The_Phantom_Projectionist Though I will always recognize PM Entertainment and director Joseph Merhi for being the main producers of karate B-movies from the 1990s, a flick like ZERO TOLERANCE reminds me that they were in fact more versatile when it came to the action department. This is an ambitious, occasionally cool but ultimately mild shoot-em-up picture that foolishly takes a "less is more" method when it would have been better off embracing excess. Particular fans of Robert "T-1000" Patrick may apply.The story: When his family is murdered and his own life endangered by a powerful drug cartel, an FBI agent (Patrick) becomes a vigilante deadest on revenge.As much as I like ol' Joe Merhi, I wish that a more inventive director had helmed this one and brought more life to the potential-filled plot. PM regularly made films that were a lick or two above the dramatic average of competitors, but here, it unsuccessfully attempts to navigate a precisely-balanced screenplay. John Flynn or Andrew Davis might have taken the screenplay and coordinated it into an escalating action-thriller, whereas Merhi bloats the first half of the picture with plot while skimping on action, then reverses the formula for the second half. It's a competent film, definitely, but the dramatic scenes appear awkwardly-placed and the actors often underwhelm in their performances.Action-wise, the movie does well enough but could achieve more. Much to my surprise, there was a smattering of fight scenes, though none of them particularly stood out. The highlights are several exhibitions of bullet ballet, clearly modeled after John Woo's output. Viewed in a vacuum, the handful of large-scale shootouts is furious and entertaining. However, other films have had better results in westernizing the HARD BOILED standard: NEMESIS and even HARD JUSTICE are both relatively cheap films that alternatively did a better job of aping Woo's style and improvising with the resources they had. ZERO TOLERANCE features occasionally cool stuntwork and a handful of unique guns, but I've seen much better.Strong production values are balanced out by a surprisingly grim tone, making this an interesting action flick to watch but not necessarily a fun one. I declare it to be on the low side of average: worth catching on TV, maybe worth renting digitally, but probably not worthy of purchase.

Vivekmaru45 That's a dialogue in the film a little boy tells Jeff Douglas (Robert Patrick). He responds solemnly "nothing".What would you do if your wife and child were murdered by a crimelord? You would take the matter in your own hands.This is ZERO TOLERANCE a hard as nails revenge plot akin to The Punisher and also the main character is similar to that of Frank Castle. Plot: After surviving a sneak attack on himself and fellow feds Jimmy (William Steis) and Gene (Michael Gregory) as they transport drug kingpin Raymond Manta (Titus Welliver) out of a Mexican jail, FBI agent Jeff Douglas (Robert Patrick) becomes an uwitting pawn of the White Hand drug cartel. Raymond tells Jeff as he is being transported to let him go otherwise Jeff's family, which is being held hostage by Raymond's goons, will be murdered. Jeff tells Raymond to give him his word that his family will not be harmed. Raymond gives his word of honor. Unknown to Raymond, Jeff's family is already dead. When Raymond returns to back to his gang he scolds them for failing to obey his orders. And now Raymond is secretly afraid because he knows Jeff will be coming for him.You will be very satisfied with this film I assure you. I saw this film back in 1995 or 1996, I can't remember, memories fade. Buy it on DVD if you spot it.Films similar to this: The Punisher, Collateral Damage, Death Wish, Death Sentence, Johnny Handsome, Mad Max, The Crow.Email me Vivekmaru@yahoo.com for more movies list and recommendations and why not have a chat as well?Have a NICE day.

ccthemovieman-1 For action freaks, this is great stuff, but overdid it, especially at the end. If they hadn't this might have been a good movie overall. For the first hour, this was tremendous with some wild, jaw-dropping action scenes in the typical revenge story angle.Then it gets out-of-hand with good guy "Jeff Douglas" (Robert Patrick) killing all the bad guys in sight while numerous villains can't him - not one! It really gets ludicrous, and to make it worse, the acting is not the best in this movie. Some really dumb line deliveries and stupid characters. In the end, worth a rental but not a purchase.

Bilstein It annoys the hell out of me when, if a film has a lot of violence and/or gore, that automatically means it's second rate, with poor acting and a weak script etc. I would say 'Wishmaster' is an example. Lots of gore = poor, so to speak. And I would say this is another of those types of films. It has an excessive amount of violence, which means by most people, including major film reviewers, it's discarded as junk.And that's a pity because this film is really rather good. I'll be the first to admit that I'm drawn to any film which has warnings about its levels of violence, but this, along with 'To Protect and Serve', seemed to shine above the rest.Anyone who said this film has poor acting obviously missed the bit when Jeff, over the phone, learns his family has been massacred. After a brief period of time, Jeff goes over the edge, and Robert Patrick does it perfectly.This has been done before, and is, in some instances, ridiculous. (At one point, Jeff drives his car through the side of a helicopter. The helicopter goes boom, but the car emerges almost undamaged.) But then again, Die Hard was pretty ridiculous too, and that was one of the greatest action films I've ever seen. This isn't Oscar winning stuff, but it's damn good.Caution is advised: Some scenes are very violent.8/10 - I thoroughly enjoyed it