Ultimate Force (2005)

Ultimate Force (2005)- * *

Directed by: Mark Burson

Starring: Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic and Ruza Madarevic

A man named Axon Rey (Cro-Cop) could just rest easy in life, secure in the knowledge that his name is Axon Rey. One night, he gets tranq'd while walking in the park. He wakes up in a strange science lab where he seems to be undergoing cyber-brainwashing of some sort. He now has to go on missions for S.I.N. (the State Intelligence Network, which, judging by the meatheadedness of Rey, might be an ironic name). He now has the code name of "Sphinx" and said Intelligence means beating up a series of opponents. In the midst of all this, Axon Rey or Sphinx or Cro-Cop or whatever the hell his name is reconnects with "lost love" Sari (Madarevic) and they plan to escape the evil clutches of S.I.N. forever. But can they do it? Does Axon Rey or S.I.N. wield the ULTIMATE FORCE?


Support your local police: be pro-cop. Support Axon Rey and Watch Ultimate Force: be Cro-Cop. Or something like that. According to AI, there are about 50,000 titles (both movies and TV series) on Tubi right now. Ultimate Force is...one of them.


Sure, Cro-Cop doesn't talk much, but why is that a problem? When John Wick has minimal dialogue, everyone thinks it's great. Cro-Cop looks like a cross between Vinnie Jones and Ray Stevenson and is an MMA fighter. He lacks the charisma of a Bas Rutten, or of various types of pine, spruce, or oak. But you're not watching Ultimate Force to see a master thespian at work. You want him to punch and kick people, presumably. That he does, and there are these intercut little bits that look like they're from a 90's CD-ROM game that say "Damage" or "Fatal Damage". Even though the film is from 2005, it was shot in Croatia and they probably don't have up-to-the-minute effects tech. The techno soundtrack also sounds like it's from the 90's. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to you to decide.



It's like a less-hyper Gunblast Vodka (2000) or less-crazy Diamond Cartel (2015), in that sense. It has that depressed, eastern European feel that's beyond even what's shot in Bulgaria. But those two films don't have "fire wipes" in between scenes, which have a very "My First Editing Machine" feel to them, like at any moment Homer Simpson will say, "Star wipe and we're out!" There is also some "fast motion", as we call it. We don't mean to come off harshly regarding Ultimate Force, but once you get to the point, as we have, where you've watched so many action films you've gotten to Wayne Crawford and Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic movies, you just have to kind of put your hands up in the air and say, "Yeah, okay. Here we are", and just go with it.



That being said, we still get some classic cliches. Notably, dialogue like, "We go a long way back, you and me", and "He's the best!", and scenes of Prerequisite Torture of the hero. Sure, all of this has a sort of sci-fi twist involving an AI robot of sorts named Caesar, but somewhere in the mix, elements that used to be integral to filmmaking, such as dialogue, plot, characterization, decent lighting, and, not to get greedy, but emotion, surprises or twists, got lost along the way, it seems. Maybe that's what happens when you make a whole 90-minute film around a name, and an MMA name at that. This becomes especially evident in the final third of the film or so, when there is no action whatsoever. Is that because writer/director Burson thought the audience would want to spend this time watching Cro-Cop attempt to act? It's all kind of funny in its way but also quite confusing.


Not to be confused with the Ross Kemp TV series of the same name, Ultimate Force is not exactly a must-watch. MMA fans or the more masochistic among you may want to dare these strange waters. If you stay tuned until after the credits, we get a James Bond-style note: "Axon Rey will return in..." Although, to date, that has not happened, it comes off as more of a threat in this particular case.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Relentless Justice (2015)

Relentless Justice (2015)- * *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Leilani Sarelle, Ted Prior, Mimi Michaels, Sherrie Rose, Vernon Wells, Lisa Langlois,  Tara Kleinpeter, Sonia Curtis, and Eric Roberts 

Victoria DeVries (Sarelle) is the owner, operator and main trainer at an MMA gym in Alabama. She's also the loving and protective mother of her daughter Sherrie (Michaels, not Rose, who appears elsewhere later on). When Sherrie and her boyfriend roll into the rural burg of Lake Forest on some sort of camping trip (never go camping), they run afoul of a gaggle of baddies who hunt people for sport. 

Victoria's Mom-tuition perks up and she senses something is wrong. She heads out into the wilderness to find her daughter, and runs up against these same villains, and she has a big problem when it turns out that head evildoer, Jason Macendale (Wells) is MAYOR Jason Macendale of Lake Forest. Uh oh. Macendale's iron fist of control of the town further starts to crack when Deputy Goodrich (Sonia Curtis) and Dr. Traci Lind (Kleinpeter) - both of whom deliver tour-de-force performances - start to realize something rotten is going down in Lake Forest. When an event (no spoilers) occurs, Victoria DeVries - a former Australian intelligence operative, spy, and supersoldier, not to mention MMA master - falls back on her skills to hunt the bad guys down one by one in almost slasheresque style. Will Victoria enact RELENTLESS JUSTICE on the baddies?



It's called Relentless Justice. It's directed by David A. Prior. It features Eric Roberts, Vernon G. Wells, Sherrie Rose, and Ted Prior. Did you think we WEREN'T going to watch and review this? This is Comeuppance Reviews-bait all the way. So we were willing to give ol' RJ plenty of slack. But, let's be honest, there are some problems here. While we applaud the Priors for continuing to make this sort of movie in 2015, the downside of that is that it has this unpleasant digital look to it, a "new" look that comes from using a Red camera. We can't help but miss the pleasurable quality of good old-fashioned film. We understand it's probably difficult and expensive these (those?) days to make a film like this on actual film, but we can't help but think that if they had taken that extra time and trouble, it would have paid off with a more pleasing visual look.


That aside, there are definite, obvious pacing problems. The justice isn't as relentless as you might think. Only in the final section of the film do things really pop off in the way you want them to, and even then, things are hampered by the low budget. We know they're trying, but certain aspects just can't be overcome.


Funny to say, but RJ needed more action. Sarelle as De Vries needed to fight more goons in the middle section of the film, and throughout. The fact that this doesn't happen leads to slower moments in this 96-minute outing. She's an appealing lead, she should have been given more heads to bust. By this point in our lives, we've all seen Hard Target (1993), Avenging Force (1986), Surviving the Game (1994), and their derivatives countless times. If you're going to do this sort of plot again, you need to inject it with some sort of new element, a twist, or just a lot of energy and verve, which, as much as it pains us to say, is largely missing from Relentless Justice. Bas Rutten came up against this same problem in The Eliminator (2004). If he can't overcome this obstacle, what hope do the rest of us have?


That being said, it was nice to see some of our favorite people all together again. Eric Roberts was here as some kind of gangster, who doesn't exactly fit into the "backwoods" plot, but was present and accounted for because Roberts was likely available for a few days. His scenes are some of the better ones, and they're enhanced by the fact that most of them include fan favorite Sherrie Rose. Oddly, her character is named Cinzia Monreale, the name of a real-life Italian actress best known for being in Fulci's The Beyond (1981). Could this have been the suggestion of writer/producer Fabio Soldani? We may never know. Ted Prior, Vernon Wells, and Lisa Langlois are the notable baddies, and it was especially interesting to see Langlois in that sort of role, seemingly cast against type.


Try as anyone might, it's basically impossible to recreate the glory days of Deadly Prey (1987). We know the Priors tried again with Deadliest Prey (2013) before this. RJ might have been them giving the formula one last go. This was David Prior's last completed film before his death this same year, 2015, at the too-young age of 59. There was a posthumously-released final film, Assassin's Fury, in 2023.

Shot in the Prior's stomping grounds of Mobile, Alabama and its surrounding areas, and featuring a final, end-credits song, "Revolution", by Olivia D'Abo - yes, that Olivia D'Abo, of all people - Relentless Justice has its faults and flaws, as we all do as human beings, but fans of the Priors, any of the stars involved, or independent/regional filmmaking could give it at least one whirl.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty