Uwontlikemyopinion Fifteen years ago, a gang brutally murders a family in connection with the mob. Unfortunately, Mark (C. Thomas Howell) survives the incident and becomes a violent police officer. Later, Justice Incorporated manipulates Mark into becoming a vigilante to find the criminals associated with his family's murder. The action sequences within this movie are outrageous, pointless, and clumsy, but I'm gobsmacked by the hilarity of these adrenaline-fueled action set pieces. It has to be seen to be believed. For instance (spoilers), a man bursts into flames and sprints at Mark. To avoid the burning man, Mark jumps out of a three story-building window and rebounds through the roof of a white van. He escapes in the nick of time before the burning man falls into the explosive white van. Truly awe-inspiring!After the action scenes, there's nothing to recommend. Mark is obnoxious and unlikeable. For instance, a partner asks him a simple question and he screams at her face. His behavior continues throughout the movie. The narrative is disjointed with nonstop structure problems from the beginning and many questions go unanswered, but at least he's safe with his family.

zardoz-13 C. Thomas Howell plays a combustible, trigger-happy, Los Angeles cop in the "Lethal Weapon" mode in Joseph Merhi's formulaic but above-average crime thriller "The Sweeper" with Ed Lauter. Merhi's fast-moving, 101-minute epic evokes memories of the "Dirty Harry" sequel "Magnum Force." In other words, when the legal system fails to serve the public, a secret organization called Justice Incorporated steps in to resolve the situation with extreme prejudice. The action opens with an exciting prologue that traces our protagonist's back story. Mark Goddard's father was a police sergeant (Jeff Fahkey), and he was a good cop until a hit squad strike at his home and killed him. One of the killers terrorizes Mark rather than kill him. Indeed, the assailant thrusts a revolver into Mark's hands and urges him to shoot him in the head, but Mark cannot bring himself to commit murder. Years later, our hero works for the LAPD like his dad. The mystery about who killed his parents haunts our hero's every waking minute. Goddard's team has been getting sloppy. One of them is stabbed by a suspect who preys on ATM users. Our fearless but pugnacious hero chases the knife-wielding maniac atop a high building where they battle it out. Eventually, Mark loops a length of cable around the assailant's neck and plunges with him into the air some twenty feet or more above the ground. Of course, the guy dies by strangulation. Later, when he arrests a child pornographer, Mark loses his cool when the suspect gives him the benefit of his smart lip, and a public brawl ensues. Mark is the bane of the force and his boss alerts Internal Affairs about him because he is fed up with Mark. The action scenes are competently done, and the performances are strong, with C. Thomas Howell showing his tougher side. One of the best scenes has our hero pursuing an assailant down the highway with the villain knocking huge metal chemical bottles off a flatbed truck and shooting slugs in them so they explode in front of our tenacious hero as he swerves behind him. Our hero manages to field one bottle on the hood of his car, smash the villain from the behind so that the bottle bounces through the back window of his car, and then he shoots the bottle and blows the bad guy to kingdom come!

Comeuppance Reviews Ever since he was a young boy, there was no question that Mark Goddard (Howell) would become a good cop like his father Dale (Fahey). When bad guys gun down his whole family, it traumatizes him, but he grows up to become a police officer anyway - but naturally his unfortunate past has given him a chip on his shoulder and a proclivity towards violence. Sure, the recipients of said violence are criminal scum, and this allows him entry into a super-secret fraternity of criminal-killers called J.I. or "Justice Incorporated". If you have nine kills to your credit, you are allowed entry. Even though the naturally suspicious Goddard is wary, he reluctantly joins because the leader, Molls (Lauter) is persuasive, his associate Rachel (Dalton) is seductive, and he gets to go on off-the-books missions and kill as many bad guys as he wants and still get paid. But the awesomeness of this setup quickly wears thin as Molls hides a sinister secret. All Goddard wants to do is see his son, and reconnect with his estranged wife Melissa (Gunn)...but will he get the chance before all his incredibly dangerous doings get to him first? This is an excellent movie. God bless PM, they've done it again. This ranks right up there with Zero Tolerance (1994) and Last Man Standing (1996) with the best of the PM's. C. Thomas Howell is great as the troubled cop on the edge, and while other actors in this situation would have relied on simply having a goatee, sunglasses, necklaces and a leather vest, not to mention an awesome House of Pain baseball cap (all of which he has because he's a badass, duh), Howell actually adds a lot of care and subtlety to his role. You can see his rage issues and suspicions without him saying anything. It really is CTH at his best. Very under-appreciated.Speaking of things that are under-appreciated, this movie is packed with killer and hugely enjoyable stunts and action setpieces in the true PM tradition. It takes tons of work and skill to pull these things off, but they go by in such a flash, people tend not to think about all the talent, artistry and labor that goes into them. You've got to admit, PM brings it, and brings it hard, and you CAN'T not love it.There's plenty of familiar faces on show as well, besides the aforementioned CTH, Dalton, Gunn and Lauter, there's also John Ryan of American Cyborg: Steel Warrior (1993) fame as the head of the "Concrete Lion" gang, PM mainstay Kathrin Middleton, the legendary Felton Perry, and lastly Max Slade, who famously was one of the 3 Ninjas (1992). Of the supporting cast, we saved the best for last: Jeff Fahey. Perhaps the only flaw in this movie is that we would have liked to see more Fahey. His role is small. But it's important and fits the plot, we understand.PM understands that stunts aren't worth jack if you don't have characters that you care about that are in danger. Thanks to some above average acting and writing, they can now marry that to their top-notch stuntwork. PM puts in actual effort and it pays off in dividends.We wholeheartedly recommend The Sweeper! For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com

BroadswordCallinDannyBoy I was quite skeptical when I picked this up off of the shelf at the video store. This film (about which I have heard nothing before) was probably a direct-to-video release from a no name movie director and producer with a lead actor who isn't that well know. I have seen my share of cheesy low budget action movies before and they can be quite entertaining for how dumb they are. Take some Steven Seagal movies recently: they are embarrassingly bad but if you want to watch a crappy movie and get a laugh they are great.I approached this movie with that very attitude only to be totally surprised by the all out action scenes and some remarkably awesome car chases. From the intro to the final scene this movie just rolls along with shootouts, chases, and of course, obligatory B-movie sex. What's more is that the action is better than most big-budget, star-laden productions, because the action here is just action, not so much obvious choreography, but s**t blowing up! Cars flipping over! One pistol in each hand and too much ammo! Guys flying back with bloody squibs bursting! Of course the action was, in fact, choreographed, but that factor is much less in your face then say... a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Bad Boys 2 had a $130 million budget, 2 big stars, other known actors, a big director, and probably Hollywoods current most powerful, money-loaded producer (who has, in fact, made some good films), but that all didn't stop Bad Boys 2 from being a glamorous over done mess. An example from the other end of the spectrum would be Alone in the Dark. That film didn't have an astronomical budget ($20 million) but it was still to glammy and the effects seemed to be there just to show them off. And, in the end, the film was generally hated and now owns a very special spot on the IMDb bottom 100.The Sweeper is not like that in anyway and, as far as mainstream action films go, it is more like Ronin. Though I must say Ronin is better than The Sweeper, as the story aspect in it is much better. Here the story is pretty much an excuse for all action, but if you want to watch an action film, will you really complain? Entertainment doesn't have to be story perfect. And both Ronin and The Sweeper spare the viewer the "big and overdone" aspect that Jerry Bruckheimer and his good friend Michael Bay love to specialize in. Also, ironically, Ronin didn't fare that well at the US box office despite having respectable actors and good director, because people just want fun and glam too much. I guess truly good action films are like heavy metal: everyone knows they exist, but other forms of the same thing dominate the charts. And both have their own loyal audience. 8/10 Rated R: violence and profanity