Last Man Standing

Years ago the word was 'Last Man Standing' was Jeff Wincott's best effort from PM Entertainment. So now that I've seen it, I understand why. What they did very well is on full display here. Great stunt work, multiple fireball explosions and decent car chases. Only downside? Story is an absolute test pattern. Two parts cliche and one part very predictable.

LA detectives Kurt Bellmore (Wincott) and veteran partner 'Doc' Kane (Jonathan Banks) stumble onto criminal Snake Underwood (Jonathan Fuller) completing his latest deal. When he makes bail easy and some of the evidence disappears, Snake goes onto commit bank robberies as the picture of dirty cops being involved starts to emerge. Then Kurt gets suspended and his bank exec wife Anabella (Jillian McWhirter) is personally involved.

The faces in the cast certainly earn it some points. Wincott gets to juggle guns / fisticuffs while Fuller goes full ham with the villain. Michael Greene (Eve of Destruction, To Live and Die in LA) plays a police captain while Robert LaSardo and ex-Playboy Playmate Ava Fabian play main baddies. It sucks Banks doesn't have a bigger part or more to do, but he delivers nicely given his small role. McWhirter getting in on the action - firing off guns, taking out baddies, saving her husband - is a nice change of pace from the stock female role usually found in these pics.

It's hard to hate on 'Last Man Standing' as a b-movie fan because what it does so well partially offsets the weak storyline. There's even some gratuitous female nudity here via a trip to a strip club. Too bad the dialog and musical score in addition to the plot are such howlers. If you like 90's dtv cheese, PM or enjoy Jeff Wincott it's still worth a view though.

Jeff Wincott has for me at least, always stood out somewhat from the plethora of movie action stars of the late eighties and nineties such as, Van Damme, Seagal, Grunier, Wilson, Lundgren etc etc. on the very simple account that Wincott is actually a rather good actor when the material allows. Unfortunately, this film doesn't allow Wincott to flex his acting muscles however.....Oh dear I hear you cry. Bad news then? Well luckily, not really, as the action happens to more than make up for it. Yes, here we have a plot and character thin effort which despite said flaws nonetheless balances the scales with sheer entertainment value. It has to be said that the action sequences are very well staged throughout including multiple shootouts, some Michael Bay style freeway chases and of course, capitalising on Wincott's martial arts expertise, a few decent fight scenes to. As B-movies go, this is very much a high end production; Well worth checking out me recommends.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! This has to be one of the worst movies I've seen in a very long time, and I've seen some stinkers. Lassie could have done a better job editing. Bellmore was taking his wife's glasses to her at work while she's wearing them? A pump shotgun that holds about 25 rounds. Not shells mind you, regular brass rounds. This was worse than some of the Shannon Tweed movies I've seen. I would recommend avoiding this at all costs, unless you want to see how a movie shouldn't be made. It was bad, awful, garbage. As a matter of fact, it was so bad, it inspired me to write this, my only movie review ever. On any site. You'd be better off watching old Miami Vice reruns.

This film is actually pretty good. There is good chemistry between Wincott and Jonathan Banks, and it's certainly one of Joseph Merhi's best films. The stunts are excellent, half of the budget must have gone into that side of the production, including three great car chases, and a very big explosion halfway through the film.

It's a b-movie, but a very good one.

7 out of 10 stars for this effort.

I'm sure that the creators of this movie were going for many things; Believability was not one of them. Our hero Kurt (Punch Rock Groin) opens the flick by chasing a bad guy thru a hotel. Along the way he jumps a 20ft staircase and chases the guy thru 5 or 6 plate glass windows coming up without a scratch. Even more believable is this guy's marriage to his wife whom he evidently knows nothing about, demonstrated by his surprise at her ability to use a gun. As villains chase them with guns and bomb empty barns, she stays true to the 2dimentional stereotype that she is and "Stands by her man".

The movie also somehow leaves out or ignores several details about police procedure. Mainly that a cop should identify himself as a police officer and warn suspects to comply before kicking there A**. Or, that after a police officer is suspended, commandeering a civilian vehicle is known as GRAND THEFT AUTO, which our hero commits twice in this film. I mean Heck! Joe Don Baker's "Mitchell" follows police procedure more than this guy does.

Overall it seems that the filmmakers must have bought a book on how to make the most cliché, over the top action movie possible and followed it line-by-line, complete with the poser outfits and bad dialogue. My favorite part of the movie was when the big boss bad guy Underwood refers to himself as "The Swashbuckler".

Chuck Norris watch out, your days as the king of Cheese ball action movies are numbered!