Leofwine_draca
OVERKILL is a quite wonderful mid-'90s B-movie starring Aaron Norris, the brother of Chuck who nobody's head of. It's a complete travesty of a film, of course, and completely trashy in the best 1990s sense, and yet it's oddly enjoyable for fans of the genre. A predominance of the kind of hard-hitting fight scenes that '90s films are known for helps with the entertainment factor.The plot is an uninspired retread of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, or perhaps HARD TARGET; Norris's loner hero is the prey of a rich huntsman and his team of mercenaries in some Central American country. He's saddled with irritating comedy relief and a typically beautiful love interest, but what follows will surprise nobody: this follows a tired plot line without any variance of deviation; the kind of thing we've seen dozens of times before.Still, the action is just about acceptable and that's what makes this film just about watchable - if you're in a forgiving mood. Norris is an entirely wooden screen presence - not that he has anything in the way of actual PRESENCE - but physiccally he's not bad as a slower version of his brother. His end bout with villain David Rowe makes for goofy fun. Michael Nouri slums it as the chief bad guy of the piece, and there's even some mumbo jumbo nonsense involving jungle spirits thrown into the mix. The most outstanding thing? Norris's beautifully-tended hair...
Comeuppance Reviews
Jack Hazard (Norris) is a cop on the edge who is sent down to San Carlos (actually Puerto Vallarta, Mexico), presumably because his name is too awesome for the LAPD. All Hazard wants to do is just relax and be shirtless for a while, but he runs into the nerdy Steiner (Moskow) who has, as seems to be very common in this time period, a computer disc. What's on the disc you ask? All the dirt on an unscrupulous, evil land developer named Lloyd Wheeler (Nouri), of course. Naturally, Wheeler sends Hazard and Steiner into the "Jungle of the Shadow People" so he can hunt them down and kill them. But Hazard has a few tricks up his sleeve for Wheeler and his gang of baddies.Aaron Norris...yes...AARON Norris here makes his bid along with relatives Chuck and Mike to be another action hero. And just in time too, as I was starting to worry that the world was running short on Norrises. He's an odd-looking man, a sort of cross between David Heavener and Don Swayze. He's the perfect star for those who find the work of Lorenzo Lamas too intellectually challenging. His line readings are beyond wooden, they're petrified, much like the trees of the jungle the movie takes place in. He's yet another goofy meathead, perfect for this movie however, which is yet another "Most Dangerous Game" retread. By 1996 they really should have known better.Perhaps that was the prevailing feeling on the set of Overkill, (which doesn't really live up to its name by the way, nor does the promise of the name "Jack Hazard" get fulfilled), as Michael Nouri was probably only involved so he could go to a warm, sunny location, sleepwalk through a one-dimensional role and get a nice check. You can't really blame him, but Aaron has even less energy than Chuck Norris, he doesn't talk much, and when he does, his performance can best be described as shirtless and mulleted. So he's not bringing the energy level up too high.Of course, there are the classic clichés and silly lines as well. This was director Ferrandini's only directorial effort to date, and he's much more well known as a stuntman, having a long and rich career in that field. He's done stuntwork for Comeuppance classics such as Breakin' (1984), Zero Tolerance (1994), Hologram Man (1995), and Invasion USA (1985), among other Chuck vehicles. With time, his directorial abilities may have improved, but I guess we'll never know. Much of the movie is too dark to see, and needed more light. The plot is something we've all seen before and the audience must try way too hard to get invested, and at a certain point it's just a lost cause. The movie needed some pep. Interestingly, the plot is similar to another Norris vehicle, Mike's Death Ring (1992).By 1996, the music for these movies was just not as good as it used to be, and the movie has no memorable song. There is a song, "Paradise", by the perplexingly-named "Food for Feet", but come on. The days of Steve Butler and "Always on my Mind" were clearly long gone by now.Overkill is stupid and has an unbelievably lame ending. Our standards for movies like this are very low, but Overkill still did not meet those already rock-bottom standards. Overkill is "Hazard"ous to your health.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
rowman2222
I can't say I know what it is but I can offer this. My friends and I were vacationing in Puerto Vallarta when one day we were approached by a woman on the beach. She was a casting director for a film they were shooting nearby and needed extras to be "Swat Cops." It paid 50 bucks and would make a great Spring Break story. So we showed up on the set and were told it was going to be a very exciting movie as it was starring Chuck Norris's brother, Aaron. So we get dressed in the wardrobe and show up on the set when the Director yelled at the casting director telling her that he didn't want any extras that were bigger and better looking than the Star. We didn't get paid but we got free food out of the deal and a lot of funny pictures behind the set. And we hung out the next day with Pamela Dickerson who said she was the female lead. Her name does appear in the credits but having never seen the film, who knows what part she had.
Frank Markland
Aaron Norris stars as a martial artist/cop who goes down to some Caribbean island and is hunted by a sadistic Michael Nouri (In an embarrassing performance) in this Hard Target rip off which is of far lower grade. The main problem with this movie is the acting. Aaron Norris wasn't much of a director and he is an even worse actor. He makes his brother Chuck and even his nephew Mike seem like James Cagney and Spencer Tracy. Aaron Norris is severe in his humorless, charisma-less performance which asks why he even bothered acting if this was the best he could do. He obviously wants to ape Chuck Norris but Norris at least has a screen presence that makes up for his lack of skills. One other thing is that Norris looks exciting kicking ass (As do most action stars who are in this line of work, provided the movie is decent) however Norris looks slow, old and ugly. So do the fights and basically the hunt goes on forever without once indicating excitement. Overkill is appropriate title since the "Most Dangerous Game" premise has been done to overkill but aside from this the best thing about the movie are the previews before the movie.* out of 4-(Bad)
