Comeuppance Reviews Susanne Carter (Kesner) is a beautiful female Martial Arts instructor (we're informed multiple times that she's a sixth-degree black belt) who travels alone to the Philippines in search of her missing sister. While on her quest, she runs afoul of a man named Chuck (Hinton) who not only fights in Karate tournaments himself, but is also involved in a variety of illegal doings with a man named Grip (Diaz). While Susanne has to navigate this treacherous world, she also finds time to enhance her Martial Arts studies, learning the Philippine art of stick fighting, known as Arnis - they even made a whole movie about it called Sticks of Death (1986). Will Susanne's beauty and brawn combination lead her to find her sister and win the day? Find out today! Jillian Kesner, of Operation Cobra (1997) fame was an ideal choice for the heroine of Firecracker: she's attractive, athletic, and was not only game for the many fight scenes, but also the Cirio standby of the nearly-nude girl fighting multiple attackers. It's one of the standout scenes in the movie, as it would be again in the future for Silk 2 (1989) and Angelfist (1993). Firecracker is classic Cirio. It has a thin plot about a woman trying to find her missing sister, there are plenty of shots of the beautiful Philippine countryside and other local cultural things, plenty of fight scenes, and a lot of 70's.early 80's fashions on display. Plus at an audience-considerate 77 minutes, it never overstays its welcome.Darby Hinton, who plays Chuck (did they try to get Chuck Norris for this role, fail to do so, then hope nobody would notice?) steals the (fashion) show with his multiple stylish outfits, not to mention his resemblance to basketball great Larry Bird. But it was a different time - a time when audiences would dress up nicely and go to a supper club to watch Martial Arts displays while they eat dinner by candlelight. A time when seemingly-random barfights could break out at a moment's notice, a time when Jillian Kesner could step in and save us all with her newly-acquired Arnis skills. Has the world really gotten better since then? Clearly not.With contributions by Philippine film legends Vic Diaz and Joe Mari Avellana, and a very cool main musical theme by Nonong Buencamino, Firecracker is an enjoyable gem that mixes two hot genres of the day: Martial Arts and exploitation. Now that it's on DVD with the three-movie "Lethal Ladies" collection, there's really no excuse not to check it out.

Scott LeBrun One can tell by a few major set pieces that this is more than just your garden variety exploitation; veteran director Cirio H. Santiago definitely cooks with gas here. Having co- written the screenplay with actor Ken Metcalfe, he makes this a continuously snappy affair. The movie isn't wall to wall action, but there's still quite enough of it, as we get treated to many fine fight scenes that start almost right away. The feisty and fetching Jillian Kesner, may she rest in peace, is a delight to watch as she plays a karate champion & instructor, newly arrived in the Philippines, hellbent on finding out what happened to her missing sister. This makes "Firecracker" sound like something of a rehash of Santiago's "T.N.T. Jackson", where the plot was very similar, but "Firecracker" is even better, a fast paced, furious, bloody thrill ride highlighted by a shoot out staged in a striking location, a love making scene that is prefaced by the male CUTTING the clothes off of his partner (sex and violence are mingled in a memorable manner here), and the one scene that us fans of this movie will always have first and foremost in our minds, as Susanne Carter (Kesner) is pursued by two would be hit men and ways are constantly contrived to remove her clothing, until she's nearly nude (and showing off one extremely fine body) yet still very capable of defending herself. The supporting cast contains a few familiar faces that are very welcome to B movie lovers: Darby Hinton ("Without Warning", "Malibu Express") as male lead Chuck Donner, the understandably ubiquitous Vic Diaz as Grip, Metcalfe himself as crime boss Erik, and Chanda Romero ("The Last Reunion") as undercover cop Malow. A little slicker than your typical potboiler, "Firecracker" is exciting and enticing stuff, and the viewer can groove along to the funky electronic score courtesy of Nonong Buencamino. The movie always makes sure to get right to the point, and deliver what fans of the genre want, and it deserves respect in that regard - and once it's over, it's OVER. It's 78 straight minutes of no-fooling-around fun. Eight out of 10.

ergunbul yes this film was a typical b rated movie that I watched when I was nearly 11.It was bad but there was something which I could not forget and keep myself away and after years I still remember this film.Especially the love scene between Jillian and her boyfriend whom she later killed very brutally,at the last scene... I was child then and was affected too much of the violence.... I later learned she is not a fighter but was practicing sometimes anyway she was pretty good and fighting was OK for her... As I read the other peoples comments I found many similarities about my feelings and theirs.. WATCH THIS FILM....

pdf120 I remember seeing this film when I was young. It was being aired on cable, when it first came out. This was great because it was the un-cut version. I somehow was able to get a copy of this when it was aired on late night TV some years ago. I still have the copy with commercials (edited for television). I would like to get the full version. This film had some unforgettable scenes. I have to say that it turned me on to women in the martial arts.