The video rental and sales industry has for some time given birth to a whole mess of independent and low budget action films. While most are forgettable, a few rise above the pack by offering something that big-budget Hollywood films do not. In the case of Isaac Florentine's Cold Harvest, we see the continuation of a long tradition of bringing Western martial arts action to the small screen. Florentine brings his Eastern-inspired action, lightly peppered with a certain over-the-top playfulness to the well-tread, post-apocalyptic genre and throws in a dash of Spaghetti Western sensibility. As a B-movie, Cold Harvest is a cut above thanks to director Isaac Florentine's emphasis on quality martial arts action. Akihiro Noguchi, one of Florentine's cohorts from his Power Ranger stints offers competent choreography.
The concept of a bounty hunter/hero in a frontier post-apocalypse is a challenging one to pull off successfully with any budget. The few past successes like Escape from New York, The Road Warrior, and Six-String Samurai all had more to offer overall. But solely on the grounds of martial arts content, Cold Harvest, along with Jean-Claude Van Damme's Cyborg (1989) are leaders in this over-played sci-fi category. Gary Daniels fans won't be disappointed.
