Steele Justice

Steele Justice

1987 "The only law is the Black Tiger's. The only justice is John Steele's"
Steele Justice
Steele Justice

Steele Justice

4.9 | 1h35m | en | Action

Steele is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general and now rich and powerful drug lord.

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4.9 | 1h35m | en | Action | More Info
Released: May. 08,1987 | Released Producted By: Atlantic Entertainment Group , Country: Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

Steele is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general and now rich and powerful drug lord.

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Cast

Martin Kove , Sela Ward , Ronny Cox

Director

Richard N. McGuire

Producted By

Atlantic Entertainment Group ,

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Reviews

ivo-cobra8 Steele Justice (1987) is an underrated solid action flick from the 80's it is a cheap action film but it is a really good rated R action film from the 80's from Martin Kove this is his best role. Written and directed by Robert Boris. What can I say about this film? I like this film not love but like for a fun popcorn cheese action movie. I loved Martin Kove in The Karate Kid Trilogy as Sensei John Kreese he was really a bad guy and he become really famous by his role. A lot of people on the street yelled at Martin saying he hurt Ralph and they hated him, he played the bad guy Vietnam Vet and a karate "bad" guy instructor. A year later after the release of the first film The Karate Kid (1984) he went to play another Vietnam Vet character but this time Ericson in the action war flick Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) another bad guy who is a Vietnam Vet. I wish his character would had more to do. But this time he plays another Vietnam Vet this time he is "John Steele" wow what a cool character. An ex cop and a Vietnam Vet. Martin Kove plays this time a good guy in a cheap movie we can see he is a nice person not an evil guy like he got the roles on a screen. Martin does a fine solid job playing his character and I like this movie it is my favorite Martin Kove film.Plot: Steele is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general and now rich and powerful drug lord.This is an action revenge film of the 80's and it is one-man army action hero type. We see like 1975 a mission that John Steele (Martin Kove) and his partner Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim) goes on a secret mission in the Vietnam only that they are set up by the nemesis Gen. Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh) who try's to kill them but John saves Lee and he wounds Kwan with a knife and leave's him for dead but Kwan survives. 12 years later Lee is now a detective by LAPD on a chase for a cocaine but he was set up Kwan is now the leader of Vietnamese mafia and he deals drugs and prostitution. John is now an ex washed up cop who can't keep a solid job and he is divorced now from his ex wife Tracy (Sela Ward) he get's arrested but Lee bails him out. Kwan sends assassins on Lee and his family to send a message but to everyone in Vietnamese neighborhood, they kill everyone but they miss John and Cami (Jan Gan Boyd), Lee's only daughter now Steele must protect Cami and get's his own brand of justice against Kwan. We have a great action scenes, practical blood squibs, there a few shootouts, Steele were Milk snake around his neck and he avenges his best friend's death in which he served in Vietnam together. Steele kicks ass two assassins in the prison then he escapes jail and he kills a lot of bad guys. He save's Cami and Tracey and other innocent life by killing Vietnamese assassins who start shooting at the music video spot they were filming. It is a rated R film and it is one man one-man army action hero type. One man against an army of Vietnamese mafia. For me it is a good cheese action movie not a boring or crap movie like some reviewers are claiming it is a fun popcorn film. I first saw this movie on VHS when I was 13. years old, years later I watch it on TV. I downloaded form the net and I watch it again and I had fun watching it. Here we have actors Soon-Tek Oh from Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) who plays another Vietnamese soldier bad guy. In Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) he played Colonel Yin enemy to Chuck Norris this time he plays a Vietnamese General Kwan another evil bad guy. We have Ronny Cox from Beverly Hills Cop 1 & 2, Robocop, Total Recall who plays another good guy and again a cop Bennett another good guy. We have Sela Ward from CSI: NY, we also have Sarah Douglas from Superman 1,2 and Al Leong from Die Hard. This a prototypical good action film but because it is cheap and cheese it get's a bad rap. My favorite scene is the end in which Steele and Kwan fight's with sword in a duel and we see a good samurai fights in which Steele uses two swords while Kwan uses one samurai sword. Practical real samurai demonstration. I like action films like are: Rambo films, Demolition Man, Cobra, Tango & Cash, Cliffhanger, Assassins, Hard Target, Hard Boiled, Broken Arrow, The Killer, The Last Boy Scout, Die Hard franchise, Commando, 48 Hrs., Red Heat, Missing In Action 1,2, Steel Dawn, Road House, Black Dog, John Wick, Speed, The Matrix Trilogy flicks, Terminator 1,2 & 3, Predator 1,2, RoboCop 1,2, Beverly Hills Cop 1,2, Death Wish 3, Universal Soldier, Cyborg and many more action movies. I really love the 80's the rating I am giving to this movie is a 6 a good solid movie. I can't give it more higher and I can't also an negative score F. Steele Justice is a 1987 film written and directed by Robert Boris.6/10 Grade: C Studio: Atlantic Entertainment Group Starring: Martin Kove, Sela Ward, Soon-Tek Oh, Robert Kim, Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Jan Gan Boyd, Peter Kwong Director: Robert Boris Producers: Thomas Coleman, Michael Rosenblatt, John Strong Screenplay: Robert Boris Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 36 Mins. Budget: $1.327.740
Scott LeBrun Beefcake actor Martin Kove joined the ranks of action genre stars with this routinely plotted but fairly amusing vehicle. Kove plays genial Vietnam veteran John Steele, who goes into action when his wartime comrade Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim), now a police detective, is assassinated along with most of his family. Helped and hindered by former colleagues like Bennett (Ronny Cox) and Tom Reese (Bernie Casey), John goes up against a wartime associate named Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh), who's now a drug lord in America masquerading as a crusading businessman.I'm going to give the filmmakers (led by writer & director Robert Boris) the benefit of the doubt here, and say that the amount of laughs to be had from watching this are intentional. If one does see it as tongue in cheek, it may yield greater entertainment than if they take it seriously. "Steele Justice" does have its moments. For one thing, it stops cold for a rock video that is eventually interrupted by the ongoing battles between Steele and Kwans' minions. But the unqualified highlight occurs when Steele is shot with a poison dart, and almost nonchalantly, he removes the offending dart, sucks up and spits out the poison, and does a fine job of improvising when it comes to cauterizing the wound. The action sequences are all reasonably well done.Kove is engaging as our sardonic hero, often to be seen with a smile on his face. Oh is an enjoyably hammy villain in the action movie tradition. Sela Ward is a lovely woman, but as the heros' ex-wife, she offers a pretty insipid performance. Ditto for Jan Gan Boyd (the young lady who was hot for Bronson in the movie "Assassination"), cast as Van Minhs' supposedly teen aged daughter. Watch this and you'll see why she never had much of a career. There's a pleasingly large amount of familiar faces in the supporting cast, although some of them have no more than cameos or walk ons: Joseph Campanella, Sarah Douglas, Peter Kwong, Al Leong, Shannon Tweed, Irene Tsu, David L. Lander, Asher Brauner, Phil Fondacaro, Kevin Gage.Any completist of 1980s action movies should have a pretty good time with this.Six out of 10.
videorama-759-859391 This straight to drive in action pic, is just your typic action fare, with some well staged action set pieces, no more. What's fascinatingly strange here, it's it's lead, Kove, who I've never seen, take the lead before, while also playing a good guy. I'll be honest, I've never considered this guy to be much of an actor, my friend, even stating, during the 80's, he's a no talent, but I've seen him in a lot of stuff. I am glad to see him in this, and really, he doesn't do half a bad job (but don't push it) as a Vietnam vet turned cop, out to bust an Asian bad arse, (one of his team you'll recognize straight out of the first Die Hard) who has slain the closest thing to family, though his late vet/cop buddy was crooked. The surviving daughter, a little Asian girl, who overacts, especially one bit of dialogue, robot sounding, when she and Uncle John are on a stolen boat, about to flee from authorities, is taken under his wing. What Steele Justice suffers from, is tired formula, and you'll feel tired and exhausted by this at the end, when he's claimed victory, killing off the bad dudes, two who went on to star in certain B grade, Wings Hauser fare. There are some dumb moments in this slightly stupid actioner. Ronny Cox, as the police commissioner is so actor stereotyped, when you look at his surrounding roles of this mid 80's era. Shannon Tweed provides nice scenery and a sexual stimulant to the film as Soon Teck Oh's business partner, and she looks so fine in a bikini. Soon Teck Oh, in a kimono, not. A weird partnership. Sela Ward as John's ex, looks undernourished. The eye nabbing performance is that of Joseph Campanella as Steele's old vet buddy, now an untrusting one. He makes his scenes, worthwhile, while another highlight of the average 80's action, is it's rockin' finale soundtrack. Out of interest this was on at the drive in, with another film of even appeal, Slate, Wyn And Me.
ThingyBlahBlah3 I wouldn't pay a cent to see this movie, but if it's available free On Demand, there are worse ways to kill 90 minutes. Every 80s action cliché is on display, although there are a few fresh spins here and there; a car crashes through a trailer, and it's the trailer that inexplicably explodes into a huge fireball, not the car. Similarly, it's the police chief's recklessness (instead of his stupidity) that constantly undermines the hero. And there's a bit at the end where the bad guy is using the hero's ex-wife as a shield whose resolution was a nice surprise.For a low-budget piece of crap, the cast is halfway decent, although understandably they're not doing their best work here. Martin Kove seemed to have a sense of humor about the whole thing, and he's fun to watch. Ronny Cox does a neat riff on the aforementioned clichéd chief, and Bernie Casey is always welcome; he's one of the few guys I truly believe would be back at work two hours after taking a bullet to the abdomen. Sela Ward (aka the former Mrs. Gregory House) shows up to whine and try to stop Steele from doing what a man's gotta do, etc. And the mighty Al Leong manages to get blown away twice, and even has a few lines of dialogue this time around.Soon-Tek Oh is a decent bad guy, but like every other reviewer pointed out, once you see him in that blue muumuu, it's kind of hard to take him seriously. Hannibal Lecter in that muumuu? Not scary. Darth Vader in that muumuu? Not scary.As for Steele himself, it's worth noting that for most of the movie, he's falling-down drunk and is always on the losing end of every fight. Then when it's time for vengeance, cue up a sub-Rocky montage complete with a hilariously bad 80s rock song, and suddenly he's the Terminator. He even manages to infiltrate a secret Army testing center (which seems to be located right in the same neighborhood where everything else takes place) and steals a top secret Army tank-like thingamajig, driving right past a bunch of guards who don't even try to stop him.All in all, a classic piece of 80s b-grade nonsense.