User reviews

Beefcake actor Martin Kove joined the ranks of action genre stars with this routinely plotted but fairly amusing vehicle. Kove plays genial Vietnam veteran John Steele, who goes into action when his wartime comrade Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim), now a police detective, is assassinated along with most of his family. Helped and hindered by former colleagues like Bennett (Ronny Cox) and Tom Reese (Bernie Casey), John goes up against a wartime associate named Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh), who's now a drug lord in America masquerading as a crusading businessman.

I'm going to give the filmmakers (led by writer & director Robert Boris) the benefit of the doubt here, and say that the amount of laughs to be had from watching this are intentional. If one does see it as tongue in cheek, it may yield greater entertainment than if they take it seriously. "Steele Justice" does have its moments. For one thing, it stops cold for a rock video that is eventually interrupted by the ongoing battles between Steele and Kwans' minions. But the unqualified highlight occurs when Steele is shot with a poison dart, and almost nonchalantly, he removes the offending dart, sucks up and spits out the poison, and does a fine job of improvising when it comes to cauterizing the wound. The action sequences are all reasonably well done.

Kove is engaging as our sardonic hero, often to be seen with a smile on his face. Oh is an enjoyably hammy villain in the action movie tradition. Sela Ward is a lovely woman, but as the heros' ex-wife, she offers a pretty insipid performance. Ditto for Jan Gan Boyd (the young lady who was hot for Bronson in the movie "Assassination"), cast as Van Minhs' supposedly teen aged daughter. Watch this and you'll see why she never had much of a career. There's a pleasingly large amount of familiar faces in the supporting cast, although some of them have no more than cameos or walk ons: Joseph Campanella, Sarah Douglas, Peter Kwong, Al Leong, Shannon Tweed, Irene Tsu, David L. Lander, Asher Brauner, Phil Fondacaro, Kevin Gage.

Any completist of 1980s action movies should have a pretty good time with this.

Six out of 10.

Well i'm surprised there aren't more comments for this film, seems that most people on here are bothered by the fact that's not particularly original, so what? Being unoriginal does not automatically make a film bad, and for the person who was bothered by the racist undertones, no offense pal but you're taking the film WAAAYYYY too seriously, this is the type of film were you don't think about logic and you just lay back and enjoy the mindless action. Kove is pretty bad ass in his role and i'm disappointed he didn't get the chance to star in more of these types of films then he did, though he did eventually end up in one of the Project:Shadowchaser films which i'll try and check out in the future, as it stands this film is pretty mindless and forgettable, but for people like me who couldn't care less about intelligence in films, that's hardly a bad thing.

Martin Kove stars as John Steele an ex-vietnam vet who becomes a one man army when his partner (and fellow vietnam vet friend) is killed by an enemy of his in Vietnam. Silly actioner which has a huge bodycount, will no doubt satisfy those craving action, but will fail to keep anyone else from squirming, or laughing for that matter (Martin Kove's wound repair scene must be seen to be believed). Soon Tech Oh does make a good villian though.

I didn't realize Martin Kove, the leader of the Cobra Kai dojo in the Karate Kid movies played John Steele in this movie until I read somebody else's review.Steele Justice was an awesome movie that is way overlooked & should be more well known then what it is.The whole time I watched it, I couldn't believe nobody turned it into a TV show back then or at least spun off a couple sequels.That would've been genius I think.I'm not going to spoil the movie for anybody else but there are a lot of things that will make you either laugh (even though it's probably not meant to) go WOW or WTF.You'll just have to watch for yourself.Watch for the music video though.It seemed like right in the middle of an action flick, they stopped to make a music video.After reading a few other Steele Justice reviews I seemed to have missed out on a few things the 1st time I watched it so now I feel the need to go back & watch it all over again.If you're an action movie fan, go watch Steele Justice.If you're not an action movie fan, go watch Steele Justice

Martin Kove stars as Steele, Vietnam vet, ex-cop turned Rambo meets Death Wish-esque avenger who declares a one man war on the Vietnamese mafia to avenge one his Vietnam War Buddy's family and protect said buddy's daughter. Along the way police detective (Ronny Cox), Military personnel (Joseph Campanella) and head cheese of the Vietnamese Mafia (Soon Tek-Oh) all acquire the wrath of steele vengeance. Bad Movie charm goes a long way with Steele Justice because if you're not a fan of the genre, this flick is going to be rough going. For me, I grew up with these movies and there's nostalgia involved. I don't think beyond that there's much else to the film. The action sequences are entertaining (as opposed to well-staged), Kove makes for a surprisingly likable if bumbling hero. There is a lot of Bad Movie charm to enjoy about Steele Justice, there is the infamous poison dart and frying pan scene, the fact that Kove has a poisonous snake as a pet that he deploys and the fact that the film is often funnier than most comedies, as the humor is so broad as to somehow be so stupid it's funny. Once again, it's a tough call as, quality wise it's sort of indifferently made, the bad guys don't really make sense and the way everyone seems to know everyone in what appears to be a big city draws attention to how bad the script is. That said, Rambo rip offs work in the same way Bruce Li films as simple absurd escapism. You know what type of person you are and whether you would watch such or not. I was not disappointed or bored watch Steele Justice.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Martin Kove vehicle in which our starring called John Steele decides to deal out justice in his own hands against maniacal killers. Steele (Martin Kove) is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general. Steele suspects Kwan is involved with Lee's (Robert Kim) death but unfortunately Kwan's (Soon-Tek Oh) now respected and wealthy member of the community, but he's actually a powerful drug lord. Then, a massacre takes place. John cares vital witness (Jan Gan Boyd) and then has to protect her from the efforts of the bad guys. Former boss Bennett (Ronni Cox) is not in a rush to find the killers cause investigation reveals that Lee may have been dirty which Steele knows is not true. When the police needed someone to stop the Vietnamese Mafia, there was only one choice...Only law is the Black Tiger's !. The only justice is John Steele's !. You don't recruit John Steele !. You unleash him!.

This comic-book stuff contains suspense, thrills, chills, noisy action-packed, gun-play and lots of violence. Here Martin Kove is a lone-wolf ex-cop who with his usual stoic acting displays amount of weapons arsenal, track down and exterminates nasty psycho killers. The villiains are encouraged to overact, which they carry out without much flair. This was the highlight of Kove, being an usual secondary actor who first appeared in bit parts in films like ¨Karate Kid¨ saga and ¨Rambo: First Blood Part II¨ . Trying to make a new action hero imitating to ¨Commando's Arnold Schwarzenegger¨, ¨Invasion USA's Chuck Norris¨, ¨Cobra's Sylvester Stallone¨; however, this project failed at the boxoffice, continuing a second-class career in B films and in increasingly insignificant roles. In Steel Justice , the long list of secondary characters that have long and well-known careers in cinema stands out, such as: Sela Ward, Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Joseph Campanella, Sarah Douglas, Shannon Tweed, Kevin Gage and oriental actors as Soon-Tek Oh, Jan Gan Boyd , Eric Lee, Peter Kwong of 'Big trouble in Little China' and the prolific secondary that even has a cult status, Al Leong, featured by long wavy black hair and Fu Manchu mustache, who frequently plays mercenaries who are killed by Hollywood's biggest stars.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Rober Boris. He is an artisan who has written, produced or directed a few films with not much success, such as: ¨Backyard dogs, Marilyn and Me, Extreme Justice, Buy & Cell, Frank and Jessie, and Oxford Blues¨ with Rob Lowe. Rating: 4.5/10, only for hardcore action movie lovers .

Steele Justice (1987) is an underrated solid action flick from the 80's it is a cheap action film but it is a really good rated R action film from the 80's from Martin Kove this is his best role. Written and directed by Robert Boris. What can I say about this film? I like this film not love but like for a fun popcorn cheese action movie.

I loved Martin Kove in The Karate Kid Trilogy as Sensei John Kreese he was really a bad guy and he become really famous by his role. A lot of people on the street yelled at Martin saying he hurt Ralph and they hated him, he played the bad guy Vietnam Vet and a karate "bad" guy instructor. A year later after the release of the first film The Karate Kid (1984) he went to play another Vietnam Vet character but this time Ericson in the action war flick Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) another bad guy who is a Vietnam Vet. I wish his character would had more to do. But this time he plays another Vietnam Vet this time he is "John Steele" wow what a cool character. An ex cop and a Vietnam Vet. Martin Kove plays this time a good guy in a cheap movie we can see he is a nice person not an evil guy like he got the roles on a screen. Martin does a fine solid job playing his character and I like this movie it is my favorite Martin Kove film.

Plot: Steele is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general and now rich and powerful drug lord.

This is an action revenge film of the 80's and it is one-man army action hero type. We see like 1975 a mission that John Steele (Martin Kove) and his partner Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim) goes on a secret mission in the Vietnam only that they are set up by the nemesis Gen. Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh) who try's to kill them but John saves Lee and he wounds Kwan with a knife and leave's him for dead but Kwan survives. 12 years later Lee is now a detective by LAPD on a chase for a cocaine but he was set up Kwan is now the leader of Vietnamese mafia and he deals drugs and prostitution. John is now an ex washed up cop who can't keep a solid job and he is divorced now from his ex wife Tracy (Sela Ward) he get's arrested but Lee bails him out. Kwan sends assassins on Lee and his family to send a message but to everyone in Vietnamese neighborhood, they kill everyone but they miss John and Cami (Jan Gan Boyd), Lee's only daughter now Steele must protect Cami and get's his own brand of justice against Kwan.

We have a great action scenes, practical blood squibs, there a few shootouts, Steele were Milk snake around his neck and he avenges his best friend's death in which he served in Vietnam together. Steele kicks ass two assassins in the prison then he escapes jail and he kills a lot of bad guys. He save's Cami and Tracey and other innocent life by killing Vietnamese assassins who start shooting at the music video spot they were filming. It is a rated R film and it is one man one-man army action hero type. One man against an army of Vietnamese mafia. For me it is a good cheese action movie not a boring or crap movie like some reviewers are claiming it is a fun popcorn film. I first saw this movie on VHS when I was 13. years old, years later I watch it on TV. I downloaded form the net and I watch it again and I had fun watching it.

Here we have actors Soon-Tek Oh from Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) who plays another Vietnamese soldier bad guy. In Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) he played Colonel Yin enemy to Chuck Norris this time he plays a Vietnamese General Kwan another evil bad guy. We have Ronny Cox from Beverly Hills Cop 1 & 2, Robocop, Total Recall who plays another good guy and again a cop Bennett another good guy. We have Sela Ward from CSI: NY, we also have Sarah Douglas from Superman 1,2 and Al Leong from Die Hard.

This a prototypical good action film but because it is cheap and cheese it get's a bad rap. My favorite scene is the end in which Steele and Kwan fight's with sword in a duel and we see a good samurai fights in which Steele uses two swords while Kwan uses one samurai sword. Practical real samurai demonstration.

I like action films like are: Rambo films, Demolition Man, Cobra, Tango & Cash, Cliffhanger, Assassins, Hard Target, Hard Boiled, Broken Arrow, The Killer, The Last Boy Scout, Die Hard franchise, Commando, 48 Hrs., Red Heat, Missing In Action 1,2, Steel Dawn, Road House, Black Dog, John Wick, Speed, The Matrix Trilogy flicks, Terminator 1,2 & 3, Predator 1,2, RoboCop 1,2, Beverly Hills Cop 1,2, Death Wish 3, Universal Soldier, Cyborg and many more action movies.

I really love the 80's the rating I am giving to this movie is a 6 a good solid movie. I can't give it more higher and I can't also an negative score F.

Steele Justice is a 1987 film written and directed by Robert Boris.

6/10 Grade: C Studio: Atlantic Entertainment Group Starring: Martin Kove, Sela Ward, Soon-Tek Oh, Robert Kim, Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Jan Gan Boyd, Peter Kwong Director: Robert Boris Producers: Thomas Coleman, Michael Rosenblatt, John Strong Screenplay: Robert Boris Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 36 Mins. Budget: $1.327.740

There are stupid action films like Beverly Hills Cop III, which are awful and hard to watch, posses no entertainment value at all, just bad. But then there is that special film that is so incredibly awful, so painfully bad, it starts to become, well, wildly entertaining! You revel in amazement at how the movie is able to steadily lower the bar from start to finish. I mean, if you are looking for clichés, well, this film is 100% cliché. You will not see one scene that you have not already seen in any episode of TJ Hooker, Walker: Texas Ranger, or any Chuck Norris movie from the 1980s. There are several points during the film when you ask yourself, "the director knows this is terrible, doesn't he?" He has to! What boggles my mind is that there are people in here that are actually saying this movie was not really that bad. Uhh, I am guessing these people rode the short bus to school when they were younger. OK, you want a synopsis? Steele fought in Vietnam, he was a hero. Steele comes home to LA, corrupt Vietnamese everywhere, Steele deals with it, HIS OWN WAY! Steele gets beat up a lot, even gets shot with a blowgun, his reaction of which, was to grimace like he was shot with a laser beam. Then for some reason, he very slowly removes the toothpick sized dart from his arm (I guess so there was more time for the poison to inject?), which probably went a millimeter deep, and cauterizes the wound with a frying pan. Why am I explaining this is not a plot driven movie! Just watch the idiocy and enjoy it. Mystery Science Theater could have dedicated a season to this film.

Look, I have no idea what was going on in this movie, but that's partly due to the fact that at one point, a midget cowboy, wearing sunglasses in a bar, sitting by himself, and rocking to some random country band had me so excited, that I basically had to sign up on IMDb so I could tell everyone that this movie has a midget cowboy in it.

I thank the Netflix Gods for his sublime performance.

Oh, and apparently, all Asians know martial arts, and then they use the arts whenever they're least needed (I've heard this is true).

It certainly isn't Citizen Kane (that movie was in black in white), but it is the greatest movie ever made in color (named Steele Justice).

This straight to drive in action pic, is just your typic action fare, with some well staged action set pieces, no more. What's fascinatingly strange here, it's it's lead, Kove, who I've never seen, take the lead before, while also playing a good guy. I'll be honest, I've never considered this guy to be much of an actor, my friend, even stating, during the 80's, he's a no talent, but I've seen him in a lot of stuff. I am glad to see him in this, and really, he doesn't do half a bad job (but don't push it) as a Vietnam vet turned cop, out to bust an Asian bad arse, (one of his team you'll recognize straight out of the first Die Hard) who has slain the closest thing to family, though his late vet/cop buddy was crooked. The surviving daughter, a little Asian girl, who overacts, especially one bit of dialogue, robot sounding, when she and Uncle John are on a stolen boat, about to flee from authorities, is taken under his wing. What Steele Justice suffers from, is tired formula, and you'll feel tired and exhausted by this at the end, when he's claimed victory, killing off the bad dudes, two who went on to star in certain B grade, Wings Hauser fare. There are some dumb moments in this slightly stupid actioner. Ronny Cox, as the police commissioner is so actor stereotyped, when you look at his surrounding roles of this mid 80's era. Shannon Tweed provides nice scenery and a sexual stimulant to the film as Soon Teck Oh's business partner, and she looks so fine in a bikini. Soon Teck Oh, in a kimono, not. A weird partnership. Sela Ward as John's ex, looks undernourished. The eye nabbing performance is that of Joseph Campanella as Steele's old vet buddy, now an untrusting one. He makes his scenes, worthwhile, while another highlight of the average 80's action, is it's rockin' finale soundtrack. Out of interest this was on at the drive in, with another film of even appeal, Slate, Wyn And Me.

After watching this movie, you're not likely to wonder why Martin Kove didn't get the chance to make any more starring vehicles. It's unforgivably bad technically by 1987 standards. What's up with that green glow that accompanies every single shooting or explosion? What's up with the scenes that appear to move in fast motion? And why does Shannon Tweed have only two brief scenes? (*1/2)

Like a train wreck you won't be able to look away from this movie, no matter how awful it gets. At times you'll ask yourself if they were trying to make a bad movie on purpose just so we could laugh at it in the future. If you like Kung Fury and want to see the exact kind of over the top martial arts cop movie it was spoofing this is it. The acting, horrible. The action, completely ridiculous. The plot, written by a ten year old boy. I've literally never seen cheesier acting, fighting choreography, editing, or music, all with every 80's cliché you can think of wrapped into one movie. Entertaining? HELL YES!

Are you missing the bad action movies of the 80s? Do you like yourself some throwback schlock? Do you love an easy to digest buddy cop storyline with some over the top weirdness thrown in? Do you miss charismatic heros that are troubled by their Vietnam service?

Do you wish you could see a movie that tried to be a low-budget Rambo / Schwarzenegger clone,except without the budget, or the acting, or the writing, or the screenplay?

Do you ever say to yourself....self, remember the superficial bubblegum optimism that was the hallmark of the 1980's, and don't you wish there was a movie that not only included the making of a big hair jazzercise pop video, but one in which said video was interrupted by a dynamic, overly complex shootout between the villians and the good guys, complete with fake blood and the shaking back and forth that is the hallmark of bad-movie-mindless-bad-guy-death?

Well then, you are in luck. This is your movie. Prepare to have your nostalgic feelings of the superficial action movie revived.

Watch it. Share it. Revere it. It's a rare gem among the bad action movies of the past. It doesn't take itself seriously and neither should you.

Steele Justice was a vehicle for Martin Kove. Martin is best known as the leader of Cobra Kai( John Kreese) and also had a supporting role in Rambo First Blood pt 2. In this film Martin Kove is hero and leading man. (John Steele) In my opinion, Kove was better as a villain. However, he still gets the job done here in this post Vietnam War vigilante revenge flick. When his best friend and his family get brutally executed by the Vietnamese Mob, John goes on a one man mission for justice ala Rambo/Commando style. Steele Justice benefits from a great cast with Bernie Casey, Ronny Cox and Soon Tek Oh as main baddie( who was also head villain opposite Chuck Norris in Missing In Action 2). I thought this was good, however Martin Kove is lame in comparison to Arnold and Sly. Steele Justice was a good lesser known action flick that didn't skimp on big guns, karate sequences and a big body count of bad guys by the movie's end. I can definitely see Cobra Kai fans eating this up as well as 80's action fans in general. Just keep in mind that this is not as good as the movies it mimics and you should enjoy this as I did.

This movie is narly. However the vietnamese grown-up acting like she's 10-12 is very irking to watch because she's clearly like 10 years older. Just perverse watching grown-ups acting like children. Other thing is the music video shoot which is just as irritating, because there's so much unreal over the top gyrating and flinging of arms going on it's embarrassing. There's no actual real life music video where the singer or background dancers act that stupid. The main actor is very good, I always wanted to see him in a main role ever since seeing him play the villain in Karate Kid. And the main actress is fabulously beautiful like only 80's women looked, mature, feminine, sexy just fantastic. What also sucks is they keep playing Beethoven's piano piece over and over again and they use close ups just like in Asian and Italian movies, which is just completely ridiculous and unprofessional. Totally stupid. Apart from that I'll take this over all action movies produced after the year 2000 at latest. Bodacious 80's are the best!

My review was written in April 1987 after watching the movie at a Times Square screening room.

It's rather difficult to tell whether writer-director Robert Boris is playing it straight with "Steele Justice", a cornball actioner in which the unintentional laughs come fast and furious. Grindhouse fans are likely to be confused.

Martin Kove toplines as John Steele, the umpteenth Vietnam ve back home in L. A. with a problem. South Vietnamese General Kwan (Soon-Teck Oh) betrayed his unit back in 1975 and is now a California big shot posing as a philanthropist but actually heading up a drug ring, assisted by his sadistic son Pham (Peter Kwong).

Things come to a head when Steele's best pal from Vietnam, Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim) and his family are murdered by Pham, with the cute daughter Cami (Jan Gan Boyd) surviving. Steele whips into action and bodies pile up.

Format might have made for an acceptable, routine film noir, but Boris includes a wealth of silly material that causes the film's credibility to evaporate. Most obvious gaffe is a large-scale central sequence of guest star Astrid Plane warbling in a music video shoot (replete with Jeff Kutash choreography) directed by Steele's beautiful ex-wife (Sela Ward). The oriental gangsters and a squad of good guys show up, and it is the hapless chorus line that gets mowed down in machine gun fire. Producer John Strong likewise emphasized a hard rock score in a previous effort, "Savage Streets", but it doesn't help matters this time.

Kove's acting is one-note, a surly sneer and more bare-chested scenes than William Shatner or Charlton Heston in the '60s.

Bernie Casey lends strength and wry humor as a cop pal of Steele's while poor Ronny Cox as the police chief looks like he strayed in from the set of "Beverly Hills Cop II", even wearing the same sports jacket. Oddball casting has soap opera stars popping in, Sarah Douglas as a district attorney, and cast against type, Shannon Tweed as a beautiful gangster and Joseph Campanella as another bad guy. Worst decision was to have Jan Gan Boyd, recently impressive as an adult in "Assaassination" (replete with a tasteful sex scene with Charles Bronson) and "A Chorus Line", fitted out here with pigtails as a whiny little girl.

Tech credits are good.