It
is a prosaic title, but it does not misrepresent the film. So, it’s about death
and fighting? Yes, indeed. A rogue FBI agent is out to avenge his mentor and
take down a human trafficking warlord, with the help of a grizzled mercenary.
As martial arts plots go, it is certainly serviceable, but the real attraction
is watching a number of legendary veterans mix it up with young talent in Toby
Russell’s Death Fighter (trailer here) releases today on
DVD.
Michael
Turner’s partner Conrad has been tracking the evil Draco so long, he willingly
joins him in an off-the-books operation in Thailand. Conrad’s intel was valid, but
“Valerie,” Draco’s chief enforcer-bodyguard was a little too lethal. All the
corrupt cops want Turner out of the country, but the only half-way honest one
puts him in touch with Bobby Pau, a half-American-half-Thai mercenary who also
holds a grudge against Draco (was there ever a character named “Draco” who wasn’t
a villain?).
To
find Draco, they will have to head into the jungle, which holds a lot of
dangers for a city slicker like Turner. However, that is also where they will find
Yui, the director of a rural medical clinical, who also happens to have mad
martial arts skills. Together with Pau’s quiet right-hand man Otto, they are a
force of four, which should be more than sufficient to deal with Draco,
Valerie, Peter (the senior henchperson in Draco’s doghouse), and a hundred or
so Burmese mercs.
Death Fighter is like old school
Cannon films all the way, but it has an apostolic connection to Bruce Lee and
Chuck Norris in the late, great Joe Lewis (star of Kill ‘Em All and The Jaguar
Lives!), whom the former praised and the latter went 3-and-1 against in
official tournament matches. Sadly, as the hard-charging Conrad, Lewis makes a
quick exit, but his presence is definitely felt.
But
wait there’s more, including Don “The Dragon” Wilson as Pau, the butt-kicking lead,
(rather than the cameos or Miyagi-like roles he turned up in recently). He can
still throw down, as can Cynthia Rothrock (playing Valerie), whom he frequently
faces off against. Stuntman and emerging action star Matt Mullins can’t match
the charisma of his seniors yet, but his chops are impressive. The same is true
of Thai TV star Chiranan Manochaem, who definitely impresses as Yui. However,
it is almost shocking Death Fighter is
the only imdb credit for Prasit Suanphaka, because he shows off some
spectacular moves as trusty Otto.
