The Ultimate Albert Pyun Countdown
Bulletproof Action is not only celebrating its 6th Anniversary, we are also celebrating the filmography of one of the most divisive genre filmmakers of our time, Albert Pyun.
Love him or hate him, you can not deny that Albert Pyun has created a Pyuniverse of films that are uniquely his own. But what films are Pyun’s best?
To answer that question, I called upon some of my fellow Bulletproof Action colleagues Matt Spector, Chris DePetrillo, Todd Gaines and Chad Cruise.
Then I invited some friends of the site, like Screen Mayhem guru and host of The Clones Cast, Matthew Whitaker and all the way from Germany, filmmaker Dominik Starck.
How can we have the Ultimate Albert Pyun Countdown without some of the guys from the Ultimate Action Movie Club? That’s where UAMC’s physical media addict Andrew Babcock and Robb Antequera (aka The Cinema Drunkie) come in.
Rounding out our “panel of experts” is author and the DTV Connoisseur himself, Matt Poirier, one of our most active Twitter followers Michael Scott and last but not least, The Movie Graveyard!
With the pleasantries out of the way, it is time to strap in and get ready to go on a Pyuntastic Voyage…
Andrew Babcock: The underrated Keith Cooke gets his rare chance to lead a movie in this tried and true fight tournament movie, only this one is slightly different, as he is not going up against regular guys, but cyborgs! As if Gary Daniels isn’t already a tough enough opponent, he is now a literal fighting machine!
Chris The Brain: Keith Cooke had action star written all over him and every time I revisit Heatseeker, I can’t help but wonder why Keith Cooke did not get more starring roles. I also wonder why Tim Thomerson has a coke finger.
Michael Scott: Set in a near future where fighters are all cybernetically enhanced, Keith Cooke plays the last fully human fighter who is forced to fight in a tournament when his girlfriend is kidnapped by people working with Gary Daniels’ Xao. Cooke and Daniels both have ample opportunities to show off their impressive martial arts skills, and Pyun brings in a variety of martial artists to round out the rest of the fighters. While the film flubs the ending, everything leading up to it makes this one a Pyun classic.
Movie Graveyard: Sasha Mitchell is back as David Sloan this time he is serving hard time after being framed by Tong Po, now a ruthless drug lord in Mexico for the killing of a DEA Agent. To make matters worse Po has kidnapped Davis wife and is holding her prisoner. As luck would have it the feds have found out the Po will be holding a fight to the death tournament at his compound on The Day of the Dead. David is offered the chance to get out of jail, save his wife and stop Po all at once. He takes the offer and competes in a local organized street fight to gain acceptance. He is going under the name Jack Jones and of course he wins, hell on the way to Mexico he stops off to beat up an entire bar of bikers who were actually harassing a young lady who has entered the tournament. David knows Po will recognize him so he dons the perfect disguise, sunglasses. So under a fake name, and wearing glasses he is able to infiltrate the compound unnoticed. He of course gets found out towards the end but he out for revenge and battles Po and saves his wife. This is my favorite straight to video action film of the 90’s hands down. Amazing martial arts sequences featuring many different styles. The best of the series, and sadly the last one to feature Sasha Mitchell. I would have liked to see 10 more.
Chris DePetrillo: I was all about getting a continuation of David Sloan’s saga, even though this movie makes no damn sense. Tong Po is now involved in the drug and slave trade? Sloan goes undercover in his arch enemy’s compound without changing his appearance? A villain that looks as if he watched a YouTube makeup tutorial and failed horribly? Sign me up.
Andrew Babcock: It seems like each entry of the Kickboxer franchise got crazier and crazier, all leading up to this gem that is Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor. Perhaps another reason I love it so much is that they took the Bloodsport route with the whole tournament thing. This time Tong Po is a drug lord and is played by Kamel Krifa and Sasha Mitchell is at his badass best. It also doesn’t hurt to have a supporting cast filled with martial arts experts like Brad Thornton, Michele ‘Mouse’ Krasnoo and Rigan Machado.
Chris The Brain: Dangerously Close looked different than any other Albert Pyun directed film. It also sounded different thanks to a soundtrack that featured Robert Palmer, The Smithereens, Fine Young Cannibals and Depeche Mode. Dangerously Close also marked the feature film debut of J. Eddie Peck, who I can’t decide if Cannon saw as a male Lucinda Dickey or an adult David Mendenhall.
Michael Scott: Pyun delves into the high school action drama realm, which was actually a thing in the 80’s. Think Tuff Turf and Brotherhood of Justice. Pyun gets great performances out of John Stockwell, J. Eddie Peck, Carey Lowell and the rest of the cast. In particular, Bradford Bancroft’s Krooger Raines walks away with the movie as Peck’s best friend and a prime target of the group. Probably Pyun’s best looking film and really an example of what he could accomplish when he had some money to work with.
Todd Gaines: Like Skulls, but with Top Gun’s Cougar as the lead. Dangerously Close is not one of the first movies you think of when discussing the career of Albert Pyun, but in my opinion, it is one of his absolute best films.
Dominik Starck: Honey, I shrunk the badass from the future! Yes, exactly. In a time of rebelling puppets in Full Moon’s Puppet Master franchise frequent Pyun-collaborator Tim Thomerson from Trancers fame became the Dollman. Action figure size, Death Wish-level-badassery. Again, the premise is out there, but with a dedicated Thomerson in the lead and some nice money shots it’s a good fun flick that tries to prove size doesn’t matter.
Matthew Whitaker: Tim Thomserson will always be in my top 10 character actors, from Trancers, to Uncommon Valor he has been killing it on the screen forever. In this one, he takes a smaller role (haha). Aliens come to earth, and unfortunately are only 8 inches tall. Dollman is whacky fun (all those short people jokes). Jackie Earle Haley is at his best playing the creepy Braxton. And who wasn’t in awe of the Kruger Blaster?!? Honorable mention: Dollman vs Demonic Toys
Chris DePetrillo: Albert Pyun and Full Moon was a dream team crossover for late night cable and video store fiends like myself. It’s like someone took acid before watching Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and decided it would be a great plot point for an intergalactic cop flick.
Chad Cruise: Ice-T was awesome in movies like Trespass and Surviving the Game but had to wait a few more years to team up with the always excellent Christopher Lambert and wear another funny hat. Pyun and his crew must have gotten a really good deal on blanks and squibs at Aldi because Mean Guns really lets loose. This is one of those movies that really deserves (but doesn’t get) a massive cult following.
Matthew Whitaker: A prison is the meeting place for a battle royale. Ice-T decided to thin out the ranks by offering a prize to the last man standing. Ok, it suffers a bit from that 90’s mambo, we want to be like QT and make movies that are coooool (with the extra oooo’s) phase, but this shouldn’t be overlooked. Chistopher Lambert is a platinum blond killing machine hopped up on drugs, and with his kid (or someones) waiting in the car. We have Tina Cote back, Deborah Van Valkenburgh from The Warriors, and even Yuji Okumoto from The Karate Kid Part II (he owns a Hawaiiin restaurant in Seattle these days).
Todd Gaines: So many bullets fly in Mean Guns, you think you’re watching an insane John Woo action juggernaut slug fest.
Matt Poirier: The first, and my favorite Pyun film. It is a standard sword and sandal flick, only with Pyun’s extras that were evident even then, like the three-bladed sword. Lynch is a great baddie, and Horsely has enough of that Matt Houston roguishness to carry it off, almost foreshadowing the same qualities that a lot of Pyun’s heroes will have in his 50+ movie that came after–yet, it’s also perfect fodder for the guys at Rifftrax, which makes it all the better.
Chad Cruise: “Kingdoms to save and women to love.” It’s a line that speaks directly to me now just as it did when I was fantasizing about that kind of stuff as a kid. The story doesn’t do anything remarkable but not every movie needs to change cinema. The Sword and the Sorcerer could very well be Pyun’s best film and one that I’ll continue to watch till I finally figure out that wall of faces gimmick at the beginning.
Matthew Whitaker: My love affair with the madness that is Albert Pyun was born in his debut. Aside from Excalibur, this movie was the defacto flick that all the other guys would emulate (someone say Deathstalker). The amazing Richard Lynch who has been embodying evil since the 70’s brings it as Cromwell. Glowing demon eyes. 10 year old me appreciated all the skin. and who wasn’t obsessed with the triple-bladed sword!
Matt Spector: Many people think Chris Evans is the premier Steve Rogers/Captain America, but I don’t want to hear it. Captain America (1990) star Matt Salinger probably can’t hear it thanks to those rubber ears.
Movie Graveyard: Yes, long before Chris Evans and the MCU got it right Albert Pyun made one of the worst movies ever. So awful its amazingly good. In fact I watch it regularly. In this version Steve Rogers is a soldier who had polio and is now a weak, sickly man. But thanks to some Super Serum Rogers essentially becomes an Olympic athlete. No actual superpowers, he’s just strong and faster now. Too bad that an evil German named The Red Skull has those same powers that the average Olympian has as well. Rogers, now employed by the government as Captain American sets out to stop the Red Skull from launching a missile at the white house. He manages to not only slice off the Red Skulls arm, but kick the missile fin so hard it sends it from the White House to Alaska with Cap tied to it. 50 years later the Red Skull is still alive and to make matters worse he has an evil daughter who runs a mafia style crime family. Cap gets thawed out of the ice, watches a few VHS tapes to catch up on the last 50 years and must save the president from the Red Skull, who at the end is wearing a horrible red mask. A laugh riot from beginning to end.
Chad Cruise: I could’ve kissed Albert Pyun right on his chubby little mouth in 1990. This film landed right around the same time that I began my comic book journey and I couldn’t have loved it more. I couldn’t tell you any of the names of my cousins but I have vivid memories of FINALLY finding this movie at a small hole-in-the-wall video rental store on the east side of my town. This was one of the few tapes that I “wore out” that didn’t involve some actress showing her tits. Put that on the Blu-ray cover!
Matthew Whitaker: Nemesis is a badass film. Olivier Gruner was at the top of his game. With a larger budget, this movie could have been huge. It is a great story about losing yourself and slowing becoming what you are trying to destroy. Shout out to the “shoot through the floor to fall to a lower level” gag. I fricken love that. Do you like ladies with big muscles? Thomas Jane? Tim Fricken Thomerson? Well, come on in, the water is fine!
Dominik Starck: What can I say? I’m a sucker for Terminator rip offs. The Terminator inspired Nemesis was the foundation of Pyun’s largest playground with multiple sequels. Nemesis has a killer cast and there are some outrageous action sequences one has to love, like the mid-movie shootout!
Robb Antequera: Like a cross between Hard Boiled, Escape from New York and The Terminator, Nemesis brings the best of those movies into one furiously paced, action packed endeavor. Starring french martial artist and certified badass Olivier Gruner, Nemesis proves, that with a decent budget, a good story, a strong lead, an entertaining supporting cast, and awesomely staged action sequences, Albert Pyun can hang with the best of them when it comes to making a kickass action flick.
Robb Antequera: While the original 80’s cheese filled classic starring Jean-Claude Van Damme is without a doubt my favorite film from the icon himself, I have to admit I enjoy this darker, grittier sequel a bit more… Starring Sasha Mitchell as David Sloan, the previously unmentioned third Sloan brother, who must now take on the villainous Tong Po after the murder of his brothers at Po’s hands, Kickboxer 2 brings a more grounded and character driven style to the proceedings… And while that may rub some fans of the original the wrong way, this fan welcomes the change of pace, and with the well choreographed fight scenes and excellent chemistry between Mitchell and Dennis Chan, returning as the eccentric Xian Chow thrown in, Kickboxer 2 is a great time in my book.
Michael Scott: It can’t be easy to follow up a hit movie when your star isn’t interested in returning. Luckily Pyun was up to the task with Kickboxer 2: The Road Back. Killing off Van Damme’s Kurt Sloan in the first few minutes was a bold move, but this allows Pyun to tell his own story of Kurt’s younger brother David (Sasha Mitchell). Dennis Chan returns as mentor Xian, relocating to the US to help train David to take on Tong Po (Michael Qissi) as revenge for Kurt. Chan has a great rapport with Mitchell, maybe even better than with Van Damme. Their relationship drives most of the plot, but Pyun doesn’t skimp on the fighting either. The final fight can’t match the first movie, but it’s still well shot and well choreographed. Extra points for the scene in which David inspires homeless vets to take up tai chi.
Chris DePetrillo: I don’t know if I can go as far to say it’s a better film than the original film, but this is one of those instances where I like the sequel more than the original. Sasha Mitchell did well in taking over the hero role from Van Damme, and we got to see action icons Matthias Hues and Michel Qissi in action. Pyun also managed to gather a lot of familiar faces here, which gave us one of the best ensemble casts during the low budget action boom of the 80’s-90’s.
Dominik Starck: There’s no doubt, that Cyborg cemented Jean-Claude Van Damme as one of the rising stars in late 80’s action cinema. To be honest I’m not even a huge fan of the movie, but this list wouldn’t make much sense without Cyborg on it (even though it’s basically not Pyun’s movie and his re-cut director’s version Slinger got shredded by critics). Also, I love Cannon’s Masters of the Universe, so it’s fun to spot stuff that probably was built for the never realized sequel to the Dolph-Lundgren-movie.
Andrew Babcock: This was a match made in B-movie heaven. Pyun grabbed up Van Damme early in his career and threw him in a truly unique post-apocalyptic world of cyborgs, pirates and mayhem. It is over the top and fans love it for it, as do I. For this kind of movie, you also had to have an equally over the top, and memorable villain and they nailed it with Vincent Klyn’s Fender. Van Damme brings his usual martial arts prowess, with the brutality jacked up a few notches and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Robb Antequera: The quintessential Albert Pyun film. Cyborg is without a doubt the most essential of his work, starring a peak Van Damme during the golden years of his storied career, but also during the twilight years of its production company, the beloved Cannon Group. Cyborg is a slam bang post-apocalyptic action film that had a lot going against it from the start, and considering the complete production history behind this film, it’s a miracle it turned out this good at all, let alone comprehensible. But that is the beauty of Pyun as a filmmaker: You can give him a shit show with no money or time, and he’ll still manage to give you quality stuff. Salute.
I want to thank the “panel of experts” that joined me for this Pyuntastic Voyage. And stay tuned in September as we will present our Albert Pyun Honorable Mentions to cover the movies that didn’t quite make our Ultimate Albert Pyun Countdown.
