Review: Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero (1994) Rating: 2.5/4.0
A movie review by David Sunga
Directed by: Rick Jacobson
Written by: Rob Kerchner and Brendan Broderick
Starring: Don "the Dragon" Wilson, Catya Sassoon, Robin Curtis
Ingredients: Cold War missile silo, terrorists, unsuspecting postman who must take out the bad guys
Stars: Downplayed by the media during his kickboxer days Japanese-American Don "the Dragon" Wilson is arguably kickboxing's greatest champ. Wilson was world champ for 12 consecutive years. He held ten world titles, and vanquished 15 national champions and 11 world champions (he even traveled to Thailand, and defeated the Thai champ to become that country's number one Thai boxer). Surprisingly, "the Dragon" had no martial arts experience prior to high school graduation; he was an honor student with engineering aspirations.
Wilson's primary style is Pai Lum (Dragon Style kung fu), mainly a kicking art but he has cross-trained extensively. He rarely blocks, and will take an opponent's kick on his elbow, then use his right roundhouse leg as a jabbing weapon to methodically open his opponent's defenses for body punches and well-timed kicks. On film Wilson is proficient in all kicks and excels in the spinning crescent. His wariness and instinctive follow through after strikes imparts convincing realism to his fight scenes.
Cat Sassoon: Catya ("Cat") Sassoon is the daughter famous hair stylist Vidal Sassoon and actress Beverly Adams. According to a May 28, 1997 interview article with Ellen Fitz-Patrick of FAIR LADY (an English-language woman's magazine in South Africa) Ms. Sassoon learned tae kwon do for self defense after a brutal assault at age 14 left her hospitalized.
Synopsis: In this B-grade movie version of the "Diehard" formula (hapless adventurer wanders into a space that has been taken over by scheming terrorists) Don "the Dragon" Wilson is Nick Corrigan, a gentle Air Force courier carrying mail for the shift workers at a nuclear weapons launch site in Ellsworth. As Corrigan's jeep rolls down the desert highway, a radio dispatcher barks, "Chop chop, Corrigan. Don't get lost on us again, you idiot." But as luck would have it, the hapless Corrigan stops to help an injured roadside animal and arrives 1.5 hours late. This is fortunate, since his presence is not anticipated by fanatical terrorists who have hijacked the missile site. When the site defenses are activated, Corrigan becomes trapped inside and is the only survivor in a position to stop the terrorists. Fortunately humble Corrigan knows martial arts. Cat Sassoon plays one of the bad guys.
Opinion: Executive Producer Roger Corman (who is referred to by fans as "King of the B Movies") produced this movie, so I knew enough to expect B grade acting and perhaps a low budget. Luckily acting wasn't important in this movie, as it concentrated mostly on action: gun battles, and hand to hand combat in accordance with a good and exciting story line. The fight choreography under Art Camacho was okay; although combatants hesitated a few hundredths of a second between strikes rather than throwing consecutive combinations, it wasn't that noticeable. If you are an action fan, and you have a Saturday afternoon to kill, this video is fun, and will do nicely.
Movie reviewed by David Sunga ********************************* Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero (1994) Score: 2.5/4.0 RATING SCALE 2.0/4.0 Debatable 2.5/4.0 Some people may like it 3.0/4.0 I liked it 3.5/4.0 I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0/4.0 The movie had personal impact or it stood out *********************************
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