Firecracker

This is goofy '80s exploitation/martial arts fun at its best. Horrible fight scenes, yet hilarious. Cornball fight choreography-which includes one of the funniest fight/chase scenes involving our heroine(a very attractive Jillian Kessner) . And, a sex scene that will leave you cracking up! Check out this movie but only if you want to laugh at how ridiculous it is from beginning to the abrupt ending. SO BAD THAT IT'S GOOD👍🏾.

Filmed in the Philippines I assume because it was cheaper. Kesner was a pretty good fighter, good looking, not much of an actor but who cares. I've seen a lot of martial arts flicks, Chan and Lee but you cannot compare this one to those obviously. The details. Like the music for one, are just strange. Watch it, just keep your finger on the fast forward button!

Jillian Kesner is a standout in this fast-moving action film set in the Philippines. She's radiantly beautiful, with her fit figure unabashedly displayed several times. Also, she is the action star of the movie, frequently mixing it up with the bad guys and winning out.

We get a good amount of well-shot locations; the film, on the dvd-three pack, looks crisp and the colors are vibrant. It's definitely a B film, but so what? It's highly entertaining all the way through. A few times the violence gets quite gory, but it isn't a gore-fest by any means. Because of the setting, it works fine that the majority of the cast is from the Philippines; it fits with the story.

Watching this movie, I wish that Jillian Kesner had starred in a good many more films of this type. She's very likeable, and that comes through to the viewer; that quality she has, combined with her beauty, makes one more willing to overlook cheesy aspects of the movie. Recommended.

The plot is of secondary importance: something about a female karate champion who goes to the Phillipines to investigate her sister's disappearance and stumbles on a drug ring and a tournament of no-holds-barred fights to the death. The film is mainly a showcase for the beautiful, athletic, voluptuous woman and convincing, tough fighter Jillian Kesner - and I have no complaints there: she has about 10 fight scenes in this movie, the first one of which occurs after only 2 minutes! The production is very cheap, but the fight choreography is actually quite good - not exactly on the level of early Jackie Chan but certainly vastly preferable to the heavily wired, computer-enhanced crap that so often passes for martial arts today. The long scene in which Kesner ends up topless as she tries to fight off two attackers is not just exploitation, but almost a statement: here is this undressed, unarmed, completely feminine woman and these two men can't touch her, can't even go near her without getting hurt. I'm surprised this B-movie mini-classic is so little known today. (**1/2)

Forgotten, lost, underappreciated. Whatever you want to call it. It's 5.5/10 rating on here makes no sense. I'd rather watch this film, than most of the modern films that most of you are rating 8 out of 10's on here. Then again, this film only has 712 rating votes so far. I find it hard to believe that this hasn't become more of a cult favorite. That is its destiny I would have to say. Eventually it will find enough of its suitable audience and become more well known and appreciated I believe. I've seen it happen to a number of films on here over the years, and I'm often one of the people helping to get these underseen strong films seen by more people. If you like low budget martial arts films that are somewhat funny and exploitive. Don't miss this. It is similar to many other cheesy films of its type, but it has its own unique vibe this film, it deserves more recognition. These types of films aren't for everyone obviously, in fact not nearly everyone. However there certainly is a big audience out there that would appreciate this film if they saw it.

7/10.