Cold Harvest

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.

Despite popular belief, Cold Harvest is not a "great action movie". I think it's even a stretch to call it a movie. I think it is better classified as a form of cancer. Now I am in no way an expert on Cold Harvest. Seeing as maybe 20-30 minutes into the movie I sort of zoned out. My roommates found me on the floor in a tight little ball shivering. I was supposedly mumbling incoherently and they said my eyes had a look of just deep shame and hurt. Anyways, over time my memory has healed and i vaguely remember parts of this lame post-apocalyptic/kung-fu/sci-fi/western. That right there should be reason enough not to see it. As far as I can tell the creators of this awful movie traveled far and wide looking for the worst possible cast and crew that they could assemble. Here's a possible scenario:

Producer: "Hey, dirty naked homeless guy, we're doing a movie and we're looking for a (enter any movie job here). Are you interested?"

Dirty Naked Homeless Guy: "Can I bring my friend?" (pointing to soiled towel on ground)

Producer: "Sure, We'll need a good (enter other movie job here)."

Well, maybe that's not totally true. I think the movie might have been better had they hired a few naked homeless guys...but they didn't. Anyways, if you choose to ignore my warning and watch this movie, just remember the old saying: Everytime someone watches Cold Harvest, a baby gets punched in the stomach.

The script for "Cold Harvest" is anything but inspired. We've seen the post-holocaust setting many times before, we've seen the same kind of creeps this movie has in other movies, and the dialogue is unexceptional. (And what does that title mean? It's never explained.) Other faults the movie has includes Gary Daniels. In this movie and in others of his I've seen, he simply can't act.

Still, there is still some pleasure to be found in the movie. Although this was clearly a very low budget movie, it's clear that the production team squeezed every penny out of their limited funds. The photography and lighting is very good. The movie does go by at a fairly brisk pace. And Bryan Genesse and Tony Caprari make amusing and colorful villains. But what's really good are the action sequences. I've seen other movies directed by Isaac Florentine, and I can tell you that he sure knows how to make exciting action sequences, including the ones in this movie. If you're a B movie fan, you'll probably find enough good stuff in this movie to make it worth your time.

This movie is half western, half kung fu movie. And it takes place in the future! But the results are pretty good. The story moves at a fast pace. Gary Daniels makes a very cool hero in this one! The villan could have been better though. Nice mix of fighting and shootouts. One of Gary Daniels' best movies!

What do you get when you mix Hong Kong-inspired fights and stunts, John Woo-type shootouts, spaghetti Western-like faceoffs and post-apocalyptic settings ala Albert Pyun? You get "Cold Harvest", except that this ambitious mix is not as interesting as it sounds. Gary Daniels is fun to watch, especially in the fight scenes, and Barbara Crampton does a surprisingly good job in her role, but why do they have the main villain, who turns out to be an awesome fighter, fight only once (at the end), and kill people with his guns throughout the rest of the movie? If you're a fan of Gary Daniels (and I'm slowly becoming one myself) check out "Bloodmoon" first, as it has more fights and a fantastic villain (Darren Shahlavi). (**)