User reviews

When I stumbled upon the 1998 action movie "Whatever It Takes" here in 2021, I must admit that I found the movie to have some appeal. Why? Well, the movie had Don Wilson and also Fred Williamson on the cast list.

And with "Whatever It Takes" being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I sat down to watch it.

It turns out that this 1998 action movie from writers Jack Capece and Raymond Obstfeld was actually a rather enjoyable movie. Sure, this was a typical cheesy late 1990s action movie, for better or worse. But that was definitely something that, in my opinion, added to the overall appeal of the movie.

The storyline told in "Whatever It Takes" was pretty straight forward. Sure, this was not a movie that revolutionized the action genre, nor did it bring anything new to the genre, but director Brady MacKenzie managed to deliver a wholesome action movie that was driven by a good enough storyline, interesting characters and some good old fashioned hard-hitting action.

While the movie was starring Don Wilson and co-starring Andrew Clay and Fred Williamson, then this movie was first and foremost made enjoyable by Fred Williamson in the role of a drug lord. He was so nicely cast for that particular role and character, and his performance was just spot on. This guys' charisma and appearance definitely added so much to the character.

Personally I am not interested in bodybuilding and such, so I found very little appeal in all the displaying of workout sessions and both men and women with so many muscles that it started to look monstrously bad. But hey, to each their own. But of course, with the movie's storyline, this was a needed ingredient for the movie.

If you enjoy a good old fashioned action movie, then "Whatever It Takes" is a good bet. I found it to be a rather enjoyable and entertaining movie.

My rating of "Whatever It Takes" lands on a well-deserved six out of ten stars.

I'm pretty sure they only had a single lens to use for this production WHY IS EVERY SHOT SO TIGHT

If anyone who had anything to do with the production of this ever reads this review please contact me somehow.

"Whatever it takes" was not quite as entertaining as previous Don "The Dragon" Wilson movies. Don Wilson is beginning to show his age, and it appeared that it was more difficult for him to perform some of the stunts. The showing was running a "6" until the end, when Andrew Dice Clay had to come in with his moronic farmer jokes, which didn't add anything to the show, actually detracted from it, and was not normal for Wilson's productions.

Let me just say that the only good thing about this film is the beautiful women in it. Other than that, the movie is just a waste of time. It's not often that I would say something like that about a film, most movies have some redeeming value, but this is one does not.

The story isn't too terribly bad, I mean it's relatively interesting, but the acting and the dialogue is just god-awful! Just about all the fight scenes were just terrible! I thought this guy Don "The Dragon" Wilson (I can't believe this guy actually gets credited on film as "The Dragon") was a terrible fighter. Apparently he is some kick-boxing champion, well...I wasn't really impressed. In his defense, it could have been the choreographer that made the fighting less than impressive, but I don't know for sure. Andrew Dice Clay had a few funny lines in the movie, but most of the time he was just useless. The rest of the cast was bad too, but I won't get into it.

Anyhow, I would never recommend watching this film unless you have NOTHING better to do with 2 hours of your life. If by some miracle you do happen to watch this film, I hope you enjoy it a lot more than I did. Thanks for reading,

-Chris

I'm a big fan of B action movies, but this dog was pitiful. Don "The Dragon" Wilson's martial arts choreography was so slow-moving it paled in comparison to even the lowliest "Power Rangers" TV episode. The Diceman looked paunchy, aged, and was unfunny (and I LIKE his humor!).

The lone bright spot of this flop was Leslie Danon. Caught my eye enough to look up her other credits on IMDb. Would like to see more of her (figuratively AND literally!).

An awesome Cops and Robbers genre movie! The stunts were great! The "Dragon" was amazing "Dice" was hysterical. Lots and lots of FUN! Hope to see more just like it! The women were beautiful and very sexy! Fred Williamson was especially good as the bad

I picked up this film because I am a huge Fred "The Hammer" Williamson fan. I was shocked to see him play the villain in this surprisingly entertaining film. Fred Williamson never plays a villain - I think it's written into his contract. How Brady MacKenzie got Fred William to play the villain beats me?! Brady MacKenzie (the director) never made a film before this, or after - what gives? He handles the action scenes very well - he's no John Woo, but hey - he's got Michael Bay beat! And Fred's good as the antagonist, hard-ass and funny as always. This also marks my first Don "The Dragon" Wilson film; who's no Jackie Chan, but he's got Van Damn beat! I will admit I am a fan of Andrew "Dice" Clay, not as a comedian but as an actor. The Dice runs around for most of the action scenes blazing two guns - ala Chow Yun-Fat. The Killer the Diceman isn't, but I'll take Whatever It Takes over any Lethal Weapon film any day of the week. Whatever It Takes hits the mark, keeping in mind this is a straight-to-video release.

I agree with the reviewers that this movie is not good. I enjoy low budget movies if they have a certain charm that makes them interesting and unique. This is too "formula" to be low-budget and charming and not strong enough to be a main stream "formula" action film. However, I bought this because I'm a big Victoria Pratt fan and wanted all of her movies and TV shows. If you like her too, you may want to pick this up. She's in about 7 scenes, mostly wearing hot workout outfits at the gym and hot "night out" outfits in other scenes. She's even topless in another. She looks buff and wonderful as always! I suggest buying the DVD so that you can select her scenes without having to fast forward through a tape and being forced to watch the movie itself more than once. Used copies are a little cheaper too.

Basically a low B-level action movie with Andrew Dice Clay doing a lot of talking; but providing little action. You wouldn't miss much by never seeing it. Although, I'm a big fan of Victoria Pratt and am mystified at the lack of crediting of her in this movie; or in her list of credits on this site. She had a number of speaking parts, plenty of on-screen time, and the lone "revealing" scene. Probably the only one she has ever done.