Revisiting Immortal Combat AKA Resort to Kill (1994)

Plot: On a remote jungle island in the Caribbean, scientists have unlocked an ancient Mayan secret of immortality. Now a modern day martial arts warrior fights for his life against indestructible killers.

I could watch this movie on repeat all day; Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba battling against immortal warriors on an island is just the perfect kind of nonsense I love. It’s essentially a buddy movie with the pair trading wisecracks as they face off against the almost unkillable army. Immortal Combat even has Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister in a rare good guy role, although he is a little underused it’s cool to see him play a character who actually smiles rather than just looking mean.

Piper’s They Live co-star Meg Foster shows up once again playing the villainous Quinn and this is one of her most evil roles. She works with a man called Stan (Roger Cudney) and the pair of them turn martial artists into near invincible killers.

There are fight scenes every few seconds and as I’ve mentioned before I’ve always loved Roddy Piper’s on-screen fighting style; he uses his classic wrestling moves but there is nothing flashy about it; he just uses sheer brute force on his opponents to take them down. Chiba uses his martial arts skills as well as shurikens and swords to battle his enemies; he has a gun too but he is reluctant to use it due to something from his past which I won’t spoil here.

It’s around an hour and 40 minutes long and although there is the odd lull in the pacing it gives us some time to get to know our characters; Chiba’s backstory adds some heart to the story and Piper just adds his sense of humour and sheer on screen charisma.

Deron McBee plays the main henchman Muller AKA The Signature Killer who makes all kinds of strange noises and is more funny than intimidating but he is still genuinely hateful.

The music score is simply perfect with electric guitars used any time Roddy Piper has a fight (which is often) and I wish it was commercially available.

Overall, Immortal Combat is wonderful escapism with regular fight scenes, one-liners and epic guitar music making it a fun ride.