Bullet Points: Expect No Mercy

Vinegar Syndrome and Film One has been a winning tag team over the past year or so for physical media collectors with a steady stream of action movie releases from Jalal Merhi’s production company, the latest being 1995’s Expect No Mercy…

• Murder Inc: If you really love 1990s computer graphics, you are going to need a change of drawers after watching the opening of Expect No Mercy. Once the virtual look wraps up, we then see the reality of the situation as three assassins infiltrate the estate of . The trio of killers is led by Damian (Anthony De Longis, Masters of the Universe) and includes Spyder (Michael Blanks, Dragon Fire) and Alexander (Réal Andrews, Final Round). Warbeck is the mastermind behind this murder for hire business. Warbeck is watching from his high tech control center as his three assassins eliminate security guards and more importantly their mob boss target, Bertolucci. Warbeck was played by Wolf Larson, who is still sporting the lion’s mane he grew out for the Tarzán series.
• Frontin’: Warbeck’s front for his murder for hire business is the Virtual Arts Academy (VAA for those in the know)… a school where martial artists can enroll and using virtual reality technology improve their fighting skills and give us some Mortal Kombat like fight footage. This also gives Warbeck access to the best of the best fighters that he can recruit as assassins. The government is suspicious of what is going on at VAA and have sent some agents on the inside, but when one of those agents turns up dead, the decision is made to recruit Federal Service Agent Justin Vanier (Billy Blanks, Showdown) to go in posing as a new student and making contact with their non-dead agent on the inside, Eric (Jalal Merhi, Tiger Claws). Eric is posing as one of the trainers, but we will soon find out he’s also a world class hacker.

• Hacker: Justin is getting a tour of the facility by one of Eric’s fellow trainers Vicki (Laurie Holden, who recently played The Crimson Countess on Season 3 of The Boys). Justin casually asks if she knows Eric and she soon points him in Eric’s direction. That’s when Eric and Justin hatch a plan to get into master control where Eric hopes to find some incriminating evidence on Warbeck’s operations. But the first step is getting an access card, which Justin manages to do when he starts a fight in the cafeteria with a bully and Justin manages to snag the access card off one of the security guards who comes to break up the fight… which goes undetected by everyone, everyone except Vicki. Later that night, when Eric and Justin begin to execute their plan, Vicki shows up and tries to stop them… Eric tries to ease her worries, but while it buys them some time, she still manages to alert security without Eric knowing… a decision she soon regrets. Fortunately Eric had enough time to procure the evidence that links Warbeck and VAA to the murder for hire business… but before Justin and Eric can escape they are captured and “given to the computer”. Now a fully on board Vicki helps Justin and Eric escape and all three need to get the hell off the VAA campus!

• Killer Elite: Justin, Eric and Vicki hop in Justin’s truck and blast right through the gates as an army of security is hot on their trail. Given the odds the escape was relatively easy, but one reason for that is because Warbeck’s best men… the trio of Damian, Spyder and Alexander are out preparing for their next hit… a man named Goldberg. Realizing this, Justin and Eric know they need to save Goldberg before he becomes the next victim of Warbeck’s killer elite. Justin and Eric do manage to save Goldberg’s life and ruin the hit for Damian and his team. But it is not all good news for our heroes because during all the action, Vicki ends up a captive of Damian and company and they are heading back to the VAA campus.
• Final Exam: When Eric and Justin arrive back at the Virtual Arts Academy there are two dangers that immediately present themselves… Vicki is hanging precariously by a rope from the roof in a classic damsel in distress situation AND there are bombs planted in the boiler room so all the innocent students who were just there to improve their martial arts skills will die a horrific death. Eric goes up to the roof to save Vicki, Justin heads down to the boiler room. However it isn’t long before Eric is dealing with a bullwhip wielding Damian, and Justin is dealing with the pompous Warbeck. And that means two final showdowns for the price of one!

I was not overly familiar with Expect No Mercy prior to clicking the purchase button on the Vinegar Syndrome website, but I knew what to expect from Film One and with a cast that included Billy Blanks and Wolf Larson I was sold. Expect No Mercy had a plot that hooked me and a unique way to work in the VR aspect. In some ways this movie is a computer graphics time capsule, I felt like I had just installed Windows 95 on my desktop PC after watching the movie… which meant I also felt about 27 years younger, which is always a welcome feeling.

Also always welcome, Bonus Bullet Points…

• Five Minutes In: If you really love nudity in your action movies, you won’t have to wait long for some to show up in Expect No Mercy. Five minutes in and mob boss Bertolucci’s girlfriend loses her robe and goes skinny dipping.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Billy Blanks battle his brother Michael Blanks, then Expect No Mercy is the movie for you.
• One Thing You Didn’t Know: When Eric and Justin have to make it back to VAA in a hurry after Vicki is kidnapped, they commandeer a Porsche from a woman who was driving by… as they drive away in the Porsche the woman says “That’s my husband’s car” which was 100% true, since the woman was played by Jalal Merhi’s wife, Basma.
• Familiar Faces: I knew I recognized Jefferson Mappin who played Wilkinson, one of the agents who first recruits Justin Vanier to infiltrate VAA and later is one of the agents protecting Goldberg before he is set to testify. After seeing him in several scenes it finally dawned on me that Mappin played Big Al in Death Wish V: The Face of Death… I also couldn’t help but recognize Lazar Rockwood as one of Warbeck’s computer technicians from other Jalal Merhi films like Risk Factor and Expect to Die. And I still say Lazar looks like the love child of Penny Marshall and Billy Drago.
• If You Ever: …wanted to see an assassin with a pet iguana, then Expect No Mercy is the movie for you.
• Favorite Quote: “Expect no mercy!” – Warbeck