Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Sean Baker 9

  Continuing my Cirio H. Santiago deep dive. This one is based on the "Cadaver Connection" but infuses a samurai plot in as well. Pretty bonkers.

  The ending is unexpected and something that is basically unheard of these days. Love it.

  I know Leon Isaac Kennedy is a minister now but someone has to bring him back. He has charisma.

  I thought it was difficult to find so I watched what i think is a VHS rip... only to find that you can get on Amazon Prime.

• 

  Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★★ 9

  Death Force is fluid and vibrant, delivering all of the lone samurai vs. gangsters action you could want, especially given that two of the gangsters attempted to murder the samurai before they were gangsters and before the samurai was a samurai and became a samurai as a result of the gangsters slitting his throat and pushing him overboard whereupon he wound up on a Pacific Island inhabited by two Japanese soldiers still fighting WWII in 1978 who save his life, teach him how to be a samurai and put him on the road to vengeance against the gangsters back in L.A. The colors are lurid, the decapitations are righteous, but Death Force still plays more like an extended series of interlocking character studies than an exploitation piece. Cirio Santiago went all out with Death Force, making what could be the most 1970's film ever by making all of the 1970's films all at once.

• 

  Review by Gregor Kreyca ★★★

  It's amazing that nearly 20 years after Quentin Tarantino's epic love letter to Grindhouse and Exploitation cinema "Kill Bill" was first released, I still find the occasional obscure B-movie that influenced him, and in this case, is quoted directly. That is just so “fucking” cool!

  Death Force, seen as a whole, is not a particularly great movie. But there are individual elements here that are pretty interesting and work surprisingly well. The tried and tested structure of Betrayal-Death-Rebirth-Training-Revenge is simple but very effective. With 110 minutes the movie is a bit too long though. I really liked the first half that focuses on Doug Russell Samurai Training and his relationship with his (nameless) Japanese Master played by Joe Mari Avellana.…

• 

  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★ 1

  doesn't quite have the lean, rollicking escalation of action that santiago's previous film The Muthers does (which goes from pirate adventure, prison escape, and jungle military action movie in under 80 minutes) in favor of a slower two-part structure that takes a bit too long to hits its mark but there are some really great hangout/training moments in the first half where james iglehart is learning the way of the sword from two japanese soldiers trapped on an island in 1978 (and still think they're fighting WWII) before it transitions to the more typical blaxploitation revenge/crime movie it actually is. still, tossing a samurai sword into the gangster action scenes definitely makes the back half a bit bloodier and more surprising than it would be otherwise—the last 5 minutes in particular are fucking insane lol.

• 

  Review by Disgustipated ★★★★★ 2

  Let me lay something on ya, this film is completely nuts. This dude gets thrown overboard by a couple of gangster cronies who want to rob him of his share of the profits from trading cocaine hidden in the coffins of Vietnam soldiers killed in action. But guess what? He doesn't die! Instead he gets washed up on a tropical island populated by two imperial Japanese soldiers who have been stranded there since the end of the Pacific War. So the dude learns the art of the Samurai from one of his new Japanese buddies, gets rescued and heads home with his sword at the ready. He then proceeds to slaughter every gangster in sight in pursuit of his revenge.…

• 

  Review by Cinema_Strikes ★★★ 13

  Cirio Santiago week! That was strangely classy for a Santiago movie. James Iglehart (Savage!) is strong as a Vietnam vet betrayed by his buddies and left to die on an island inhabited solely by Filipinos playing long lost Japanese WW2 soldiers. Joe Mari Avellana is weird as hell playing Japanese, it always sounds like he’s fighting to speak, but it’s an oddly engaging performance - his relationship with Iglehart is the heart of the film as he trains Iglehart in the way of the samurai while Santiago cuts between island life and the betrayers massacring their way to top. 

  All leading to Iglehart’s kill-crazy, limb-lopping sword rampage when he makes it home and finds out that not only have these…

• 

  Review by Blaze the Action Junkie ★★

  This one had many more bad moments than good, but it wasn't all bad. The lead's acting was fine when he wasn't pretending to fight in every action sequence. It's painfully clear that every stunt actor in supporting roles were bad at their jobs too, even with the grainy image you could see the missed swings in fight scenes more plainly than at a local wrestling show. The plot and script were fine, and the bit on the island with the two war survivors was excellent and the best part of the film. I was somewhat entertained, but it's just a bit hard to get over some of the terrible fight scenes.

  1978 Ranked
  1970’s Ranked
  Martial Arts films Ranked
  Martial Arts in the 1970’s Ranked
  Military / War films Ranked
  Outdoor Survival films Ranked
  Kidnap / Ransom / Hostage / Slavery films Ranked

• 

  Review by cryptofgloom ★★★★

  "It's not your world anymore"

  Killer action packed blaxploitation that summons up chanbara energy and sweet violent vengeance. Love the back and forth between stranded island paradise and mean streets gun fights and thug showdowns. Once off the island all that way of the samurai beauty turns the volume up and provides some awesome and gritty sword swinging 70s revenge that gets bloody and outlandish. The best part is even with its simple plot and almost two hour runtime it never bores or feels like a burden even in its downtime. That ending is a motherfucker.

• 

  Review by More_Badass ★★★★

  What’s better than a blaxploitation revenge film?

  A blaxploitation revenge-drama where the hero is trained to be a samurai by Japanese soldiers still fighting WW2 in the ‘70s, then slices and decapitates his way through the LA underworld. Death Force is unabashedly ridiculous with its odd-couple soldiers bickering and master swordsman versus the mob, but somehow manages to lean more toward character-driven drama than exaggerated action.

  At almost two hours, it does overstretch the plot, yet Death Force uses the time for multiple threads and introspective beats that you might not expect from that synopsis. This is a movie that spends more time on setting up its villains’ ascension and on James Iglehart‘s time stranded on an island, earning respect…

• 

  Review by James 2

  If you watch one Cirio Santiago movie in your life it should absolutely be this one. I haven't seen all of his movies...I haven't even seen all the movies he did in the 70's but I find it hard to believe that he ever topped this one.

  It's got a hell of a cast. James Inglehart (Savage, Bamboo Gods and Iron Men), Leon Isaac Kennedy (Penitentiary, Lone Wolf McQuade), Carmen Argenziano (Hot Box, Crazy Mama), Jayne Kennedy (The Muthers, Ms. 45), Joonee Gamboa (Beast of the Yellow Night, TNT Jackosn, Savage Sisters), Joe Mari Avellana (Demon of Paradise, Bloodfist I and II), Leo Martinez (Bamboo Gods and Iron Men, TNT Jackson, Vampire Hookers), Vic Diaz (every Filipino exploitation movie that…

• 

  Review by Kevin_Robbins ★★½

  Death Force (1978) is a movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a man shot and left for dead by his drug lord partners. He wakes up stranded on an island with Japanese soldiers left there since World War II. They train him on the art of fighting and sword work. When he is rescued from the island the man sets out on a path for revenge against those that left him stranded to begin with.

  This movie is directed by Cirio H. Santiago (Firecracker) and stars James Iglehart (Savage!), Leon Isaac Kennedy (Lone Wolf McQuade), Carmen Argenziano (Broken Arrow) and Jayne Kennedy (Chips).

  This is one of those movies that's more fun than good. The cast…

• 

  Review by AThousandSons

  Santiago tries his hand at mature Black action and the results are what you'd expect.

  A trio of vets returning from Vietnam decide to do a little smuggling to set themselves up in the States. One gets betrayed, ends up on an island with a pair of surviving Japanese soldiers from WWII that train him how to use a samurai sword. Then you get the road to revenge.

  I dug James Igelhart (Savage) as Russel and of course there's a cameo from Vic Diaz, but most of the rest of this film is fairly tepid even with the bright red blood. Also has a horrible final 5 seconds that comes out of nowhere. For Santiago fans only.