Bullet Points: Operation Golden Phoenix

As an action star, it is easy to ignore Jalal Merhi in the grand scheme of things. But as a director and producer in the action genre, Jalal Merhi’s contributions can not be ignored.

Jalal Merhi has produced and/or directed more than a dozen action movies over the course of his career. Merhi has worked with a who’s who of the martial arts action world including Cynthia Rothrock, Bolo Yeung, Billy Blanks, Olivier Gruner, David Bradley and Matthias Hues.

Merhi’s directorial debut came with 1994’s Operation Golden Phoenix starring another notable martial arts action star… Loren Avedon.

• Over the Top: The testosterone starts flowing early in Operation Golden Phoenix as we see Mark Assante (Jalal Merhi, Tiger Claws) and Ivan Jones (Loren Avedon, No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers) arm wrestling. Ivan and Mark are co-workers who will be transporting some rare antiquities from Lebanon to Toronto. Before we can get a definitive winner in the Ivan/Mark arm wrestling contest, Ivan gets an important phone call and has to excuse himself. On the other end of the line is Mister Chang (James Hong, Talons of the Eagle). We quickly learn that Ivan Jones has sold out to Mister Chang and is conspiring to get Chang one of the rare antiquities… a golden phoenix pendant.

• There’s Something Rotten in Toronto: Ivan and Mark and the caravan transporting the antiquities from the airport to the Toronto museum where they will be displayed are ambushed. Ivan calls for help… while Mark hops out with a gun and starts shooting bad guys. When the “police” show up they order Mark to drop his weapon. They then “shoot” Ivan Jones and plant bombs on the vans transporting the antiquities. If you couldn’t tell by my use of quotation marks… they really weren’t the police and they really didn’t kill Ivan Jones… this was all a set up. And when the real police arrive after the impostors leave… they end up hauling Mark’s ass in, figuring Mark was the one who set the whole thing up.
• Master of Disguise: Stealing valuable antiquities is a major offense and when Mark Assante appears before the judge, she tells him NO BAIL. Mark is not going to be able to clear his name sitting in a jail cell, so when he sees an opening as he is being escorted out of the court room, Mark makes a break for it, evading his pursuers and using the rooftops of Toronto as his escape route. Mark then goes to his girlfriend who works at a local theater that puts on Shakespearean plays for six enthusiastic people several nights a week. Marks’s girlfriend uses make up and some of the costuming from the theater to give Mark a disguise… she also knows a guy who can hook Mark up with a fake passport so he can get out of town.

• There’s Two of Them: Meanwhile Mister Chang is PISSED with Ivan Jones when he gets the news that Mark Assante has escaped custody. Chang wanted Ivan to kill Mark, but Ivan having some sentimentality opted to just frame Mark to get him out of the picture. Chang orders Ivan to find Mark and kill him and then for Ivan to join him in Beirut… why Beirut? Well, Chang drops the bomb shell that there are actually TWO golden phoenix pendants and when they are put together they reveal the location of a hidden treasure from the days of the Ottoman Empire.
• All Roads Lead to Beirut: Ivan once again fails to take out Mark before Mark and his fake passport make their way to Beirut. Once he arrives, Mark tracks down Professor Amid, the owner of the golden phoenix pendant that went missing in Toronto, and explains the situation. This is about the time that Mark Assante gets duped yet again. I should note that Professor Amid’s young wife is also the mistress of Mister Chang! The same Mister Chang who knows where the second golden phoenix pendant is. So Chang, through his mistress gets word to Professor Amid and Mark that a pair of Princesses have Professor Amid’s stolen pendant… so Mark Assante wanting to make things right with Amid, infiltrates the palace the Princesses reside in and steal their pendant, thinking he was actually taking back Professor Amid’s stolen pendant! To make things worse, Mark gives the pendant to Professor Amid’s wife… who turns it over to Mister Chang!

• Reunited: It seems that Chang’s evil dreams are about to come true… he has both of the golden phoenix pendants, he knows the location of the hidden treasure, he has his mistress and his muscle, Ivan Jones, at his side… but things to start to unravel for Mister Chang as the movie enters Indiana Jones like territory… well maybe Alan Quatermain would be more accurate in this case. Chang and his crew have to deal with booby traps as they inch closer to the treasure… plus, Mark Assante is not out of the picture and he’s got some back up with him now in the form of the badass Princess Tara (Karen Sheperd, Mission of Justice).

Before it is all said and done we do get an Avedon/Merhi fight as the former friends Mark Assante and Ivan Jones battle with the Roman temple ruins in Baalbek as the backdrop in what clearly felt like an homage to the Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris fight in The Way of the Dragon.

There were so many starts and stops as the story of Operation Golden Phoenix unfolded that I never got sucked in. By the time the Avedon/Merhi fight, easily the action highlight of the movie, my interest level is not where it should have been… plus I found myself rooting for Avedon’s Ivan Jones and not Merhi’s Mark Assante, which I can’t imagine was the desired effect.

Do you desire some Bonus Bullet Points? Keep scrolling…

• Bad Marketing: During the discovery phase of this review, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of Loren Avedon on any of the posters or VHS/ DVD covers. Yes, Loren’s name is on there… but a picture of the freaking “King of the Kickboxers” himself, Loren Avedon, could have been worth at least an extra 1,000 rentals per market.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Loren Avedon kill a guy with a pen, then Operation Golden Phoenix is the movie for you.
• Familiar Face: Al Waxman plays Chief Gordon, the cop who throws Mark Assante in the slammer after not believing his story about what happened to his partner and the missing antiquities. I remember Waxman from his work in Class of 1984 and I still haven’t forgiven Waxman for his participation in Iron Eagle IV: On the Attack.