One Man's Justice

A run of the mill revenge flick. It is basically a movie version of the hit game "Max Payne" but the story is told in a bleak and rather dull manner.

The hero goes around beating people up and teaching a kid that that is actually a bad thing to do. Pretty funny if you think about, but it manages to be half-way entertaining. Kurt Wimmer, in his pre-Equilibrium days, displays some directing talent, but this is nothing when compared to Equilibrium.

The undisputed highlight of the film is a great performance by Bruce Payne as a corrupt FBI agent. Complete with a 80's metal hairstyle and a nose ring, he makes one hell of a funny, though very improbable villain. His constant sarcasm and wit save this movie from being totally generic and uninspired. 5/10

Rated R: violence and profanity

The film started out with a boot camp situation with a drill instructor breaking in his new company of Army enlistments. All of a sudden there is a horror show going on in a local convenient store, where things start being turned into Swiss Cheese and lots of tomato juice. The Army instructor is Brian Bosworth,(John North),"Mach 2",'01,who winds up in a hospital for a few weeks and when he gets outside the door, all hell breaks loose. In this picture there is a very young boy who deals with drugs and is very street smart, which in today's society is being used all the time. These kids are under age and cannot be given hard sentences, so they do the dirty work of the Older Boys. Bruce Payne,(Karl Savak),"Hellborn",'03 gives an outstanding performance as an FBI agent who seems to like evil more than good. This is an entertaining film, but there is nothing you will remember about this film after an hour goes bye~! This film was called two names: "One Man's Justice" and "One Tough Bastard", whatever you prefer

I love this film. Yes its crap but its brilliant at the same time. This is due to an excellent, camp and totally over the top performance by Bruce Payne. He takes the character of Savak to a totally new level by being ruthless, daring and funny at the same time. The bit where he throws his burger meal over marcus and screams 'horse-sh*t' at him is pure class. So is the bit in the drug dealers den 'tsk tsk' and 'ive got the guns'. It seems that Bruce Payne has the knack of taking psycho characters and turning them into something complicated (such as he did with Charles Raine in Passenger 57). I thought the long blond hair and the nose rings really added some presence to the character of Savak in this film, although how plausible it would be to have a CIA / FBI agent looking as he does, I really don't know. Great escapism - 10/10.

John North is a military instructor with a child he adores. When his wife and child accidentally become witnesses to a crime, they are murdered in cold blood. John North has one wish...revenge! OK, there is a bit more to it than that, but I won't give it away. "One Man's Justice" (or "One Tough Bastard" as its known as in the UK) is a well paced action movie with enough twists and creativity to hold your interest until the end. Visually speaking, director Kurt Wimmer doesn't have a particularly interesting eye, but he is talented enough to provide us with well choreographed fight scenes and effective, if slightly overdone performances. Bruce Payne reprises his role from "Passenger 57" here, albeit with an American accent. His performance borders on the camp, but it works. He IS A BAD GUY! At least, he wholly convinced me. Brian Bosworth is great too as the all American family man, who'll kick your ass to high hell if you ever cross him. The casting is perfect.

Keep in mind, it's a B Movie, but it's thoroughly enjoyable. It reminds me of 80's bliss such as "Commando". Fans of action movies should add this to their collection.

I saw this movie on HBO about a year and a half ago, and I absolutely loved it. I've never heard of Brian Bosworth, who seems to be the typical American action movie star (he's better than Jeff Speakman by far, though). The throwaway plot in this film deals with the not-so-accidental death of North's wife and child at the hands of a couple of street hoods working for a Disney Dollars counterfeiter or an herbal tea smuggler or something. Johnny sets off in pursuit of the dudes and is led to Karl Savak (Bruce Payne from Passenger 57), the aforementioned bad guy.

There are some very well-done fight scenes here, and the story actually develops (somewhat) as North tries to lure his nemesis out of the woodwork by posing as another criminal, and is eventually offered a chance by Savak to avenge his family's death. The dialogue is laughable at points, mainly Bosworth's lines, but for the most part this movie is well-paced. Payne is right at home as the villain, and the showdown at the end is incredible. The supporting cast did well with what they had, also.

If you find this one at the bottom of a sales bin, you would do well to pick it up. Hell, I'll buy it from you. No rental store around Chicago has this film.