Bullet Points: Never Say Die (1994)
It has been a while since I turned to the suggestion box for an idea on what to cover here on the site. It has also been a while since I covered a movie starring Frank Zagarino (or Zags as he is known around the Bulletproof Action office). So I am about to kill two birds with one 1994’s Never Say Die review…
- Boats ‘N Hoes: Blake (Frank Zagarino, Without Mercy) is former Special Forces soldier and it is quickly established that Blake has seen some things… but now Blake is living a simple and peaceful existence as a boat repairman… or as the movie begins a boat repairman supervisor as Blake is seen relaxing while his young apprentice Shane is tuning up a motor boat much to the chagrin of the owner played by Graham Clarke of Space Mutiny infamy. The owner’s panties really get in a bunch when Blake and Shane take the boat out for a test ride, but it isn’t long before Shane gets a little too close to the reeds and they get entangled in the boat’s propeller… so they stop to address that situation and that’s when they both spot Brooke (Jenny McShane, U.S. Seals)… Brooke had wandered away from the near Garden of Eden commune to do a little skinny dipping. I think young Shane put it best when he said “Hubba hubba!” …from the mouths of babes!
- Garden Party: The Garden of Eden has been on the radar of the authorities for quite some time, with the assumption being that the Garden of Eden is in fact a cult. Congressman Earl Le Roux along with a security detail is dispatched to pay the Garden of Eden a friendly visit and see if he can ascertain what is going on over there and speak to the spiritual leader of the Garden, Reverend James (Billy Drago, Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection). Reverend James reacts extremely to the visit and as a result the Congressman, his security detail and the pilot that flew them to the Garden all end up dead and placed back in the helicopter they came in and then the helicopter is blown up for good measure! I should probably alert our friends over at Exploding Helicopter.
- Can I Get A Witness: With the Congressman not reporting back, the FBI is called in and leading the charge is Agent Mike Roper (Todd Jensen, Prey for the Hunter). Roper is pretty fired up about the situation, having just lost friends in the Waco Massacre of 1993. And Roper is about to witness another massacre… but first let’s talk about Brooke. Brooke witnesses her friend Leslie’s death when Reverend James strongly encourages Leslie to “drink the Kool-Aid” and take her own life along with other member’s of his flock that has completely bought into his bullshit. To further emphasize what a monster Reverend James is, Leslie was actually carrying his child… but I should also point out that Leslie witnessed the Reverend ordering the elimination of the Congressman, so I am sure he felt completely justified. This is about the time that the FBI raid the commune, a firefight erupts. Fortunately for the Reverend he has an angel on his shoulder, actually he has Angel (Robin Smith, Cyborg Cop II) .. his muscle who gets the Reverend out of harm’s way before the FBI even got close.
- Run Runaway: Reverend James wasn’t the only one who escaped the Garden when the FBI raid went down… Brooke also managed to slip away and make a run for it, where she eventually ends up exhausted somewhere in the middle of the woods where she is discovered by Shane and his friend Gina who were out in the woods playing a spirited game of hide and seek… the kids round up Blake and Blake brings the passed out Brooke back to his place. After a long slumber, Brooke awakes and can’t help but notice that Blake has the same “Blood Eagle” tattoo as Reverend James… there’s a reasonable explanation for it… because before he was a “Reverend”, Reverend James was also ex-Special Forces, in fact he was Blake’s commanding officer in a failed mission that saw all of James’ men (with the exception of Blake) killed. This failed mission is seen in flashback form through out the movie. But Brooke has no time for reasonable explanations and the first chance she gets, she bolts and ends up at a church… but someone is there waiting for her… Reverend James!
- Church of the Poison Mind: Roper and the FBI have tracked Reverend James to the church and we’ve got ourselves a standoff. At this point Blake has also got word that Brooke ran off and went to the church… but Blake isn’t one for standoffs, he’s a man of action and he uses his Special Forces training to infiltrate the church. At this point the movie is almost all action… with Blake and the Roper led FBI both in pursuit of Reverend James and the FBI after Blake too! There’s a boat chase, a car chase featuring more helicopters and it all leads to the final showdown at a factory between James and Blake. And it is at the factory where I learned a valuable lesson that is similar to something the great ninja master Shô Kosugi once said and that is “only a Blood Eagle can take on a Blood Eagle”.
Special thanks to Andrew Babcock, for taking a break from his physical media obsession and giving me the heads up on Never Say Die… honestly one of Frank Zagarino’s better movies. There’s plenty of action, the cult story was something different and timely considering the events of Waco were still relatively fresh when this movie was released. Billy Drago was there to do the heavy lifting, Todd Jensen delivered his usual solid performance and Zags got to Zags. This was another win for Nu Image and I am happy to say Never Say Die is a welcome addition to my physical media obsession.
Speaking of things I am obsessed with, check out these Bonus Bullet Points…
- Wrestling Trivia: Robin Smith, who I mentioned played Angel, had a short run in the WWE as the manager of the ill-fated Truth Commission in 1997. Smith’s wrestling persona was The Commandant and he got the WWE gig on the recommendation of Bret “Hitman” Hart.
- Familiar Face: Len Sparrowhawk, who will always be Sgt. McCarthy from American Ninja 2 to me, has a brief role in Never Say Die as the Estate Agent.
- If You Ever: …wanted to hear Zags bellow “Gina!” in slo-motion, then 1994’s Never Say Die is the movie for you.
- Just For Men: Was it just me or does Frank Zagarino’s hair have a reddish hue in some scenes and dark brown in others.
- The Name Game: Not to be confused with the 1988 action comedy Never Say Die starring Temuera Morrison, Lisa Eilbacher and Norm himself, George Wendt!
- Innuendo Quote: “You wanna play? I got something you can play with!”
