Overkill

Beloved B-Movie impresario Ulli Lommel had a terrific run in the 80s with his independently produced, highly regarded cult classics, the iconic 'Bogeyman' and one of his most atmospheric works of celluloid terror 'The Devonsville Terror' are both well documented, but how often do far out film fans get to hear about his street tough, hard-nosed, knuckle-bustin' Yakuza action fest 'Overkill'? With maverick, mustachioed undercover cop Mickey Delano (Steve Ralley) losing his partner in a grisly gangland shoot-out, he is now doubly convinced that there will soon be a major increase in Yakuza-fronted crime in the sunshine state, and as the macho man said; 'He was born in California and he's gonna defend it!!!!!' Hellz yeah!!!! And limber, sleek-chested Delano 'aint kiddin' around folks! Soon the dutiful, hard bodied detective Delano unpleasantly discovers just how deeply the organized crime corruption has spread in his beloved Los Angeles, and with bullet-ridden bodies stinking up the sweltering sidewalks of Little Tokyo like spoiled garbage it's down to courageous, frequently shirtless, infrequently cautious Delano and new Japanese detective partner Akashi (John Nishio) to administer some serious street-level justice to the increasingly lawless Yakuza, since they are not afraid of death, only the 'way' of death, these two vengeance-seeking cops have to get a little medieval to gain some hard earned respect.

Maestro movie maven Ulli Lommel's violent gangster thriller is certainly aptly named as the blood-soaked, pathos packed, Samurai Sword slashing finale is one for 80s VHS action hounds to savour! Time to say 'Sayonara' to B-Movie boredom and lovingly embrace the outrageous oriental murder madness of Lommel's anything but lackluster 'Overkill'. Keeping this dirigible of death afloat is the delightfully animated electronic score by composer Bill Roebuck & Robert J. Walsh. Hey!!!! The only hackwork here is the unerring savagery of righteous dude Akashi's limb-lopping Samurai sword! Right on!

Made by Ulli Lommell before he went crazy, discovered his video camera and serial killers. Tough LA cop Mike Delano (Steve Rally) seems to be the only guy concerned about the Yakuza in the city. As he tells his boss, "It is just like the 1920s with the Italians on the East Coast. Sure, we weren't around then, but it is just like it. I know it!" Delano teams with Akashi (John Nishio), a cop from Tokyo who arrived in town after the Yakuza killed his sister and her husband. Before you can yell "Bonsai!", the duo are on the streets chopping off fingers and ears because that is "what the Yakuza understands." Typical Lommell stuff here with plenty of good belly laughs from some choice dialog bits. Like Delano screaming, "I was born in California and I'm going to defend it!" My personal favorite bit was this touching exchange between our two unlikely partners:

Delano: I had an uncle who died before I was born. He was in the Navy and stationed at Pearl Harbor. He was eating breakfast the morning of the attack. They found him with scrambled eggs and blood in his mouth.

Akashi: I also had an uncle who died before I was born. His family lived in Nagasaki and one America plane dropped a huge bomb on them. They didn't find scrambled eggs in their mouths, but nuclear dust in their lungs. My father was lucky to have been in the US, although he was in a internment camp in California.

Delano: Soooooo, you married?

Rally is a former popular Playgirl model (or some I am told), so it is fitting he walks around wearing muscle shirts or only a vest. Hell, he takes off his shirt to pour a glass of milk. It is also fitting that he has a bit where he goes undercover as a male stripper. Lommell really knew his target audience? The funniest thing about the film is Chris Tashima, who is a Yakuza thug who gets his ear sliced off, won the Best Live Action Short Academy Award in 1997. I'm sure seeing ol' Ulli in action gave him all the schooling he needed. Lommell's future wife Cookie produced.

WOAH! That's all I can say about Overkill! It has some of the greatest dialogue I have ever heard. Example- Guy: Sayonara. Guy2:What does that mean? Guy: It means goodbye. Never have I seen the horrors of the yakuza so expertly portrayed in a mindless action movie! I mean look at this guy! He kills people with a sword! Cool! See this movie and maybe they'll make Overkill 2: Ohaiyo! What does that mean?

Ulli Lommel, may he rest in peace, is definitely one of the most incomprehensible and enigmatic horror film directors who ever lived. One of his very first films, "The Tenderness of Wolves", is a personal favorite of mine, and honestly also one of the most intensely disturbing serial-killer thrillers ever. A couple of years later, Lommel left his native Germany and made a couple of more than decent and infamous horror gems, like "The Boogeyman", "BrainWaves" and "Olivia". Then, he must have fallen off a cliff and lost half of his brain capacity, or something, because suddenly Lommel's films became really bad, dumb and soulless. Stuff like "Revenge of the Stolen Stars" and even this "Overkill" can only be enjoyed if you watch it in group, with friends and plenty of alcohol nearby. In the 1990s, Lommel ended up in video-hell, but then in the early 2000s another terrible tragedy must have overcome him. I don't know, maybe a head-on collision with a truck, or so, which cost him the remaining other half of his brain capacity. How else would you explain the giant tidal wave of unendurable and downright abominable handheld-camera trash he "directed" between 2003 and 2012?

Now, back to "Overkill", which is a masterpiece compared to Lommel's post-2000 movies but a lousy 80s B-movie by all other existing standards. It's a lame attempt to mix tough street action with martial arts and buddy-cop thriller, but the script is really poor. Steve Rally is the LA copper Mickey Delano who proclaims his beloved city - as well as the entire West Coast - is being taken over by the Japanese Yakuza; - exactly how the Italian mafia took over the East Coast. He's right, of course, but none of his superiors care. When his own partner gets killed, Delano teams up with a Japanese cop who traveled to LA to avenge his family members that were killed by the Yakuza because they refused to pay for protection. Admittedly the violent parts in "Overkill" are enjoyable, with a handful of nasty shootouts and graphic close-up kills, but the rest of the film is clichéd, dull and predictable.

Interesting detail: usually in this type of low-keyed 80s action trash they cast a few former Playboy bunnies to insert some gratuitous nudity. For "Overkill", though, Ulli Lommel did the opposite and cast Playgirl's "Man of the Year" for the lead role. Steve Rally therefore barely ever wears a shirt throughout the entire movie.

The editing here is awful with shots cut out in such a way that you never see any of the action and scenes jumping around from place to place and time to time without any connection. Then there's the sound cues that cut in and out. The story is limited and the voice over doesn't do it any favours... But I've got some questions... The one scene where the lead goes undercover as a male stripper shows that the actor was SUPER proficient at exotic dancing. So I want to know this. Was he hired because he could dance simply for that one scene? It's all of two minutes and adds nothing. So it would seem silly to cast for that, but he certainly wasn't a good actor so it's hard to say why he was hired in the first place. OR was that scene written because they lucked out and hired someone who could dance? Like did they go and add a short male stripper scene just to capitalize on the skills of the guy they picked for the lead? But again, the problem there is that he's terrible, so it's hard to believe that he beat anyone for the role on talent.