Bullet Points: The Power Within
PM Entertainment perfected the R rated formula for their direct to video releases whether it was their high octane action movies or provocative thrillers, PM Entertainment knew exactly what their audience wanted.
But like any successful company, PM Entertainment was looking to expand their audience. So PM decided to make movies that catered to a younger demographic in addition to their R rated fare and the poster boy for this PM initiative was teenage martial artist, Ted Jan Roberts. TJ starred in a half dozen movies for PM Entertainment in the 1990’s including the subject of this edition of Bullet Points, 1995’s The Power Within…
- Growing Pains: Stan Dryer (Ted Jan Roberts, A Dangerous Place) is a teenager with confidence issues. Stan finds himself fumbling and bumbling when he tries to ask the girl of his dreams, Sandy Applegate, to the prom. And worse, he gets beat up by Sandy’s ex-boyfriend Leon and his boys for talking to Sandy. (Leon obviously isn’t handling the break up well)… Leon isn’t Stan’s only problem at school. Stan spends so much time dreaming about Sandy that it is impacting his grades… Stan’s extracurriculars are suffering too. Stan enrolled in a karate class, which seemed like a great way to boost his confidence, but six weeks in and he’s not progressing like the other students in his class… At home Stan has to deal with his mother, a former child star that is looking to getting back into acting and a little brother who refers to Stan as a loser as often as possible… But maybe worst of all, Stan is seemingly being stalked by an elderly man named Yung (Gerald Okamura, Showdown in Little Tokyo). But more on Yung later…
- Lord of the Rings: Raymond Vonn (William Zabka, Cobra Kai) is a high end art thief, who is hired by bad guy Victor Deriva (Ed O’Ross, Universal Soldier) to steal a priceless ring from an exhibit at the Museum of Art. The ring has quite a story dating back centuries… but Deriva is not interested in the history behind the ring, he just wants the millions of dollars he’ll get for selling the ring to the highest bidder. But while Raymond Vonn was successful at obtaining the ring, Vonn and the ring have bonded… LITERALLY. The ring is not coming off Vonn’s finger and it is giving him enhanced powers. This allows Vonn to easily dispatch of Deriva’s goons and the longer Vonn wears it, the more he becomes drunk with its power. And when Vonn finds out that there is actually a second ring that will give him unlimited power, he makes it his life’s mission to find the ring… despite the fact that nobody has seen it for 800 years.
- The Ring: So Raymond Vonn wants to rule the rule, but Stan just wants to go to the prom with Sandy… Stan drowns his sorrows in a sandwich and a trip to the Griffith Observatory. And it is at the Observatory where Stan once again spots Yung and that’s when Stan decides it is time for some answers. He goes chasing after Yung, but there’s somebody else looking for Yung… Vonn! Vonn has figured out that Yung has the missing second ring. Stan ends up helping Yung escape… and that’s about the time Stan finds out he has been selected to be the keeper of the second ring. Yung puts the ring on Stan’s finger and then has an Obi-Wan Kenobi like death. Stan’s life changes instantaneously, he heads back to his car where he ends up beating the crap out of some would be car thieves… and he’s not done there… Stan even starts dreaming of kicking ninja ass once he gets home. Then the next day, Stan has another run in with Leon at school, but the results are much different this time around which leads to the now oozing with confidence Stan finally asking Sandy to the prom! And SPOILER ALERT… she says yes.
- Prom Night: Here is the night Stan had been waiting for… but we still have Vonn looking for the second ring and we have Deriva’s men looking for the first ring and wouldn’t you know, they all show up at the prom. This interrupts the dancing and leads to quite a show as the tuxedo wearing Stan dispatches a double digit number of goons before he is arrested for assault and for being in possession of what the police believe is the stolen ring! Meanwhile, Vonn slips away with Sandy and uses the power of the rings to send a vision to Stan to bait him. It works and Stan, who was handcuffed to a chair at the police station, busts the cuffs and engages in some self-defenestration through a window all in the name of love.
With a storyline that centers around high school kids and a PG-13 rating, The Power Within was going to be devoid of some of the things synonymous with PM Entertainment. Still The Power Within managed to work in some PM tropes… like a big stunt driving scene with a cop car jumping a bus (although they made sure to let us know nobody was hurt). And the final showdown between Stan and Vonn taking place on the 6th Street Viaduct.
If you demand R rated action, than The Power Within is not for you. But for all the Karate Kid loyalists out there, you would likely enjoy The Power Within, especially considering William Zabka’s involvement. Ted Jan Roberts is a likable hero and never gets annoying… unlike Ralph Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso. Sorry Karate Kid loyalists.
Bonus Bullet Points Loyalists, these are for you…
- Familiar Faces: John O’Hurley plays Lt. Cabrell, the cop who is questioning Stan. Fortunately O’Hurley doesn’t make this movie unwatchable like he did Family Feud… Don “The Dragon” Wilson (Ring of Fire) has a cameo as himself, visiting the karate school that Stan attends and pulling him aside to remind him that with great power comes great responsibility… Keith Coogan plays Stan’s best friend Eric. 1987’s Adventures in Babysitting was the first time I remember seeing Coogan… he was in high school for a long ass time.
- Meta Moment: When Stan comes home after receiving the ring from Yung, his mom and little brother are watching Magic Kid. 1993’s Magic Kid was the first film that TJ did for PM Entertainment.
- Directed By: Art Camacho was at the helm for The Power Within. Camacho would go on to direct one of my favorite PM Entertainment films, 1998’s Recoil.
- When in Hollywood Visit Universal Studios: A good chunk of the movie takes place at Universal Studios. Stan and Eric work at the hot dog stand there. While Sandy works across the way at the lemonade stand. There’s also a first date/Universal Studios Theme Park attraction montage.
