man who speaks fluent Japanese, has an array of SpyTech-type devices, and knows martial arts. What are the true motivations of Malcolm Carter (Howard)? We won't say what politician he looks like, but let's just say he "shot someone in the face". When it turns out the Yakuza is involved, all hell breaks loose in the form of restrained fight sequences and plot twists and turns. Will Erica and Jack find the truth? The tagline on the British VHS goes as follows: "You've Seen Seagal and Van Damme. Now...Meet the New Contender". And, yes, in the heat of the early-to-mid 90's action boom, various "new contenders" were trotted out: Jeff Speakman, Richard Norton, Gary Daniels, and now Thomas Ian Griffith. Some from that list are more successful than others. But the problem with Griffith, besides his odd hair, is that he has no personality (outside of his winning smile, of course). With such stiff competition back in the day, it must have proved impossible for Griffith to compete with the action names of the time with no hooks of his own. Nothing sets him apart. It seems Ulterior Motives is an attempt to tone down the action elements and highlight the drama/thriller/romance/espionage themes. Reasonable people can argue whether this was successful, but usually muting the violence, action and stunts is NOT a good idea for the fans.The movie has an odd, snoozy pace, and the characters could have used a bit more depth. The length and pacing issues should have been remedied by some snappy editing and better music. Or ANY music. Strangely, there is a lack of music in most scenes, and the music there is happens to be subtle and incidental. Some more driving themes would have, and should have been there to quicken the pace. And there's another problem. There is no big, main, evil baddie. Yes, there is an antagonist, but he's a "secret", so there's no real tension regarding the hero, Blaylock, wanting to kill him. As we saw in China O'Brien (1990), lack of a sinister bad guy is hugely detrimental to the action movie formula.We appreciate the attempt to be "different", but it's pointless to be different for different's sake, especially if the outcome doesn't deliver the goods. Ulterior Motives should have been a Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991), but instead it's a Liberty and Bash (1989). We're sorry if that analogy made no sense. Just see Showdown in Little Tokyo.Ulterior Motives (a very telling title, really) needed more action and less jibber-jabber. For a much more satisfying T.I.G. (as we call him) vehicle, check out Excessive Force (1993).for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Thomas Ian Griffith stars as Jack Blayclock, a private detective who is hired by reporter Erica (Mary Page Keller) to do some snooping on a Japanese businessman, however when said businessman is found dead, Erica and Jack realize that there is far more that meets the eye and the people involved hit close to home for our duo. Thomas Ian Griffith is an actor who on the basis of this movie clearly had more potential than what he amounted to as an action star. I remember saying that Griffith resembled a used car salesman in Excessive Force, but here that sleazy look (Also put to good use in the entertaining Karate Kid Part III) is well suited and let it be said that the biggest surprise with this movie, isn't the action sequences or even what the material goes over.(It's nothing different then what you would find in Rising Sun) Rather the big surprise is just how much this works as a suspense thriller. Indeed the characters are believable, the Japan bashing and the politics depicting such are all credibly handled and when the fight sequences finally do happen they feel more exciting because we actually care about the characters and there are surprises that even this jaded viewer couldn't guess. Sure the main villain is an obvious answer, but the twisty narrative offers a good deal of suspense and the ending doesn't cop out on a downbeat ending. In other words this is a low budget movie with ambition, something often lacking in theatrical pictures of the day. (Even more so now.)Ulterior Motives is one obscurity that is well worth discovering.* * *1/2 out of 4-(Very good)

The performances are the selling point here, overshadowing the low budget and routine script. Thomas Ian Griffith handles his role as a private investigator just fine and is well matched with Mary Page Keller as the Lois Lane-like truth-seeking reporter. Connecting the bad guys to the Japanese Mafia is, at least, an attempt to come up with unusual villains. What's unfortunate about this film is that so little screen time is given to Ellen Crawford, who plays the most interesting character -- the "mystery woman." Her fascinating face and persona appears quite prominently in the early scenes but, sadly, only intermittently after that. It's too bad that more of the movie does not feature her. Although the ending is a bit of a letdown, overall I'd say "Ulterior Motives" is worth a look.