Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The_Phantom_Projectionist The story: When out-of-work fighters Dave (Dale Cook) and James (Ron Hall) rescue a washed-up Army sergeant (Robert Marius) from a beating, he reveals to them the location of a long-lost treasure in the jungles of Cambodia. Hounded by the henchmen of a greedy crimelord (Nick Nicholson), they enlist the help of kickboxer Julie Webb (Bridgett Riley) and use their combined martial talents to take out whomever stands in their way.This movie is cheap. Dirt cheap. I imagine that whatever budget the filmmakers had was spent flying the cast and crew to Thailand, and once there, they worked with whatever they had in their pockets. The video quality hearkens back to '70s pornos and the audio is likewise horrible, with incorrectly-synched sound effects and dialogue that sometimes sounds like it was recorded from the far end of the set. Such poor production values mirror the quality of the acting: Cook and Hall are both world-class athletes but can't act their way past a drive-thru window, while Nick Nicholson should be sued for breaching some kind of overacting law. Robert Marius gives pretty much the same performance he does in all of his movies, but there's a trace of charm in his hamminess. Bridgett Riley isn't great either, but her marginally better performance, coupled with her physical stuff, makes me lament that she didn't get more starring roles in her career. She would have made an excellent Cynthia Rothrock-type heroine.Though it takes a while to get there, the movie eventually redeems itself with some choice fight scenes. Riley looks absolutely legitimate as a trained butt-kicker. Dale Cook, though regularly derided for his other films, also gives a strong showing. The real standout star among the cast, however, is Ron Hall, whose unique fighting style takes precedence more than once over the others. It's a shame that so few people know of him (and that those that do will by way of the godawful VAMPIRE ASSASSINS, but this makes watching him a rare treat and privileged pleasure for those who've spent time tracking down this movie. The fights start off weakly, but build up so that the end of the film is marked by an all-out brawl that's 100% better than the initial bout. The choreography reaches particular heights during a series of three fights, when at one point Ron Hall catches his opponent in a headscissors and pummels him in the face until he's felled; it's a move right out of a video game and really helps to open your eyes to what these guys are capable of pulling off.There are a few weirdo scenes to contend with, like when Dave and James begin an impromptu beating of bad guys without any introduction, or when a henchmen punishes himself by jumping in a pool. On their own, these seem really odd, but when watched in a zany B-movie mindset, they end up serving as throwaway qualities of a movie in need of all the help it can get. I can't in good conscience give this one a wide recommendation, but if you like low-budget karate flicks and know that you have the patience to sit through some questionable parts, then the chances of you having a fun time with this little-known kicker are good.

Comeuppance Reviews Dave Masters (Cook) and James Stokes (Hall) are buddies who make money on staged Punchfighting matches with each other. They have choreographed moves that the audience doesn't know about. When a mysterious man, Karl (Hourani) approaches them about recovering a priceless treasure - a golden Buddha head - the two men agree to put their scam on hold and go on a jungle adventure. They recruit fellow fighter Julie Webb (Riley) to go along with them. Besides the fact they must dodge many perils to get the treasure, they must also contend with the evil McMann (Nicholson) and his team. They also want the head and will stop at nothing to get it. So jumpkicks, spin moves, and maybe an exploding helicopter ensue as the two camps attempt to retrieve the treasure.We love Dale "Apollo" Cook. We've said it before, we'll say it again. Why isn't he making movies anymore? Where are you buddy? In this outing, he's more animated than usual, and he displays a very childlike sense of humor in his role as Dave. Plus, his array of sweatpants, acid-washed jeans, and ever-present fanny pack add to his personal style. Throughout most of the movie - including the majority of his fights - he never removes the fanny pack. What could be in there? And speaking of national treasures who have great reaction shots (which we more or less were...), Cook's partner in crime here, Ron Hall, is amazing as well. He also starred with Cook in Raw Target (1995), and is credited with stunts on The Quest (1996), but this is his strongest appearance we've seen to date. His acting style is truly one of a kind and demands to be seen. Plus he has some cool moves in the Martial Arts department as well. Fan-favorite Nick Nicholson can proudly add this movie to his already highly-impressive filmography. Usually he appears in small roles and bit parts, but here he gets to chew the scenery as the main baddie. Bridgett "Babydoll" Riley has a fruitful career in stuntwork, and this is one of her few movies as an actress. She's obviously an integral part of the Cook-Hall-Riley "Triple Impact" team (not to be confused with the mere Double Impact which not coincidentally was released only the year earlier, in 1991).What's interesting here is that this movie seems to be inspired by the Chuck Norris movie Firewalker (1986). There are some definite similarities. But the fact that Triple Impact is an adventure film cross-pollinated with a Punchfighter is a unique blend that you don't see too often. Like another Cook film, Fist of Glory (1991), this starts off as a Vietnam jungle movie in a prologue (not forgetting an exploding hut or two), then moves to Punchfighting/adventure. Both Cook movies integrate more than one action movie scenario. As this is another Davian International production (who made most of Cook's output), if you've seen other Dale "Apollo" Cook movies, this follows stylistically. Plus any movie that has on its box this credit: Mike "Cobra" Cole as "Cobra Cole", you know it is worth seeing.Besides the funny faces and enjoyable dumbness, there's a great training sequence featuring a song we believe is called "Fight To Win", but sadly we don't know for sure, and we don't know the artist that created this great tune, because there is no credit for it. Oddly, the sound quality for this song is extremely poor and it sounds like it was recorded on a tape recorder. But this song/sequence is a movie highlight nonetheless.Triple Impact is probably second, after American Kickboxer 2 (1993) , for our favorite Dale "Apollo" Cook movie. Thank you AIP for releasing it.For more action insanity, please visit: www.comeuppancereviews.com