I stumbled upon this film about 7 or so years ago in the video store, and on a whim picked it out. I must admit to being fairly entertained with what I saw. The fight scenes are gloriously over the top and well choreographed, so much so I think I was laughing at several points during the film.

The plot is about as complex as a glass of water, but forget that for now, this is a film you watch for the action, for the cheesy comedy factor, for the hyper-kinetic, lighting quick scenes of martial arts mayhem. The fight scenes come frequent enough and do not disappoint. There are killer ninja robots, gun wielding assassins who burst through windows on stunt bikes, and a large supply of hapless henchmen who couldn't shoot a barn door at 3 paces.

Marc Dacascos shows of his talents in the lead role as Toby Wang, the hero and scene stealer of the film, Kadeem Hardison is on hand as Malik, the out of luck barfly who gets caught up in the ordeal, then there is Brittany Murphy in one pre-famous roles as a the ditsy daughter of a Motel owning couple.

Toby Wong (Mark Dacascos) stowaways from Hong Kong on a freighter to America. He is escaping from the Chinese government who installed a prototype "biological energy module" in his chest. They are trying to recapture him without killing him or shooting him in the chest. Orders are given to Chinese operatives and local hired thug Vic Madison to shoot him only in the legs. Toby brings the fight to a local bar where Malik Brody (Kadeem Hardison) is hanging out. Toby takes Malik hostage. They get arrested by fake cops and handcuffed. They manage to escape. Toby is trying to get to L.A. to sell the module for $5 million and offers half to Malik. At a road side motel, they meet hyper-active clerk Deliverance Bodine (Brittany Murphy).

This is a straight to video movie with a certain B-movie charm. There is plenty of fight action and gun action. Dacascos' charisma is limited but better than many. Hardison is a lesser black sidekick. Brittany Murphy comes in much later around 45 minutes and really camps it up for about 30 minutes. It's a mindless popcorn action movie that has some weird camp fun value. Although Murphy needs to stay in more of the movie to maintain its campiness. Dacascos' singing is the bad kind of camp.

This may very well be one of the best B-action movie of the 90s. And I was happy to revisit it after it's been two decades since I last saw it. Now if you can check out the longer cut (aka Directors cut). It is about 16 minutes longer, and while not everything is fight scenes, it gives background but also adds a different score to some of the scenes.

Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison are an odd couple, but one that work out more than nicely. And while the budget restraints mean that you can spot "flaws" in certain areas, they only add to the overall sentiment of how much work was put into the movie. Kadeem says in the making of that this movie helped Rush Hour being made. Now if that doesn't tell you something ... and you can tell that the chemistry between him and Mark is just great. And that is before you listen to the audio commentary, where everyone is being blunt and as charismatic as you imagine them to be.

Quite a few secrets get revealed in the commentary, just not why the title was chosen. They get distracted when that topic comes up and I reckon some may feel the same about how the story moves. But whatever you may think of that, the action scenes more than hold up. There are quite a few "wow" moments you will have. Considering that it's quite a surprise there were no major injuries during the shooting - and a testament to the actors, stunt man and fight choreographer.

I can only highly recommend this - as it is a fun ride (no pun intended)