User Reviews

One of Jeff Wincott's better films. Lot's of karate and a** kicking in this movie. It's been awhile since I've seen it but Jeff Wincott and Gary Hudson are brothers. Jeff's the good cop and Gary is the not-so-good cop. They end up butting head's later on but I won't go there. Jeff is ripped and Gary's not-so-ripped. Gary's taking drug money and using it to better his quality of life.(At least I think that's how it goes). They both get fatherly advice from their Dad played by character actor everyman Richard Jaeckel. Incidentally this was his last movie, he died of cancer in 1997. Seeing how withdrawn and sick he looked here suggests he wasn't doing too well at the time of filming. God rest his soul.

(...though yes, Wincott is Canadian).

Martial Outlaw, a title which has no real bearing on the movie, is more psychologically compelling than most direct to video fare and more morally complex. But really, a martial arts movie is mainly about the fights and it is rare to see an American movie with fights and stunts that are as well staged and fluid as those in Hong Kong movies.

And any movie that has this much fighting and isn't a tournament movie is extra appreciated!

Overall, Martial Outlaw (amazingly) compares to things like Donnie Yen's Flashpoint & Jackie Chan's Police Story II & Yuen Biao's Righting Wrongs. And unlike most American movies that attempt this level of choreography, the fights are not sped up cartoons like in Isaac Florentine's movies (Undisputed II & III & Ninja & Special Forces) or Drive (with Dacascos) or Cynthia Rothrock. Sorry IMDb "martial arts" fans, Martial Outlaw kicks (and backhands) the crap out of that sped up nonsense.

As a fighter, Wincott is great and believable. Compares to brutal but elegant badass Richard Norton and is far above guys like Don "the slow and wooden" Dragon (despite his real life awards).

Overall, Martial Outlaw delivers a lot great and aggressive fights and some solid stunts, and the script has some actual depth. Let it be said that nobody delivers a closed-fist backhand like Mr. Wincott. Bravo!

DEA Agent Kevin White goes to Los Angeles on the trail of a Russian Mafia gang involved with drugs. He stays with his brother who is a cop but they don't see eye to eye. The plot is unoriginal and the acting ordinary. What it does have are good martial art sequences mainly involving Jeff Wincott and Gary Hudson battling with a lot of henchmen. Apart from the action it drags along with no surprises. What it also does have though is Liliana Komorowska. Nuff said.

Kevin White, a DEA agent working in San Francisco, gets the break he needs when he convinces the cousin of a fearsome Russian ex-KGB gangster to become an informant in order to bring down the gangster's new drug empire. Returning home to Los Angeles, Kevin stays over at the home of his brother Jack, who is also a police officer but a patrol cop only. During dinner, Kevin tells Jack about his plan to bust the Russians. But what Kevin doesn't know is that Jack is actually corrupt & has decided to use his brother's information in order to net him an easy payday. Discovering the informant's identity, Jack visits the gangster & kills the informant. He also offers his services for the fee of a million dollars. As Jack's skillful sabotage ruins the DEA case against the gangster, Kevin begins to suspect that the target has some sort of insider in the police department. And when he discovers that his own brother is involved, his blood boils over.

Martial Outlaw is one of a number of cheap B-grade action films made by Canadian producer Pierre David, who is famous for making the Scanners sequels, & stars the likes of Jeff Wincott, a martial artist turned actor who has made a minor living starring in films like this one (he also starred in the likes of UNIVERSAL SOLDIER II: BROTHERS IN ARMS & its sequel as a UniSol).

Martial Outlaw is by all respects an unexceptional action thriller. It has plenty of melee combat & some pretty gnarly fight scenes (Wincott & Hudson take on plenty of Russian gangsters in a restaurant & an athletics club where you discover what a "Russian circle" is). The script is efficient enough to keep the story going along without encountering any plot holes & the twists are telegraphed well in advance.

But while the film is reasonable enough to pass as an action film, it doesn't have any real substance to it. Kurt Anderson keeps the action going to make up for the narrative shortfall & the script, written by at least five people, shows signs of being overproduced (I had a problem with the scene where Hudson's corrupt cop brings in a witness to tell the others about the fake drug deal location – wouldn't the police have instantly discovered that the witness was in fact an actress paid by Hudson to give them the wrong information?). The result is an action B-grader that doesn't make much of an effort to elevate itself above the flood of cheap actioners made during the 1990s.

This movie has everything an action film could want -- heroes and villains and great fight scenes. It stars Jeff Wincott and Gary Hudson. Wincott made a name for himself in a number of great martial arts movies and fans will remember Hudson kicking ass in the classic movie "Roadhouse." Here they play two bothers taking on the Russian mob.

It starts out in San Francisco where DEA agent Kevin White (Wincott) promises a snitch that he'll protect him from the Russian drug dealer Rochenko and his hired muscle Sergei (played by the massive real life bodybuilder Stefano Miltsakakis.) The scene switches to L.A. where we see hero cop Jack White (Hudson) wasting 3 Asian thugs while foiling a pawn shop robbery.

The two brothers couldn't be any more different. Kevin is a straight laced law enforcement professional who trains hard in martial arts. One look at him shirtless, working out on the heavy bag, reveals a chiseled physique. Jack, on the other hand, is all street muscle, with a powerful body built to punish the trash he encounters on patrol. Rivals for the affection of their ex-cop father, and disapproving of each other's style, they hook up once Kevin's case takes him to L.A. Though they start out reminiscing, the tension between them is obvious. In a key scene, Jack challenges Kevin to a friendly sparring match and it's only a matter of time before it leads to fighting for real. Though evenly matched, after trading some well-aimed blows, Kevin's superior training gets the upper hand over Jack's brute strength and it's easy to see he enjoys administering a savage beating to his younger brother.

Angry and humiliated, Jack turns dirty and throws in with Rochenko, where he trades inside information for a cut of the drug money. Rochenko tests Jack's loyalty by ordering him to slay Kevin's snitch. The street cop carries out the assignment and executes the innocent man in cold blood. Meanwhile, Kevin is attacked by a musclebound latino street thug and, after a ferocious fight, offs him with a powerful kick. Standing over the dead thug, Kevin shakes his head muttering "L.A. hasn't changed a bit." Jack starts playing a double game, feeding Rochenko information, but still helping his brother against the Russian enforcers. In a great scene in a restaurant, the two brothers take on a bunch of Rochenko's musclemen and leave the place littered with bodies. The best fight scene comes later when Kevin is lured to a dojo and faces "the Russian Circle." Directed by Sergei, a dozen muscular killers surround Kevin and take turns attacking him. The fights are bloody as they vie for the chance to kill him. With bare hands, swords, chains and clubs, they each take their turn --- but Kevin is faster, stronger and better trained. One by one, he expertly takes each Russian's life. When he's done, Kevin's shirtless torso is gleaming with sweat. He asks Sergei "Is that the best you got?!" Sergei, not liking the odds, disappears.

Conflicted, Jack's plot unravels and Rochenko makes plans to flee with the money. Exposed as a dirty cop, Jack follows and the ultimate showdown takes place. Kevin finally squares off against Sergei and the two struggle barehanded, muscle to muscle, until Kevin proves the stronger, twisting Sergei's head until we hear the sharp crack that lets us know that Kevin has snapped his thick neck. Though Jack still wants the money, his brother tells him he needs to give himself up and it looks like the two brothers might have to fight it out again -- this time to the death. Rochenko intervenes and, when he tries to shoot Kevin, Jack instinctively jumps in the way, taking the bullet meant for his brother.

The movie ends with Jack's hero's funeral, and Kevin realizing that, for all his bad deeds, his brother Jack was a good cop. This tale of two brothers has a good ending and both Jeff Wincott and Gary Hudson do an excellent job playing these tough cops. The martial arts fights are the centerpieces --- especially the "Russian Circle" where the action is white hot.

MARTIAL OUTLAW is a fun B-movie action flick from the early 1990s, teaming up two hard-men of cinema, Jeff Wincott and Gary Hudson. They play brothers drawn into a sinister plot involving Russian gangsters, but loyalties are tested once it becomes clear that one operates on one side of the law and the other on the opposite side. Anyhow, forget the simplistic storyline and the wooden acting, because this film delivers in spades on the action front. Wincott goes through the motions beating up random street thugs, robbers, henchmen and gangsters, and the sound effects team work their hearts out. It's thuggish and somehow endearing, very much a snapshot of an era, and all the better for not getting bogged down with special effects and the like.

Kevin White (Wincott) is a DEA agent who travels from Washington DC to California, hot on the trail of evil Russians that are ex-KGB agents who are now drug runners. While there, he ends up teaming up with his brother Jack White (Hudson, not the ghoul-like guitar player/singer from the White Stripes). Thankfully for us, both brothers are "karate cops" who can put baddies in their place with their feet and fists. Jack is more of a bull in a china shop (almost literally, going by his introduction in the film). Unfortunately, Jack is also dirty, and he's double dealing - helping the baddies and his brother. All this causes their father, known only to us as Mr. White (Jaeckel) to crawl into a bottle of generic whisky. Will these blood brothers spill blood while proving that blood is thicker than water? Find out today! Martial Outlaw (you gotta love that title) makes a great companion piece with Mission of Justice (1992). Both are done by the same people, they have a similar look and feel, and both, of course, star Jeff Wincott. They even have a similar strategy for their placement of fight scenes - in Mission, the big blowout fight was in the garage, and here it's in the restaurant. They both have a scene in a gym where Wincott beats up a lot of people. We would certainly recommend the two for a double bill of VHS action brilliance.

Outlaw reinforces our love for Wincott - he has a power-packed fighting style which is infectious for the audience, and he can do it while wearing a turtleneck and sportcoat. It's all complemented by his cool 90's hair, and his stylish sweaters he wears to the gun range are the icing on the cake. His line of casual gun-range wear would singe the retinas of Bill Cosby. But what else would you expect one to wear when in a state of deep concentration? But he's also likable, which is more important than a thousand sweaters (which are the exact words we're all taught in school).

Funnily enough, Wincott, or should we say Kevin White, can always find a way to have two Arnis fighting sticks in any situation, no matter how dangerous. Two legs will break off a chair and fall into his hands, or bigger sticks will break in two. You can almost set your watch by the regularity with which Kevin White pummels opponents with two hand-held sticks.

Physically, Gary Hudson and Wincott are perfectly cast as brothers, and their psychological tension as siblings is believable and even compelling. And Richard Jaeckel was a nice choice as dad. The baddie even has a goon which closely resembles Martin Kove. Adding further interest are the fax machines, pagers, and classic computers which are all hallmarks of a certain place and time we just can't seem to get enough of seeing on screen.

Martial Outlaw delivers what fans of 90's DTV action want, and it is indeed a satisfying experience. We recommend it.