Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an action flick from 1988. That movie is "Lady Avenger".
Now I heard about this movie a couple of years back and I originally wanted to cover it in my lead up to my 100th episode. In other words, I wanted to add this movie to my 100th episode tournament that ultimately didn't go anywhere. But for one reason or another, I decided against adding this movie because I had already found more interesting movies to cover at the time. And so eventually, this movie kept getting pushed back further and further until I almost forgot about it entirely.
And I say 'almost', because recently, I had a sudden realization that I haven't covered *any* movies from YouTube for about a year and half now, so I figured why not find something on there this time? And I was looking through a playlist of movies that I've had my eye on for a while now, and eventually this movie popped up, so I finally decided to pull the trigger on this movie and see what it's all about.
Now, I don't really know much about this movie. All I know is that it's an action movie and that it's directed by a man named David DeCoteau. For those of you unaware, the man is essentially known for directing tons of B movies throughout his career. A couple of examples I can think of are "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge", which was awesome, to "Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama", which kinda sucked. So he's sort of an uneven director for me. But then again, I've only seen about a couple of his movies, which were the two I already listed. So I can't say much about the guy's filmography yet until I've seen more of his work.
Which is a great opportunity for me, because I get to see if this one of his is any good. I'm hoping that it is, but I won't know for sure unless I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Lady Avenger".
3 minutes later
Well, guys, I am able to say one thing, so far. Even though I know you guys can't hear it for obvious reasons, this opening song here is pretty good, actually. In fact, listening to it more...it's really catchy, too. I'm hoping that it's a good sign of things to come for this movie.
11 minutes later
So let me if I understand this. This matron, who was assigned to look over Maggie at all times, suddenly decides to try and restrain Maggie, because she thought Maggie was going off on her own, even though there wasn't any indication of that. Moments later, Maggie *does* admit that she has "something to do", shoves her off and runs away. And the matron decides to fucking shoot her at Maggie's brother's funeral, which has already ended! And she missed, too, but that's besides the point. I'm gonna say it now, this matron is kind of an idiot for starting this whole mess, unintentional or no.
15 minutes later
O...K, well, even though the sound-mixing during that car chase could've been better, I will say that was certainly kind of an awesome way to end that car chase sequence. So, at least it kinda balances itself some.
5 minutes later
Well...just when I thought this movie couldn't get any darker, the girl who's eyes got cut off at the beginning of the movie ends up getting knifed by some guy who, I think, is suppose to be our main villain of the film. Not sure if he is or not, but it was definitely kinda messed up to kill someone who was practically on her death bed anyways.
7 minutes later
Once more, guys, I'm gonna say that the music in this movie is actually really decent. I love this old school late 80's rock track that's playing here. It's really fucking catchy, guys.
18 minutes later
O...K, why the hell is this lady taking off her clothes? I'm not totally sure what the point is to this scene, unless if it was just a cheap way to get in fanservice. Which is kinda underwhelming, if I'm gonna be honest here. All she's wearing is just lingerie. Which, for some people, they might be really into that. For me, though, again, it just kinda made that scene pointless.
9 minutes later
You know what, guys? No matter how many times I've seen these kinds of kills, it's always satisfying to see someone getting killed with a fucking flamethrower. It always puts a smile on my face.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Lady Avenger". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So...where do I begin with this one? Well, I said earlier that I was hoping for this movie to be pretty good. And you know what? It sorta is. Now granted, the movie is not great. Far from it. This movie is pretty flawed in a lot of areas. But despite all that, I still wound up rather enjoying it. I was pleasantly surprised by this thing.
So, let's go ahead and get into the review proper here. I'm gonna start, as usual, with the writing. Now, as with the case for a lot of action movies, the story is the one thing that's not really gonna be the focus here. Most action fans only care about the cool-looking action scenes. And to be fair, this movie does provide a couple of really cool moments of that, which I'll get into a bit later on. But when it comes to story, that's like the one thing most action fans don't really care for. Myself, personally speaking, I like a little more substance in my action movies. Though there are some exceptions here and there where I can let some of it pass, as long as it's entertaining. And I've stated this beforehand, I watch movies to be entertained. And that's really all I care about is whether or not the movie is entertaining. And this movie is another one of those exceptions. This movie doesn't really have an award winning story here, but then again, it's not really trying for one. This movie aims to be a cheesy, dumb action flick, and it definitely nails that aspect pretty well.
As for the story itself, well, it's pretty much a revenge action flick. Where our main character, Maggie, gets out of jail to attend her brother's funeral, whom he was killed by a gang of drug smugglers, along with his girlfriend that was the one who's eyes got cut out at the beginning of the film. And soon after the funeral ends, she decides to go the route of John Rambo and go after the people that killed her brother. That's the short version of it. The longer version of it is that there's drug smuggling involved, and there's a conspiracy involving Maggie's stepfather, who may also be involved in the whole drug smuggling scheme. And then you have him, who's with Maggie's mother and is also trying to get her to sign some sort of contract, which will give him the land that was originally gonna be inherited to Maggie and her brother. But it doesn't exactly go that way, since he keeps giving her medicine to, I guess, maybe make her really sick so that she can sign Jack's contract and he'll get the land instead. Or something to that effect.
Believe me, guys, when I say that most of this story doesn't really make any sense. I know the movie was trying to do more with it's story, but once you focus more on that and less on Maggie killing the asshole thugs who killed her brother, then it starts to become a little bit dull. And for someone who normally likes adding more substance into my action movies, this stuff wasn't really all that interesting to me. In fact, I'm gonna tell you guys, straight up, that the characters in this movie don't really have any kind of depth whatsoever. Jack is basically a self-centered asshole, Maggie's mother is really not in the movie very much to contribute to anything, and I could also say that about all of the drug smugglers in this movie. None of them are memorable whatsoever. Maggie is really the only one who you're gonna care about the most, since her character, even though it's a little more on the one-noted side of things, does get the most time on screen. It's not great, but at least it does give her some motivation on why she's out for revenge.
I could also mention the fucking cops who are after her as well, however, they are so incompetent at their jobs that it's almost hilarious. Basically, there were two moments in the movie where they could've just done the easy thing and call for backup. But instead, on both of those moments, Maggie escapes the police on her motorcycle. And what makes it even more laughable is that, at one point in the movie, she's at a bar, and the radio is playing the news where her boyfriend was killed, the girl who got her eyes cut out is dead at the hospital, and the police are after a blonde girl, AKA Maggie, for questioning. And yet, despite *all* of that, there's only two cops in the entire movie that are after her. Maybe in whatever bumble fuck city this movie takes place in, perhaps the police force has gotten so bad there that they only have these two lone cops on duty to go after Maggie. And they fail miserably because they're fucking incompetent as shit.
But still, even with those stupid moments there, it kinda makes the movie all the more hilarious in it's own way. I mean, as long as you don't try to think too hard about all of the issues that this movie has with it's story, then you could definitely find some enjoyment here. That said, this movie does have more issues. The acting here isn't really that good. Most of the acting here is ranging from either being over-the-top and hammy, which comes from the drug smugglers, or it could come from somebody else that isn't them, and they'll sound jaded and kinda shit. Case in point, our lead actress for this movie, who goes by the name of Peggy McIntaggart, sounds horrible here. When she's trying to sound emotional, it sounds fake as hell. And when she's trying to be all badass, it's honestly kinda laughable, especially when she gives out a certain one-liner that I won't spoil here. So yeah, Peggy's delivery here is pretty horrible. But in a way, it's almost done in a so bad, it's good kind of way. To where you could get a laugh out of her terrible performance, and still find it a little bit endearing. At least, that's how I see it, anyways.
Special effects in this movie are kind of on the low budget side of things. But again, this is from the same guy who's made a living off making movies that are made for almost next to nothing. So, the squib-work here is pretty standard stuff, the blood effects are OK, and pyrotechnics are decent at best. Speaking of which, the two biggest stand outs of the entire movie both involve the latter. The first one is right at the end of the car chase sequence which I briefly mentioned earlier, where the car Maggie and her boyfriend are riding in catch fire after a jump, which looked pretty cool. And the other is the flamethrower kill, which I still find really awesome, because I personally can't get enough of that, especially if it's done to a character I absolutely despise. So, special effects here, for low budget standards, are OK at best.
Camerawork here is pretty decent. Lighting here is OK. The sound-mixing could've been better, specifically for one scene, which involves the car chase sequence I already mentioned. Essentially, you have the drug smuggling thugs talking over each other, except you can barely hear what they're saying because of all the noise that's going on in the background while they're driving. And it's not like they're saying anything important, mind you, it's just them yelling at each other at random moments. Still, the sound-mixing could've been fixed there. Music here is actually something I'm going to praise this movie on, because I'm personally a big fan of 80's rock music, and the music that's presented here is really catchy stuff. I'm probably gonna have to look up some of the songs later when I get the chance, but I will say that if you're a fan of 80's rock music, then this movie will definitely provide that for you.
So, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Lady Avenger"? Yes, I can, as long as you view it as a mindless, popcorn flick. Where you go into it and you're not questioning any of the logic issues that the movie has, then you're bound to really enjoy it. For fans of action movies, I could definitely recommend this to you if you're looking for something more obscure to check out. As a revenge movie, it's decent enough, though I've seen far better, obviously. Another big positive I can give this movie is that it's pretty short. It's only about 82 minutes long, and it goes by pretty quickly. So if you have less than an hour and a half to spare, go check it out sometime when you get the chance. As for myself, well, like I said, I was pleasantly surprised by this thing. Part of me thought that it was going to suck, but thankfully, that wasn't entirely the case. It's certainly a flawed movie, but it's enough for me to overlook those flaws. Now...with that said, I'm gonna go and watch something different. Perhaps I'll just watch anyone of my Rambo movies that I own on DVD. Who knows?
But for now, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. And until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment