Only the Strong

An exciting feel-good actioner from the director of Double Impact that demands very little from its audience other than the odd cry of adulation at the spectacular, slow-mo'-induced action scenes set before us. Capoeira, the rhythm-based Brazilian martial art / dance, is the movie's chosen subject, and its saving grace: flamboyant and effortlessly acrobatic, accurately pulled off by a cast of the style's best practitioners. Dacascos masters the art while stationed in Brazil working as a Green Beret, and returns to his old school in Miami to find the classes out of control, made up of petty criminals and drug dealers. He is chosen to teach these crazy kids some discipline (by means of Capoeira), and they seem to become pretty good at it. Prieto provides the beefcake villain element as a Brazilian master-criminal determined to sway one of our hero's prime students. All in all, this is an entertaining watch, a perfect showcase for Dacascos.