Bullet Points: Deadly Ransom
Growing up in Northeast Ohio in the 80s and 90s, I can honestly say I did not even know who Loren Avedon was. Loren Avedon’s movies were not on the shelves of any video store I frequented. One of my best friends was a practicing martial artist and an avid reader of Black Belt Magazine and I do not recall him ever mentioning Loren Avedon.
It was not until Bulletproof Action launched back in 2014, that I really became aware of Loren Avedon and his work. After watching the greatness of The King of the Kickboxers, I knew I needed to go back and check out everything else I missed during Avedon’s run in the world of action entertainment, including 1998’s Deadly Ransom…
- Navy SEALS: Deadly Ransom kicks off with a bang with some Navy SEAL action. Max Lightener (Loren Avedon, No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers), is one of the three Navy SEALS dispatched to El Salvador to rescue a CIA asset who is being held captive. When you start off your action movie with an action set piece that is not going to have any direct bearing on the rest of the movie you want it to A) Hook the audience early with a hot start and B) Establish just how much of a badass your hero is. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED Deadly Ransom! Also, mission accomplished for Max and his SEAL buds, who successfully complete their rescue mission. But what is next for Max Lightener?!
- The Sixth Sense: We get to see the softer side of Max as he interacts with his fiancée Jackie, before she heads off to the airport for a trip to Rio de Janeiro. Jackie is accompanying her father Don Marlin (John Aprea, Picasso Trigger), who will be speaking at an investment banker conference. Jackie is most excited because this conference is taking place during Carnival in Rio. But Jackie’s excitement turns to terror, when on their first night in Rio, their car is stopped on the way to the Carnival festivities by a group of masked men (who we will later learn work for a group known as The Gray Wolves), who kidnap Jackie and her father and force them on to an awaiting helicopter. Meanwhile back in the United States, Max is seeing this play out due to his psychic abilities, he even gets a look at one of the guys as he unmasks and he sees the right hand man of the Bruno (Sidney S. Liufau, Bloodsport III) and it doesn’t take a psychic to know that Max and Bruno will be face to face before this movie is over.
- Family Business: There is no way Max is going to sit back and do nothing knowing what he knows and nobody knows that better than Max’s father, Admiral Lightener. But the Admiral does set some parameters for Max… this rescue mission can have no official military involvement, so Max can’t bring any of his Navy SEAL teammates along for the ride, but the Admiral has arranged a contact for Max when he gets to Rio, a CIA operative that has been working undercover there as a reporter for years, Luis Mendes (Francesco Quinn, Top Dog). Luis is part partner and part babysitter for Max, as he is to report back to the Admiral exactly what the Admiral’s impetuous son is up to.
- Mo’ Money: The man responsible for the abduction of Jackie and her father is a man by the name of Bobby Rico (Brion James, Tango & Cash). Rico actually worked for Don Marlin as a broker, but was busted for embezzling money from the company years ago. Rico had been presumed dead after he skipped bail and made his way to South America where he went off the grid… but Rico, a self-proclaimed dope addict with a healthy libido, is very much alive and demanding $50 million dollars for the safe return of the Marlins. The plot thickens where Rico is concerned… Max and Rico know one another, Rico is Max’s uncle on his mother’s side! Oh, and one more thing… Rico has an unexpected partner in this $50 million dollar scam!
- MAXimum Impact: Luis proves to be an invaluable partner for Max even if Max ends up being snarky to Luis more often than not. But the two make some progress in Max’s quest to rescue Jackie that takes them from Brazil to Venezuela. A quest that included a lot of stop and start action which to me prevented the movie from capitalizing on the momentum from the start of the movie… Oh and remember how I mentioned that Max was not going to be able to get help from his two Navy SEAL buds since this was not an official military operation? Well, that eventually goes out the window and they show up to assist Max and Luis. Not sure if I would categorize that as an unexpected plot twist or if the movie should have kept it simple and just had all three SEALs go down to begin with. Not unexpected was the Max vs. Bruno final fight, which oddly did not end with the impaling.
If you are only familiar with Loren Avedon’s work with Seasonal Films, you may be taken aback with the more subdued Loren Avedon in Deadly Ransom… but the lack of Avedon overemoting, even though this is obviously a very personal mission for his character, speaks to the fact that Max is a freaking Navy SEAL, so it stands to reason he is accustomed to keeping his head in high pressure situations and is more disciplined. Still I would by lying my ass off if I said I didn’t miss the overemoting, it was a huge part of Avedon’s charm in his earlier films.
A huge part of my reviews over the years have been my charming Bonus Bullet Points…
- If You Ever: …wanted to see a drug snorting Brion James motorboat a woman, then Deadly Ransom is the movie for you.
- AKA: Deadly Ransom aired on German television under the title Fight Explosion.
- Familiar Face: Long time stunt performer Thomas Rosales Jr. played the Torturer in Deadly Ransom, he earned that name too since he was the guy torturing the CIA asset at the beginning of the movie. Rosales has been in a TON of movies including Eye of the Tiger, The Running Man and RoboCop 2.
- Out of Context Quote: “You used to change my diapers.” – Max to Rico
