An Eye for an Eye (1981)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

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

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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

An Eye for an Eye (1981) *** (out of 4)After witnessing his partner murdered, Detective Sean Kane (Chuck Norris) flips out and goes after the men who did it. He resigns from his job but after his partner's fiance is also murdered he sets out to bring down the bad guys, which leads him to a drug operation.AN EYE FOR AN EYE is a pretty good Norris movie and I'd argue that it's at the very top of the ones that he has made. The story itself is pretty much your standard revenge tale but where the film really succeeds is with its non-stop action and a pretty stellar cast. The film certainly has some flaws here and there but if you're a fan of 80's action movies then it's a must see for its entertainment value.As I said, the best thing going for the picture was the very good cast. You've got Norris playing the type of role that suits him well. He's certainly believable in the role of a cop and his martial arts skills add most of the fun. You've got Mako in a supporting part and he adds some nice comic touch. Richard Roundtree was a bad muthafuc*er long before Samuel L. Jackson and he's fun here. Then you've got Christopher Lee is a somewhat thankless role but he's still fun to watch. Matt Clark and Rosalind Chao are good in their small roles as well. Then there's Professor Toru Tanaka who plays one of the bad guys and nearly steals the show every time he's on screen.The San Francisco location certainly help the film and we're also given a nice score as well as some good cinematography. Of course, people are coming to a film liek this for the action and there's plenty of that. Countless shoot outs and various other forms of violence certainly make the film quite memorable. Add the cast into all of this and you've got a very entertaining revenge picture.

Most of early Chuck Norris movies are terribly cheap and simply unberable. This one is not good either , but a vast improvement over the earlier movies . At least it's somewhat watchable with good things in it , even when overall it's a movie you forget about the next day.The plot is rather formulaic . We often have to wait for a considerable amount of time for the action sequences to start and at times the plot makes you go "What the hell is going on here ". Much of the movie seems contrived and episodic.The action scenes have some cool touches of slow motion. The martial arts are believable and fun . The music is really good. The whole movie feels more like a 70's movie , but that's not a bad thing.Norris tries to show a little bit more emotion than his usual stone face. "Tries" is the right word.He also looks very young with his blonde hair and clean shaved baby face. Richard Roundtree ("Shaft") is solid as Capt. Stevens and so is Mako as Norris mentor. He's not a bad comic relief too. Professor Toru Tanaka ("Goldfinger") is enjoyable as always as the intimidating foe. I only don't understand his weird shoes. The only bad performance comes from the wooden Maggie Cooper as the love interest. Christopher Lee ("Dracula") makes a nice performance, too bad he doesn't have too much screen time.Forgettable , but harmless movie if you're in the mood. I give it 2/10.

The movie talks about a tough police man (Chuck Norris) from San Francisco , he's double-crossed and a friend cop is murdered . He renounces as a honorable cop in the presence his chief (Richard Roundtree) and helper (Matt Clark) . Later on , a journalist being eliminated by a mysterious killer , a sadistic villain Chinese (Professor Tanaka) . His friend reporter (Maggie Cooper) -working in Television channel whose owner is an elegant tycoon (Christopher Lee)- hands over Norris a tape with clues . The loner cop must protect her from threatening hoodlums . Perennial karate guy Norris along with his partner , Mako , undergo a violent confrontation against the Chinese Mafia , pitting corrupt cops from police department and criminal gangs named triads . Norris saves the day in this thrilling and exciting movie .The picture is plenty of action-packed , tension , suspense and cheesy sub-plot , to boot with wild stunts . There's a lively conflict , ridden love interest as well , as Norris falls in love with a lovely journalist who must save her . The movie displays a plethora of martial art fights , as Norris cleans up the Chinese fighters by means of punches , kicks, bounds and leaps with struggles certainly slickly choreographed . It's violent , frenetic and hectic and not particularly literary but worthy entry in Kung-Fu genre , although runs out energy surprisingly early . Average Norris-thriller , exciting and tense at times , including fine work , as always , from Christopher Lee as a brilliant TV financier . Special appearance as hunk villain of Professor Tanaka with lots of visceral violence , he's a wrestler who possessed incredible strength , he was arguably the successor to Harold Sakata(famous Chinese nasty of ¨Goldfinger¨) as the archetypal Asian henchman . The film belongs to Norris'early period , during the 80s , such as : ¨Code of silence¨ , ¨Delta Force¨ , ¨Silent rage¨ , ¨Octagon¨ , ¨Forced vengeance¨ ,¨ Force of one¨ , among others with successful box-office in cinema theaters as video-rentals . In the 90s and 2000s with exception of ¨Walker Texas Ranger¨, the Norris star has gone down . Action addicts will give this one a passing grade , all others need not apply . If you're a previous Norris fans , you'll like it but contains enough action and violence for enthusiastic of the Chop-Socky genre . The motion picture was professionally directed by Steve Carver who directed to Norris in ¨Lone wolf McQuade¨, as well.

How any Chuck Norris movie can be called "good" is beyond me. First and foremost, Chuck is a poor actor then and now. This movie doesn't have just a bad part, it is a bad part. And I will say, Chuck's later movies were actually better. Maybe because the scripts were better??? 'Cause his acting certainly wasn't. (Sorry, Chuck. You just don't have "it".) I recommend skipping this one unless you are a die-hard fan. (Does Chuck have any??) At least some must exist since this movie got a score above 2. Come on, be realistic, people. One or two "catch phrases" does not a movie make. One or two martial arts favorites also doesn't qualify to make this movie worth seeing. --Again, unless you are a die-hard fan.-- I found this movie trivial and unentertaining. I realize we're not looking for Oscar quality in an early martial arts film (especially an American one from the 1980s), but bad is bad and this movie is BAD.