Overrated and overhyped

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Strange title for a film that's mostly full of kickboxing, but there you go. It's (kind of) post-apocalyptica time again! This time we've got Gary Daniels and a guy that looks like Adam Richman from Man Vs Food as two cops who go undercover as kickboxers in the death ring, which is situated in some sort of lawless zone where anything can happen for some reason. They're either there to track down some huge criminal(played by the Ultimate Warrior) or find the location of some sort of medicine, or maybe both. Really, when you're watching a Gary Daniels film, do you really care about the plot? When starting out in the Death Ring most of the matches aren't that deadly, but the further up the ladder you go, the more serious it becomes until you fight the big criminal guy, who usually has some remote computer guy rig the matches just in case he loses. It's believable enough when Daniels is in the ring because the guy is that supple he could probably fold himself into a suitcase if he felt like it, but the other guy looks like he would have trouble lifting his leg to fart let alone kick someone's teeth out of their heads.There's a twist or two along the way and a couple of firefights at the beginning there, plus a bit of drama here and there. It's good when Daniels is around because he's basically playing an over-violent super confident cop but I have to admit the end seemed a wee bit on the rushed side. Still worth your time if you see it cheap enough.

Set in the far-away future of 2007, two cops/friends, Braniff (McQueen) and Sledge (Daniels) are some of the toughest police officers in L.A. Making their job much harder was the creation of areas known as "Zones of Personal Freedom" which later devolved into highly dangerous, lawless areas called "Hell Zones". In order to break a counterfeit AIDS vaccine ring, Braniff and Sledge must go undercover into the Hell Zone. Ground zero for their investigation is an illegal Punchfighting ring run by the super-evil Drexal (Ruskin). They are fights to the death where competitors take on names and personas, and they are even given certain weapons at specific times, controlled by Ruskin and his lackeys. The unbeatable man-mountain known only as The Swordsman (Hellwig AKA The Ultimate Warrior!) not only is unstoppable in the Death Ring (as its called) but is also a destructive criminal in his own right. Will Braniff and Sledge survive enough death matches to take down Drexel and The Swordsman? Find out tonight! Chalk up yet another winner for PM. PM always seems to know just the right elements to keep action fans satisfied. And at least there are some ideas at work here, which is more than you can say for a lot of movies, action or otherwise. But it certainly doesn't skimp in the action department, as there are car/motorcycle chases, gunfights, blow-ups, radically awesome lasers, exploding helicopters, loads of hand-to-hand combat and naturally the PM standby of "car flipping over in the middle of the street". There are plenty of fun moments and the movie as a whole is never anything less than entertaining.We always love when movies are set in the future but is now the past. We try to collect those. You'd think the filmmakers, knowing full well their movie would exist on the video market, might last 15-20 years. But they make some surprisingly relevant comments about insurance rates and gas prices that are perhaps truer today than they were back when the movie was filmed. But that aside, The Ultimate Warrior is in this movie as the main baddie! His hair alone is worth seeing the movie for. Too bad this Swordsman wasn't in the Lorenzo Lamas' Swordsman (1992). 'Warrior's only spoken (or more accurately, roared) dialogue consist of him bellowing "Raaaaaahhhhhh!!!", although, to be fair, at one point diabolically laughs "heh heh heh".Chad McQueen is still sleeveless and loving it as the main hero. But without Gary Daniels to brighten things up as his partner, the whole movie might have been a crashing dud. We think this is one of Gary's most fun and upbeat roles. He truly adds life and energy to the proceedings. Whereas McQueen just seems to phone in his typical Chadditude.Don't forget this was around the time of the dominance of American Gladiators, and clearly PM wanted in on some of that action. That would explain why characters are named Viper (played by Art Camacho), The Swordsman, Maniac, Dr. Death (the same Dr. Death from Ballistic, 1995?) and Sledge becomes "The Hammer" naturally, and McQueen becomes the fearsome "Alley Cat". Plus Gerald Okamura is in an uncredited role as a fighter, and fan favorite Lawrence Hilton Jacobs does an awesome job as the ring announcer, even though he is unseen throughout the film. Also in the movie Braniff plays Super Nintendo with his son. Must be retro gaming.Not leaving any details out, there's an end-credits song, "Hell Zone" by Adrienne Heath. While we're not entirely sure why the movie is called Firepower, as it's primarily about Punchfighting, we can definitely recommend it. Check it out.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

What can a say. Firepower is the personification of B grade action that is very entertaining. For lovers of the action genre this movie is a must have for your collection, especially if you are a wrestling fan also.I stumbled across the movie whilst researching Gary Daniels filmograghy on this site. After reading on fans review of the movie and its villain I knew I had to buy it.Chad McQueen is OK in the leading role and while he comes across as a poor mans version of Tom Sizemore, he does a solid job which his father would be proud of.Gary Daniels as always come to the table with a great physique and good fighting sequences. HOWEVER, the show is stolen by one man...The Swordsmen. Without doubt The Sworsdmen (Ultimate Warrior) is the greatest villain to ever grace an action movie. While his only words throughout the film are 'Arggghhhh' he delivers them better than anyone and his on screen presence in undeniable and rivalled by none.The only bad thing about this movie as that the The Swordsmen wasn't in more scenes. When the Swordsmen is not fighting in the 'deathring' and decapitating others with his fists and blade, he is walking around the 'Hellzone' shirtless, only wearing an apocalypitic leather trench coat. Sooo intimidating and cool it has you screaming for more.Go see this movie now...Arggghhh

So directors, explain yourself. Why did you call this movie firepower when the story has NOTHING to do with firepower, huh???With that out of the way, this movie sux. The basic story is that the cops have made a 'zone of personal freedom' in the middle of LA, where there is no police assistance provided. But, those crafty criminals (i thought it would have been pretty obvious), they commit crimes and then run and hide in hellzone. So anyway, one time, the most feared gang leader, the swordsman (ooooohhhhh) is arrested and then his crooks break him out of jail in a bloody attack on the police station. Then, these two cops decide they have no choice but to go in after them.This is where the movie loses it completely. Why the hell do they need to go in after the crooks into hellzone? Basically, they arrive, see a fighting ring, watch for 10 minutes (the audience is treated to the whole 10 minutes of fighting), and then completely forget about their mission of revenge and decide that their only option is to enter the death ring competition and FIGHT! Apparently this is to infiltrate the baddies (like ANYONE cares, its actually legal anyway), but they achieve nothing as they have numerous oppurtunities to get the baddies. So basically, the ENTIRE movie is fighting. Yep, they soon jettison the story and have non stop death ring matches. I guess i should have seen it coming with a WWF wrestler, but still.........Anyway, to sum it up i wrote a haiku:This movie sux hard It has no story and that what a crap movie.I hope this assists you in making the decision not to watch it (not that you'll be able to find it anyway........)