powermandan Chuck Norris is one of cinema's best fighters who has a very distinctive and badass look. His beard is one of those traits. One of the more popular Chuck Norris jokes is "underneath Chuck Norris' beard, there's not chin just another fist." Whomever created that joke must not have seen any of his earlier films, because there are three different kinds of Chuck Norrises: smooth-faced, moustached and bearded. I mentioned this in two other Chuck Norris reviews for An Eye For An Eye (smooth-faced Norris' best) and Forced Vengeance (moustache-Norris' best). Now I am saying that The Hit-man is bearded-Norris' best. Eventually, I will do a review of The Delta Force: THE Best Chuck Norris flick. The Hit-man has a very unoriginal premise as a presumed dead cop (Norris) assumes a new identity and seeks vengeance against the bad guys. They try to make the story more complex and interesting, but winds up with utter confusion. In order to really get this, you have to be a huge action fan and/or a huge Chuck Norris fan. I am these, as well as a huge general movie fan, so I may have gone easy in seeing this. The acting isn't that great, the story is average and they fail at adding subplots with rival mob families and triads. Luckily, there is great action and has a great look that makes this a really fun watch.Just what makes this better than any other bearded-Norris film? Although the acting isn't that great, it is truly awesome when compared to a mega crappy Norris movie like Silent Rage. This was around the time that Norris was improving as an actor by growing from terrible to average. One of the subplots is he befriends a young Hispanic neighbour whose mother works several jobs. He is constantly chased by a Caucasian bully whom he always runs from. Norris teaches him self-defence, as well as facing his problems. He tells him a story of growing up near a Native reserve in Arizona and a big Native would constantly chase him until he was convinced to face him. He realizes it was the differences such as his hair being too light and skin being too pale that he didn't like. This is a true story that actually did happen to Norris. This is probably the best bit of acting that Chuck Norris ever did. It is also great words of wisdom that comes from his heart.Because we get to know the characters so well, it adds a lot to the story and makes the action sequences all that more exciting.

Maziun Originally envisioned as a vehicle for Charles Bronson this movie uses pretty much the same story you have seen in Kurosawa's "Yojimbo " , Sergio Leone's "Fistful of dollars" or Walter Hill's "Last man standing" - a guy wants two gangs to kill each other , so he tricks them in a war. The only original part of the screenplay is the pretty cute if not out of place subplot of Norris helping little kid to deal with bully. The story Chuck Norris' character tells about being harassed by a bully actually did happen to Norris while he was growing up.The cinematography is cool , the movie looks pretty atmospheric at night. Norris looks actually pretty badass with his beard , mullet and trench coat.Aaron Norris' somehow managed to competently direct for once. This is his best movie. It's not boring and it helped me to kill some time when I was bored. It's the stuff you can see late at night on cable-TV.If you like Norris you probably will like this movie . If you don't like him , it's unlikely that you will become a fan after this movie . I give it 2/10.

CitizenCaine Chuck Norris once again attempted to expand his range a little with this action/thriller showcasing Norris' ability with a gun as well as his trademark kicks and punches. He plays a cop gone undercover after barely surviving a double-cross from a partner gone dirty. Michael Parks, who is always an interesting actor to watch, plays the dirty partner. While undercover, Norris tries to ferret out what's going on amongst three different ethnic mobs. While the mob action makes little sense, it's a good excuse for lots of gun play, semi-torture, and Norris pushing guys around while trying to play up a domestic side of his character mentoring a young fatherless boy. Norris is better than usual in this film and is usually so when not taking himself or the film he's in too seriously. His acting range is quite limited, and previous efforts of his to expand have backfired due to tired, formulaic scripts that failed to differ from film to film. Even though the film is nothing spectacular, it does contain some good stunt work and great action scenes throughout. Parks is again a heavy, and it's unfortunate he's rarely given a chance to stretch his range. ** of 4 stars.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU Just out of Soviet fear and the Cold War we were in 1992. Modern American cowboy films had to invent another enemy. Simple recipe: Italian mafia, French mafia, and Iranian mafia, all three together. And there you are. The only place possible is Seattle and Vancouver. The Italians are in Seattle. The French (Canadians) are in Vancouver. And the Iranians are invading with the help of a rotten ex-cop turned drug-lordlet. All that is by far too much and too many. So many will have to be eliminated. What's more there is the ghost of an officially dead cop playing the double agent, and he was officially killed by the rotten ex-cop turned drug-lordlet. And the ghost will finally meet face to face with this drug-lordlet and the latter will be turned into mid-air minced meat, after the three other gangs had mutually been eliminated one after the other by one of the others. The ghost only came for the last harvest of cadavers. It is strange how these modern time cowboy films are little creative. It is all defined within the limits of a shooting posture and a noisy exchange of bullets.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne