Bullet Points: Death Match

If you are anything like me sometimes you wake up in the morning and just have a hankering to watch a Matthias Hues movie.

Most recently, 1994’s Death Match scratched my Matthias Hues itch. Not only does Death Match star Matthias Hues, it also featured action movie veterans Martin Kove and Richard Lynch.  But who is the hero of the film? As much as I would have loved to have seen Hues wearing the white hat, there’s no denying he excels at playing the villain. I’ve seen Matthias Hues battle Dolph Lundgren in I Come In Peace, I’ve seen Matthias Hues battle Jeff Wincott in Mission of Justice and I’ve seen Matthias Hues battle Michael Worth in Fists of Iron, but in Death Match he was going to go one on one with Ian Jacklin!?!

Who in the hell is Ian Jacklin?

• You Don’t Know Jacklin: One of the many useless gifts I was either born with or acquired over the course of my lifetime is the ability to see an actor in a movie and know at least 2 other projects they have been involved in. But when I saw Ian Jacklin was the star of Death Match, I literally had no idea who he was. It was like I was seeing this man for the first time. I grabbed my trusty tablet and started doing some research and found that Jacklin was another champion kickboxer turned action star in the 1990’s (How many of them were there?!?!). I then saw that he had a pretty substantial role in the movie Kickboxer 3: The Art of War starring opposite Sasha Mitchell. Now I have seen Kickboxer 3, but I gave myself a pass since It had been a few years. But then I dug a little deeper and saw that Jacklin had some minor roles in movies I’ve covered on this site like Ring of Fire with Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Final Impact with Lorenzo Lamas and Michael Worth and a movie I had seen just a few weeks prior, Deadly Bet starring Jeff Wincott. Fortunately, I didn’t allow this embarrassing memory lapse take away from my enjoyment of Death Match.
• The Premise: Jacklin plays John Larson. John and his buddy Nick Wallace moved to California looking for work. After they lose their jobs working on the docks, John decides to head north to find work, but his “get rich quick” loving friend Nick decides he’s going to try his hand at the #1 thing a guy could do in an action movie in the 1990’s… underground fighting. Nick tries to convince John to stay and become a fighter too, but John is reluctant to get back into the ring. This is because John is still carrying around the guilt from doing the #2 thing a guy could do in an action movie in the 1990’s… accidentally killing his opponent in the ring. So the two friends go their separate ways, but just as John is about to start his new job, he gets word that Nick is in trouble and he turns around and heads back to Los Angeles to help his friend.

• The Villains: Martin Kove plays Paul Landis. Not only does Landis promote the illegal fighting circuit in Los Angeles, he is also a gun runner. And since he is a greedy villain, Landis is looking to take out some of his underworld competition. Matthias Hues plays Mark Vanik. Vanik is not only Landis’ champion fighter, he’s his business partner as well. The two make a diabolical duo and the role of Mark Vanik is one of Hues’ meatier roles. And to Hues’ credit he took the ball and ran with it. After Nick starts fighting for Landis, but refuses to kill his opponents, he gets put on Landis’ sh*t list and he not so coincidentally disappears.
• In Search of Nick: The remainder of the movie features John trying to find out what happened to his boy Nick. Now John doesn’t do this all on his own. He gets some help from a young neighborhood tomboy, conveniently named Tommy. A fight manager named Big Man. And a woman who works in the obituary department at the newspaper, Dani Richardson. Richardson wanting to become a reporter is more than willing to help John infiltrate Paul Landis’ operation to get her an exclusive story. And if you are supposing that at some point she becomes John’s love interest in the film, you’d be correct. One other notable character who assists John, is his trainer in the film, Benny “The Jet” Urquidez (who plays himself). You may remember Benny from such films as Bloodmatch and Wheels on Meals.

As I watched Death Match it almost felt like half way through making the movie the producers realized that the movie they were making had been done before countless times and they decided to shake things up, because the third act of the film featured elements I would have never predicted coming out of a kickboxing movie.

The unpredictability towards the end of the film, combined with a great cast and quality action sequences made this one an enjoyable movie watching experience and Death Match is a movie I would recommend.

Now I promise to never forget who Ian Jacklin is again, if you promise to read these Bonus Death Match Bullet Points…

• Familiar Faces: Steven Vincent Leigh plays one of Paul Landis’ underworld business associates, Mr. Han in Death Match. Leigh has been featured on this site numerous times including his one starring role in Sword of Honor… Pro wrestling historians will recognize Madusa Miceli (Shootfighter 2) as one of the fighters and Tony Halme (aka Ludvig Borga) as one of Han’s bodyguards… Nick Hill (Fists of Iron) played the part of John’s best friend Nick Wallace. This is a role that Nick Hill is perfect for, unlike his villainous turn in Raw Target.
• M-O-U-S-E: Tommy is played by Michelle “Mouse” Krasnoo. Aside from her work in Death Match, “Mouse” appeared on the WMAC Masters television series and in a few other movies. She was an uncredited karate student in No Retreat, No Surrender. The Sherman Oaks Karate Studio where her No Retreat, No Surrender scene was shot is the karate studio owned by her parents. Another fun fact, her parents bought the studio from none other than Chuck Norris.

• Maximizing His Minutes: I am not exaggerating when I say Death Match features one of the greatest Richard Lynch performances I have ever seen. Lynch plays crime boss Jimmie Fratello and while he doesn’t get much screen time, he uses what time he does have to spin a yarn about his machete wielding grandfather that is pure magic.
• Werewolf Reunion: Jimmie Fratello’s brother Vinnie Fratello is played by Jorge Rivero, who I will always associate with the movie Werewolf. While I never saw the film in its purest form, the MST3K version of the flick is among my favorite episodes from that series. Rivero’s character in that movie has hair that seems to change in every scene. Werewolf also featured Richard Lynch.
• Convict 267: In Matt Spector’s review of Convict 762, he talked about how after a love making scene with Frank Zagarino, Zagarino’s female co-star threw up… well the opposite kind of happens in Death Match. After John’s manager has too much to drink at a swanky party that Landis hosted, he throws up all over John. This opens the door for Dani to invite John to use her shower to clean up and he doesn’t end up showering alone, if you know what I mean. The lesson here… Sometimes sex makes you throw up. Sometimes getting thrown up on will lead to sex.