Double Edge (1985) Poster

(1985)

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7/10
Fun and silliness reign supreme as unsung auteur John Lloyd delivers another gem.
tarbosh2200017 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
When the super-evil baddie Jack Maraccio (East) kills his parents, a young tot named Mark Quinn vows revenge. Now a tough, no-nonsense, doesn't-play-by-the-rules cop, Mark (the awesome Rom Kristoff) is cleaning up baddie scum wherever he finds it. Along with his partner Ty Jackson (Moss), the two hero cops make sure no criminal in The Philippines is safe. While still on his mission to avenge his parents, a new and unforeseen element appears...a mysterious ninja. Will Quinn fulfill his destiny? Or will it be a DOUBLE EDGE-d sword? Find out today!

Fun and silliness reign supreme as unsung auteur John Lloyd delivers another gem. If nothing else, Double Edge just goes to show how massively popular Sylvester Stallone was in 1986. Lloyd even includes a Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)-style torture sequence and a Rocky-style training sequence just to prove the point, as if that was needed. And if that wasn't funny enough, at some point the movie remembers that the Ninja Boom was in full flight at that time as well, and the whole thing blurs from a pastiche of Stallone films into a full-fledged ninja extravaganza. You don't see that every day.

As would seem to be obvious from the box art, the main influence (or should we say reason for this movie's existence in the first place) is the great classic Cobra (1986). Double Edge even beat the similarly-inspired Black Cobra (1987) to the punch. And if you're going to make a so-called "rip-off", you might as well rip off the best. While some scenes are lifted wholesale from Cobra - and if you've ever wanted to see a low-budget remake of Cobra from the Philippines, now's your chance - when all the elements are mixed together, it's plain that a new, mutant beast is formed that transcends its humble origins. In other words, Cobra doesn't have a ninja.

Another hilarious thing about this movie is how hysterical everyone is. Outside of Mark Quinn and Ty Jackson (who are much too cool to ever fly off the handle), just about everyone else launches into fits of histrionics at the drop of a hat. While no one could ever supplant the masterful John Miller, some incidental characters here are in the same ballpark. Consequently, we get one of the best WYC's (White Yelling Chiefs) ever in Donahue (Anderson).

Mark Quinn (or perhaps Rom Kristoff) wears his sunglasses most of the time, even at night in true Corey Hart fashion. Perhaps because it was decided that the shades make him look more like the poster for Cobra. Not Stallone, the Cobra poster. The great Jim Gaines takes on a rare baddie role here as a pimp named...you guessed it, Sly. It's hard to imagine a movie not connected in any way to the real Stallone featuring this much Stallone worship. For that reason alone, this movie is a ton of fun to watch, and then you add in the histrionics and the ninja, and you've got something truly special.

Prepare yourself for the ultimate - and original - ROM COM as Rom Kristoff blows you away!

FINAL NOTE: Footage from this movie was later interpolated into the later Rom vehicle Lethal Killing Machine AKA Crime Stopper (1990), so if you can't get enough Rom, just know there's always more Rom to be had.
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4/10
Cheap cop thriller from the Philippines
Leofwine_draca15 March 2017
Warning: Spoilers
DOUBLE EDGE is a cheap Filipino action vehicle for Romano Kristoff, here here taking a break from the endless war movies he was churning out during the era. Sadly, it's as inept and slapdash as any of those movies, a weak imitation of the types of film that Stallone was making in American in the 1980s, with COBRA a particular source of inspiration.

Kristoff not only plays a crime-fighting cop, but he also dresses up as a ninja for some kill scenes to cash in on the era's popularity for ninja movies. The direction is below par and the performances strictly wooden even from those actors who made a career of Filipino cinema. A few elements of excitement are generated by the non-stop shoot-outs and fighting scenes but the poor production values put paid to any real quality on offer here.
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10/10
Flipino COBRA rip-off including Ninja action!
trashonline29 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Filipino action cinema king Romano Kristoff returns as another hardboiled cop in DOUBLE EDGE. Even from the very first moments you can tell this is a shameless COBRA rip-off with Kristoff stealing the famous "You have the right to remain silent" line and then blowing up a gas station to kill a bunch of drug-crazed, robbing, raping, murderous scumbags! Besides desperately trying to be the new Marion Cobretti, he is also a ninja, using brutal methods to fight crime. An absolute essential for every self-respected trash cinema fan, DOUBLE EDGE is an obscure classic from the golden era of Filipino action! My source is a fully uncut Japanese import which includes all the over the top violence!
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