Riot

The Story: A riot erupts in a major US city following the deaths of some teenagers at the hands of the police. Shane Alcott, a British soldier, is called in to rescue his former love, the daughter of the British Consulate, who was kidnapped by a gang of hoods. Trapped in the riot zone, Alcott must rescue the girl, stop the hoods & their IRA handlers, who are using the riot to further their own ambitions.

Riot comes from director Joseph Merhi, who has made a whole slew of cheap action films, such as The Glass Jungle, Repo Jake, CIA: Code Name Alexa & the entertaining The Sweeper. Here Merhi uses the background of a riot in order to drive a story about a high-profile kidnapping by hoods employed by the IRA (why the IRA would operate on American shores is something of a mystery). If you want to watch the film expecting riots, you will be disappointed, since the riot scenes are used in the start of the film only. Not to mention the fact that the scenes are played along with Christmas music, which makes the scenes quite funny to watch. As an action film, it is entertaining, with Gary Daniels fighting various hoods & IRA terrorists. But the film falters by not using the riot scenes in the proper way. Grade: C+ Review by M. K. Geist

Good action movie. It may start out a little slow the first 10 or 15 minutes, but once Gary enters the riot zone, the movie becomes a non stop action fest! Lots of shooting and fighting to keep action fans happy. The stunts are good as well. The last one in particular is amazing! See the movie. I bet you will be amazed as well. Another winner from PM! Keep up the good work guys!

This movie is not about the riot; the riots are simply something that provides a distraction that allows a kidnapping to occur. I suppose it is not any more stupid than similar action movies, but it sure is stupid if you are expecting a realistic view of the riots.

It is opportunistic in that it uses the riots to make us think it is interesting and worthwhile. The riots were not a good solution and will not be a good solution to problems, but this movie does not show any of the desperation and other social influences that caused the riots. In this movie, the only purpose of the riot is to provide the opportunity to make the black people the enemy.

It is racist because nearly all the black people are the bad guys.

There is a military influence to the story, and that makes the plot more complicated, but that does not help much.

Gary Daniels stars as a soldier who, with Sugar Ray Leonard dive into gang territory to save the ex-girlfriend of Daniels, seems our English hero's girlfriend(Also English)is the daughter of an ambassador and the IRA are looking to hold her for ransom and well you can guess pretty much what happens next. I saw this a couple months ago on HBO (or was it Showtime, in any-case thank goodness I take notes) and this was pretty much what I expected it to be. Of course the movie was a PM effort so this meant that there was tons of mindless action and plot threads which make no sense, of course all of this is made acceptable by the fact that Gary Daniels is a good martial artist and that the the action sequences deliver the expected punch that you would hope for. However much more disappointing is the lack of Sugar Ray Leonard who only gets one big action sequence. Also on the wasted front are Charles Napier and Patrick Kilpatrick. Good old Patrick Kilpatrick, he's made a living playing these type of roles (From Death Warrant to Substitute IV) and he is always convincing. So basically I give it a two star rating because I derived some mild enjoyment from this title, however it's only for fans of this genre. I can't imagine anyone else deriving much from this movie. Of course I'm a fan of the genre and this while not great, was a pretty watchable movie. Perfect with Beer and Pizza. Then again what isn't perfect with that combo?

* * out of 4-(Fair)

'Riot' stands out in PM Entertainment's catalog. First it was part of a collection of titles the company decided to put more money behind. You'll notice it first as a studio lot subs for a real city street where the heart of the film's set pieces go down. Then the quality of explosions, pyro work is above & beyond for a dtv pix. Solid stunt work too. Shame the story is largely a bore.

SAS Maj. Alcott (Gary Daniels) in the States helping to train troops is called upon when the UK Ambassador's daughter Anna (Paige Rowland) is kidnapped during an LA riot. She's not only being held for ransom, but a well known fashion model and his ex girlfriend too. As the city burns and goes into lockdown, Shane battles thugs by fist or guns at night to both get in, get the girl and then get out.

You get a straight laced government suit role from Charles Napier and in a bit of stunt casting Sugar Ray Leonard as fellow US army man and Alcott's friend Maj. Williams. Unfortunately for second billing he only gets one sole fight scene and pops up at the start and a little towards the end. It's really Daniels film and he does a fine job of what's asked of him. Likable and good with the martial arts. Patrick Kilpatrick is here playing another baddie, but his role and how it ties in is very disjointed.

I wanted a better time with 'Riot' than what I received. Few pieces of unintentional funny dialog, cheesy fake accents and decent fight scenes that'll make you think about 'The Warriors' with a 'Escape From NY' vibe keep it from every being a pain. Christmas theme complete with tunes as dudes get the brakes beat off of 'em is memorable. All this wasn't enough to overcome an uninteresting plot though.