Hero and the Terror (1988)

Pretty Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Danny O'Brien (Chuck) is an L.A. area cop who is still reeling from his encounter with a psychopathic, murderous maniac named Simon Moon (O'Halloran). O'Brien exorcises his demons pumping iron in the weight room. Moon is so scary, he's been nicknamed "The Terror" by the press. However, O'Brien has also been nicknamed. To the residents of L.A., he's "The Hero". Starting to see where this is going? Anyway, Chuck hates his nickname, and just wants to spend time with his lovely wife Kay (Thayer), who is pregnant. But the Mayor of L.A. (O'Neal) wants results on The Terror case. So O'Brien calls in his buddy Robinson (James) to help out. The two suspect that the baddie is hiding out in the bowels of the Wiltern Theater, which sets the stage for the final battle. Who will prevail: The Hero or The Terror? Find out today… Simply speaking, The Hero and The Terror is classic 80's Chuck. It might not be one of his more talked-about titles, but it's well worth seeing. It's kind of like a better version of Silent Rage (1982), insofar as it's about a psycho killer and Chuck's chasing him, while doing minimal Martial Arts. If you have to see one of those two movies, see this one. It's a quality production: it's excellently shot, with very nice cinematography, the cast is top-notch, and it all exudes an aura of professionalism. It's not at all junky, and it would have been very cool to see this in the theater in '88.Chuck puts in a great performance, that of a troubled hero haunted by The Terror, while still striving to be a rock of stability and companionship for his wife. Fan favorite Steve James is as charismatic as ever, and is always a joy to watch. He even wears the same WrestleMania hat as he does in McBain (1991). That must make us truly hardcore Steve James fans to notice a detail like that. Ron O'Neal does a decent job as "The Mayor", and Billy Drago has a glorified Cameo as a doctor. Come to think of it, it's not all that glorified.We very much enjoyed the slower pace of this film. Slow pace doesn't equal bad: bad equals bad. We're against the notion that MTV-style fast cuts and ADD-afflicted editing should be the standard we all have to now live by. So by that logic if a movie isn't moving at a breakneck pace, it's no good? We reject that entirely. Bring us back to the days when a pace was meant to draw you in and you could get to know the characters. So we applaud director Tannen for that. He went on to be a co-director of Inside Edge (1992), which also featured Branscombe Richmond, as does HATT, as all the cool kids call it (i.e., this movie).For straight down-the-line and above board Chuck, Hero and the Terror is a great choice.

Norris gets a chance to stretch his acting abilities and show some real emotions like fear and doubt . Norris here doesn't play indestructible hero but an ordinary man who suffers psychological trauma and has to stop a dangerous serial killer. This is a pretty nice idea for a movie. Unfortunately Chuck simply doesn't have the acting skills to make this movie work.The script is also very thin . The villain's escape is rather laughable. The subplot with Norris girlfriend is just lame. Very little action and no real mystery either. There isn't a single scene that is memorable , almost everything that happens here is forgettable. The movie has got some slasher undertones . Still , I wouldn't recommend this movie to a horror fan , because it drags terribly and the climax is just poor and not worthy of viewer's patience. All the build up is wasted.Chuck doesn't do much here either in terms of acting or action . Steve James ("American ninja") is nice as his partner. Jack O'Halloran ("Superman 2") makes a decent serial killer because he looks menacing. Billy Drago ("The Untouchables") makes a surprise appearance as psychiatrist ( a rare thing for him , he almost always plays bad guys).This is simply another bad Chuck Norris movie. I admire that Chuck wanted to do something different this time , but this movie will probably disappoint even his biggest fans. I give it 1/10. Don't believe the positive reviews , it's not worth of your time.

This came out in the last years of the Cannon Group, which had produced numerous fun B-action flicks. I saw it at the cinema and liked it. Having watched it again, I couldn't help but associate it with another similar Norris's earlier vehicle SILENT RAGE.Detective Danny O'Brien (Norris) is haunted by his past after single-handedly capturing a psychotic killer Simon Moon a.k.a. the Terror (Jack O' Halloran). Several years later, Moon escapes from a sanitarium and returns to the city he once stalked to unleash terror again. This time his 'turf' is a newly renovated theater in downtown Los Angeles that is about to be re-opened. As victims start to fall and the opening date of the theater is approaching, the Mayor calls for detective O'Brien to track him down and put an end to his terror.This action thriller, at times, plays like a pilot episode of a TV series. One of the key scenes even borders on becoming nonsensical, like Simon Moon's escape.Billy Drago is miscast as Moon's doctor. Drago plays well as an antagonist: a psycho (FREEWAY) or a henchman (THE UNTOUCHABLES) or any other typically eccentric bad guy, but not a good doctor!On the other hand, Jack O'Halloran (Non in Superman 2) portrayal of the Terror is menacing - he doesn't speak, only growls, and looks creepy. The music, especially when the Terror strikes, performed by the same musician who scores Norris's CODE OF SILENCE is effective to create tension.What sets this film apart from other Norris's films is that we get to see him act a lot more than he usually does. Norris is not a one-man army like his role in the MISSING IN ACTION trilogy. Here he tries to act and play more drama: he is a cop but a father-to-be and a sensitive lover too, which is shown in a scene when he has a romantic birthday dinner with his girlfriend and in another scene when he faints upon arriving at the hospital after hearing that his pregnant girlfriend is about to deliver. Overall, this cop thriller is one of Norris's better films where fans can see more of his acting than just his fighting skills.

This film has a bit in common with another Chuck Norris movie called "Silent Rage", however that movie was the superior film of the two. While Chuck battles a sort of super killer in both movies that film just worked better than this one did. The final fight in that one was more climatic while the one here is anti-climatic. The story is not all bad though it does hold one's interest, but in the end you are left wondering what might have been. Not that "Silent Rage" was all that perfect either, it just worked a bit more than this one. It too had some broken parts to it, just would have been an easier fix in that movie. This one has Chuck reliving his fight with a killer underneath a pier in his nightmares as this fight really hit him hard. This is a great and different take than the usual Norris movie. It then has this killer escape and once again go on a strange and bizarre killing spree. Chuck is positive who the killer is, while others are hesitant to believe that the killer survived the crash that seemingly should have ended his life. There are some interesting cat and mouse in this game, but also some rather dull scenes...scenes that just should not be in a Chuck Norris movie. To many scenes featuring his girlfriend who has little to do with the killer and such. Then there is the final fight which is a yawner that is over very quickly. I was expecting a knock out super fight that was very epic. All the build up is basically wasted though so you end up disappointed. The killer is played by the big guy from "Superman" and "Superman II" and this is like the only other movie I have seen him in. Could have worked, but in the end just to many flaws. Still it has Chuck in it so I am being easier on it as far as my score goes.