Rage (1995)

Let's be realistic.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Alex Thomas Gainer (Daniels) is a second grade teacher beloved by all his students. He also has a great home life with a loving wife and daughter. After leaving the house and saying "I'll be right back" (never a good sign), Gainer is carjacked and then kidnapped. He is taken to a secret lab trying to manufacture SuperSoldiers. Alex manages to escape and now he is on the run. With corrupt sheriffs, insane scientists, and tons of law enforcement after him, his story becomes a media frenzy. Even though some people died in one of the many melees, no one believes Alex's innocence - except reporter Johansen (Tigar) and his camerawoman Bobby T (McWhirter). Will Alex be able to clear his good name? It is impossible not to like Gary Daniels. He tops himself in likability here - as the good natured elementary school teacher and devoted father. PM and other companies must always use him because of this, as well as his stellar martial arts abilities. He's the perfect action star to root for. Rage is simply one big action set piece after another. It's truly non-stop stunts, explosions, shooting, and car chases (both Fruit Cart and otherwise). The angle of the experimental SuperSoldiers makes things a little different, as does the subplot about "media vultures" who convict people in the court of public opinion regardless of their guilt or innocence.Only PM could include this social satire along with its classic style of blow-ups - and include references to the show Hard Copy, the OJ trial as well as Geraldo - and also include something they often use in their movies - transvestites. It's not known why. The actor David Powledge almost steals the movie as corrupt sheriff Sherman Kelly. But sadly he's not the main baddie. It's crazy - this guy has been a character actor since the early 80's but he is virtually unknown. Some people toil in the entertainment industry their whole careers and get little to no recognition, and are great (like Powledge), and some actors are hugely popular but are annoying and talentless. You can name your own example. It's a cryin' shame. Take Luis Beckford as Sgt. Beckford in the film. He's truly an American hero.But back to the subject at hand, really the only flaw with Rage is that it needed a more prominent and more evil villain. Other than that, the movie is a wildly entertaining ride. The world of PM references itself a few times here: Last Man Standing's McWhirter appears as the camerawoman, Alex's last name, Gainer, is also Erik Estrada's last name in Night of the Wilding (1990), and in one of Rage's best scenes, there is a fight at a video store, and the store is decorated with nothing but posters from other PM movies! Now that's a store we would have loved to have visited. Apparently it was in the Long Beach mall (the whole mall scene is a standout) - although surely the local glassworkers were working overtime after these fights were over.While Rage might not be on the level of the top PM's (Zero Tolerance (1994), Last Man Standing (1996), The Sweeper (1996) and Recoil, 1998) - it still is well worth seeking out.For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Well, if ever there was a definitive example of a 'mindless fun' action film then this must surely be it! The plot here is ludicrous, the acting even more so and the action scenes - well, let's just say that to call them OTT would be a dramatic understatement.......but by God - this is so damned ridiculously entertaining from start to glorious finish.Daniels plays a primary school teacher(!) who's seemingly idyllic life is one day plunged into absolute turmoil when a desperate man brandishing a gun jumps into his car and demands Daniels to help him escape from a group of decidedly shady pursuing government agents. It turns out that said agents are conducting clandestine and immoral experiments with an experimental serum designed to create a super soldier. Well, it doesn't take a prophet to foresee that our hero ends up as the next unwilling participant in these trials. Unfortunately for his captors however, our man turns out to be a tad more unruly than the previous experimentees and promptly goes crazy and kills everyone in the secret facility(!) before hightailing it out in a bid to reclaim his freedom. Needless to say, the dastardly agents can't allow any evidence of their illicit experimentation to become public knowledge and subsequently set out to eradicate all traces of their antics i.e by killing off our man!Well, there's the plot in a nutshell (what there is of it!) but really such a wafer thin notion is only present to serve as an excuse for the amazing non-stop action in this. Literally hardly a moment goes by without either a massive shoot out, Daniels displaying his awesome martial arts skills or else an insane car chase of some description.Best scenes? There's simply so many to choose from but a number stick out including a hair raising freeway chase upon Daniels' escape from the lab, the lab massacre itself, an hilarious scene in which Daniels is attacked by a mad dominatrix and her 'servant'(!) a mall shoot out which shamelessly plugs other PM output via having part of the carnage take place in a video store(!) and best of all, a truly sidesplittingly stupid (but hilariously fun) sequence in which Daniels swings from the side of a building and lands (amazingly!) on a helicopter(!!!!!) Simply insane fun from start to wonderful end - you NEED to see this!!!

what a disgrace to movie making. bad acting,and the most unbelievable script. the star of the movie(who should have stuck to his Karate skills instead of trying to act,who I will not even try to remember his name and hope he retires from the business. Maybe he should have been the new superman for the unbelievable number of times he should have been killed in the movie yet barely gets a scratch.Do film makers think that making a movie with a large number of stunts,destroying vehicles etc make a film. To the writer and Director go back to school and learn your craft.This movie is a disgrace.I did find one nice feature of the film. The scenery and color are nice. Life is too short to waste watching junk.

That pretty much sums up this movie. If you're a fan of non-stop action films, you definitely want to check this one out. There is one little thing that could keep you from enjoying Rage: I've never seen such unrealistic action in a film before. This guy does stunts that make him look like Superman. Example: in one scene, our hero jumps about 15 feet in the air off an exploding truck and lands on the ground, with only a few hairs out of place. Then he proceeds to chase a car on foot! For me, the campy action in this film made it great. If you don't like stuff like that, stay away from this one. However, if seeing someone doing a rolling dive in the air and machine-gunning 5 thugs at once is your cup of tea, I suggest you rent Rage as soon as possible!