Verdict
Summary
Some slow-build up but a decent indie that’s never dull, stylishly shot and scored and which concludes with two well-done fight scenes.
Plot: When a upcoming news reporter Ashley Romano (Janet Miranda) stumbles upon an urban legend called ‘EL JARVE’ DE ESCOBAR’ that happens to be true, her life is put into danger. Finding out about her being murdered, Johnny Franco (writer/director/professional challenger Franklin Correa), her boyfriend & martial arts instructor will stop at nothing to uncover the truth and seek revenge for her death going through a group of assassins lead by Antonio (Emilio Pantero) leading up to a climatic showdown and unforgettable ending.
Review: So to fill the site with more indie martial arts action flicks, I took on Correa’s chopsocky flick with the usual low-budget expectations after he mentioned his work in the Action Elite group. Without giving him an ego-boost, it was rather watchable yet slow at times. It never dragged and was solidly acted. The light was overexposed but done in a rather controlled way and added to the mystery elements. There were plenty of Sonny Chiba type inspired fighting moves, a typical Enemy of the State/Bourne Identity type spy techno thriller premise and the reporter element was even delivered in a reasonable conspiracy fashion.
The beginning had solid hand-held first-person POV shots without giving one a headache, the actors were competent and added decent impressions regardless of their screen-time and the martial arts training academy gave it a more personal feel while upping the stakes as they occurred. The main villain was over-the-top without being cheesy or overbearing while still being a tribute to the rather ruthless criminals we’ve seen in various ‘80s and ‘90s films.
If you’ve got some time to kill, put it up on your Amazon Prime account to stream. You lose nothing and gain some reasonably shot fights that attract some excitement in the whole process.
