Bezenby You know how Tommy was raised by Native Americans? Well, his sister lives in the deep south, married to the local sheriff. Now, this area is in major trouble because we've got the old white supremacists out on the warpath, led by none other than R L Emery. There's this other guy who doesn't think Emery is white enough who, at the start of the film, bludgeons to death a black reverend while all his skinhead mates look on. And one of the skinheads is the teenage son of Dee Wallace Stone.Now that's a lot of story with no Tommy involved, right? It does take some time for him to show up but doesn't take much time for the old Nazis to get right on his case and also start hassling his sister. Didn't they watch Best of the Best 2? No one messes with Tommy's family! Eric Roberts isn't in this one by the way, and I think it was probably because his character took the rap for killing the bad guy in the last film. Otherwise I can't think of a reason how Tommy got away with breaking a guy's neck in front of a screaming crowd.Anyway, while a schoolteachers goes up against R Lee Emery (who doesn't get a credit here for some reason), Tommy goes up against the far more dangerous henchman, played by Drake from Aliens! Drake is all up for a bit of ethnic cleansing and gets his army of skinheads some hardware while Tommy breaks all their noses while dressed as a clown.Just when I thought this film was never going to get going Drake kidnaps Tommy's nephew and the fight is on! Tommy and the guy from Happy Gilmore head off to the Nazi compound and start wasting their way through a skinhead army in a whirlwind of machine gun fire, explosions, and even an M80 machine gun. Thank God for that.Tommy also directs this one (under the pseudonym Phillip Rhee) so you'll have to ask him how Tommy manages to kick three guys off three separate bikes using just two legs, or how we see the schoolteacher getting attacked in her home, then cut to Tommy on his bike, then cut back to the schoolteacher's house where Tommy suddenly appears.It's okay this one once it gets going. The big battle at the end kind of makes up for all the drama and such like so there's not much to worry about there.

The_Phantom_Projectionist Overall, the BEST OF THE BEST series is one of the most enjoyable martial arts franchises in film. It took two movies before tae kwon do bigshot Phillip Rhee was properly established as the real star of the story, and I'm pleased to say that even in the disappointing absence of Eric Roberts & co., he proves to be a solid solo action hero, not to mention a better first-time director than his more-recognized cohorts Seagal and Van Damme. It's a bit strange that he chose a story dealing with domestic racial terrorism as his first project, but while not perfect, I think it came out much better than anyone could have expected.The story: Following the events of the the second film, Tommy Lee (Rhee) rides into a rural town besieged by a neo-Nazi militia. When their violent mania takes its toll on the family of his brother-in-law (Christopher McDonald) and his new romantic interest (Gina Gershon), he uses his championship-caliber martial arts skills to fight back.Neo-Nazism, neo-Confederatism, and white supremicism remain lingering social problems, but while they've been tackled before in drama form (e.g. American HISTORY X), I'm pretty sure that Phillip Rhee is the first filmmaker to make an action film that predominantly dealt with the issue. It's a movie decision that you'd expect Steven Seagal to make, and it's quite possible that despite this one's strong production values, the storyline is what kept it from getting a theatrical release. It's kind of heavy-handed, with a rather tasteless scene early on wherein the militant leader (played by great villain-actor Mark Rolston) beats a black activist priest to death with a baseball bat, but the film does make a point of differentiating between the racial separatism ideology and racial warfare, as well as depicting the kind of social hopelessness that can lead some folks to grasp at extremes. Still, it's an action flick, so don't expect a completely empathetic movie.Speaking of action, this one's offering is pretty darn good, being mostly limited to four fights and an explosion-filled invasion scene. During his relatively short career, Phillip Rhee was one of the most consistent martial arts performers, and his outing here helps build this reputation. During three one-against-many fights and a single one-on-one brawl with bad guy Rolston, Rhee goes through an encyclopedia of strikes and throws, for the most part exquisitely choreographed and competently filmed. The showdown at the end sort of disappointed me for its change of pace, but by most standards, it's still pretty good, and it doesn't deter from the glorious scene in the first half of the film wherein Rhee - dressed as a clown - takes on a bunch of brutes at a fair. The segment wherein Rhee and Christopher McDonald launch an attack on the supremacists' base is also pretty good, practically at Commando levels of explosions. There are even parts with motorcycles and a rocket launcher.The cast and their performances round off the good parts of the movie. Along with the aforementioned members, an uncredited R. Lee Ermey plays a racist pastor with his usual infectious talent, and Peter Simmons gives a pretty good performance as young supremacist recruit with mixed feelings about his actions. The fact that the film only connects with its prequels via a minute's exposition is somewhat disappointing - I'd have liked to see the ending of the last movie weigh in more on the events of this one - but Rhee proves himself such a consummate performer that you don't miss the other characters *too* much. This one could technically stand alone, but it still feels like a part of the series. Action fans should definitely give it a try.

spywatcher459 Part one was about teamwork...part two was about vengeance...in this third chapter of the Best of the Best series, Tommy Lee finds himself fighting for the greatest prize of all: salvation. A lot of people look at this movie as a step down for the Best of the Best series, but in my opinion, it isn't. If anything, it was a growing step up until Without Warning (the fourth Best of the Best) was created.Picking up from the events of Best of the Best 2, Tommy has left his good friend Alex Grady behind and comes to Liberty to see his sister Karen, brother-in-law Jack (who's the town Sheriff), his nephew Justin and Luther, Justin's friend who's father is a preacher who goes missing earlier in the film. Tommy is glad to see his family and is enjoying the love and warmth that he receives, but when he learns that local supremacists have taken over the town and are responsible for the death of Luther's father, Tommy must decide whether or not to use his lethal skills again in order to help the locals take back their home from predators who use fear as a weapon and violence against the innocent just because they're 'different'.A lot of people think that this Best of the Best just follows a tired old cliché story that people have seen and heard hundreds of times before. Yes, the topic at hand does revolve around racial conflict, but in this story, the victims in this decide to butch up and fight back. Most movies I've seen about 'hate crimes' in the past have the same plot: a hate crime is committed, people want to come forward but are too scared for fear of retaliation from the haters, the law does all they can to put a stop to it but are unable to and the people who are victims just try to rely on religion alone to get them through the incident. But how often do we see movies where those who are unjustly persecuted for their race decide to take a stand against that kind of tyranny and terrorism? The movie has many messages mainly about redemption and salvation. Tommy is trying to live a life of peace, but the supremacists make that extremely difficult and force him to use lethal countermeasures to put a stop to their bullying and he hopes and prays that the situation won't result in more death at his hands.Another message in this film is that even if you despise violence, you have to be ready to use it at a moment's notice. Nobody likes violence and would like to resolve conflicts without it...but violence is all some people know in this world. And the enemy won't learn anything about respecting another individual's rights until someone 'teaches' it to them. And rest assured, Phillp Rhee's character has a lot of teaching to do in this film.Basically put, there's plenty of gunfights galore, high-kicking action, explosive pyrotechnics and behind it all, a message about being ready to go to war if you ever want peace on your land. That's the main thing everyone should pay attention to when they watch this film...God knows, it got my attention.

drfrancisgross-1 I picked this up 2nd hand and really enjoyed it, in a campy way. Tommy turns up in some rural town and steps right into a race war. Tommy is basically given reason after reason to take on guys of 4 or more and throw them through various fruit stalls, ticket offices, coffee tables, and french windows. The gorgeous Gina Gershon does her best as a choir teacher helping Tommy out, but whenever she needs to be "helpless" it kinda doesn't work because she now plays such strong, female roles.The acting and direction are seriously questionable but this film is obviously about fight scenes and they are entertaining enough, from the moment we see Gershon's house is full of glass tables, flimsy bookcases and china filled cabinets we know we are in for a treat.Terrible, patronising attitude toward racial issues but, hey, its got a rocket launcher and plenty of flying kicks.