It's amazing when one stops to think about it: Robert Clouse directed perhaps the greatest martial arts movie of them all (ENTER THE DRAGON), then proceeded to plummet downhill as fast as he possibly could. He went from the very apex (although I actually prefer the fight scenes in WAY OF THE DRAGON and GAME OF DEATH- as seen in the documentary A WARRIOR'S JOURNEY, anyway- to those in ENTER THE DRAGON) to fumbling through more BAD movies than your average Z-grade director. Once again, Joe Lewis is the sole saving grace in a film (the other was JAGUAR LIVES!); by dint of his performance (which should've been expanded, since he was the only actor worth his chops in this one), he makes this one worth watching- despite Clouse's aforementioned propensity for screwing up potentially good action movies. (Come on: GAME OF DEATH, GYMKATA...?) FORCE: FIVE is essentially a remake/ripoff of ENTER THE DRAGON, by a man who should've known better.
Review of Force: Five
