Force: Five (1981)

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It's amazing when one stops to think about it: Robert Clouse directed perhaps the greatest martial arts movie of them all (ENTER THE DRAGON), then proceeded to plummet downhill as fast as he possibly could. He went from the very apex (although I actually prefer the fight scenes in WAY OF THE DRAGON and GAME OF DEATH- as seen in the documentary A WARRIOR'S JOURNEY, anyway- to those in ENTER THE DRAGON) to fumbling through more BAD movies than your average Z-grade director. Once again, Joe Lewis is the sole saving grace in a film (the other was JAGUAR LIVES!); by dint of his performance (which should've been expanded, since he was the only actor worth his chops in this one), he makes this one worth watching- despite Clouse's aforementioned propensity for screwing up potentially good action movies. (Come on: GAME OF DEATH, GYMKATA...?) FORCE: FIVE is essentially a remake/ripoff of ENTER THE DRAGON, by a man who should've known better.

The only thing "Force: Five" proves is that the chances of finding a good American martial-arts film are about as many as those of finding a good Hong Kong Western. Yes, the film stars real martial artists who obviously know their stuff, but keep in mind that:a) most of them can't act (Richard Norton is excepted)b) most of the time they're fighting useless morons who stand around like sitting ducks, waiting to be kicked. And how about the fact that the doors of the rooms where the "bad guys" keep their drugs-and-guns-for-sale and the dead bodies of their victims are unlocked and unguarded?Cheap and stupid. But the actors sure know how to kick high. (*1/2)

This seemingly low-budget film is among my favorite martial-arts films of all time even though the plot is a shameless copy of "Enter the Dragon"----minus Dragon's production values. You have the leader of a cult on his own island leading hundreds of followers. At the island, the daughter of a senator is among the followers and Joe Lewis is recruited to get her out. To do that, he enlists the help of five colleagues.I think what makes this movie stand above most martial arts films is that you have a charismatic group of martial artists working as a team when they infiltrate the bad guy's island. Director Robert Clouse, who also directed Enter the Dragon, really played up the "team" factor and I think that's the element that makes the film work.The actors aren't anything extraordinary, but anyone looking for Brandos or Oliviers here deserve what they get. I was surprised this was only one of two movies Joe Lewis ever made. I certainly thought he had the look and personality to carry a few more martial-arts films, but hey.Richard Norton, who played Ezekial, went on to great success in the straight-to-video world. A charismatic performer, he made a few pretty entertaining martial arts films over the years, some with fellow martial-artist Cynthia Rothrock.My favorite of the team was Sonny Barnes, who plays the cheesily named "Lockjaw". Barnes never really did much else after this, except for a Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney music video, which is a shame because I really enjoyed him in this.You can tell the budget went to the famous martial-artists in its cast because the locales and everything else in the film looks cheap.Aside from Lewis and Norton, you also have Benny "The Jet" Urquidez in the cast, and Master Bong Soo Han, who played the villain. Some martial-arts fans will recognize Han as Billy Jack's partner in "Trial of Billy Jack" during the climatic fight scene.As for the fight scenes, many of them are really good. Clouse takes full advantage of the fact he has an A-Team of martial-artists as stars and shows off their skills many times throughout the film, (even though most of the time they are fighting what are obviously a bunch of wannabe extras). Some of the stunts work, others bomb, but in the end, I really liked the movie. I also really liked the catchy title theme by William Goldstein. Some of my buddies think it's cheesy as hell, but I get a kick out of it. I wonder if Quentin Tarantino had this film in mind when wrote dialogue for "Pulp Fiction". In that film, Uma Thurman's character, Mia, said she starred in a pilot called, "Fox Force Five".Anyway, this is enjoyable for fans of the genre. The team factor makes all the difference, and there seemed to be potential here for sequels since I really enjoyed watching the cast work together.

This movie rocks! Not only is the action top notch, but it isn't being performed by a bunch of Hollywood "actors" who took karate lessons for a couple of weeks. I am talking about living legends of the martial arts. Master Han, the indelible Mr. Joe Lewis, not to mention "the jet". Team of five must rescue a girl from a island fortress ruled by a ruthless religious leader. Constant action and great "action" music. If you liked any martial arts movies made before 1985, then this will NOT dissapoint. Find it, rent it, buy it, watch it and thank me later.