Dominic La Banca

The cover for 90s fight flick Dragon Fire features several quotes of praise for the movie from the action community, one of which says "Forget Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal! Dominic La Banca would tear them to shreds!"

Quite whether they made this judgment based on what they saw in this movie is unclear, what is clear is that aside from the capability to do a decent roundhouse there was nothing unique about La Banca onscreen that led him to challenge either of these two Hollywood heavyweights.

In his defense, La Banca (aka Dominick LaBanca) says “The first fight scene dislocated my clavicle bone and crushed my shoulder joint, I was only at 10% of my ability! I finished the entire shoot even though I needed immediate surgery. I promise you the pain was excruciating.”

La Banca and his mullet burst onto video store shelves in 1993, in what fans soon discovered was nothing more than a sci-fi reworking of Don Wilson’s Bloodfist (1989). Actually one of two remakes (the other was Full Contact) of that film in the same year by director Rick Jacobson! Even more absurdly, Dragon Fire would ultimately be remade as an official remake (titled Bloodfist 2050) in 2005. The man behind all these films is B-movie king Roger Corman!

In all versions of the story a guy comes looking for his brother, discovers he’s been murdered, goes in search of the killer, enters world of underground fighting to do this, falls in love with a stripper and faces the killer at the climax. The simplistic narrative enlivened by alternating fight sequences and gratuitous strip club sequences. In the Dragon Fire version La Banca is the hero and Jim Wynorski makes a cameo as master of ceremonies at the stripclub. Not much is notable.

Of course it's not hard to see why Corman's New Concorde outfit would be keen to put LaBanca in a lead role. Like Don Wilson, he could have been the lead in a huge number of Corman cheapies. With his youth, kicking skills and Italian-American good looks he could have been the next big thing. Or at least the next Ken Wahl or Michael Dudikoff. He wasn’t either and Dragon Fire was not only his sole leading role but his only acting credit for many years.

Over a decade passed before La Banca returned to movies, playing supporting roles in a handful of action movies with even lower budgets than Corman’s films. These include Street Survival (2006) and Director (2008), on which he was also Stunt Coordinator. There have also been TV projects such as Kings of South Beach (2007).

“I was out of the movie industry for nearly 10 years after Dragon Fire because of personal reasons." says La Banca. "I'm 40, I'm back, and move better than ever. I'm versed in many styles of martial arts and waiting for the opportunity to be seen in future films.”

La Banca can also be found on Myspace, Facebook and YouTube.

Masa Funaki

Masa Funaki (aka Masakatsu Funaki aka Masaharu Okada) is a big name in Japan and the world of MMA and Japanese pro-wrestling.

Together with Minoru Suzuki he created the Mixed martial arts organization Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling around the same time as America’s UFC.

After his last match in 2000, he began to take on a number of acting roles, most significant was his international film debut in a low-budget, high-concept martial arts flick called Shadow Fury.

A unintentionally hilarious genre hybrid from 2002, Makoto Yokoyama’s wild near future “cowboy vs. ninja” tale is the kind of absurd movie that could have been made by Cannon in the 1980s. If it had it would almost certainly have starred Chuck Norris and Sho Kosugi.

East meets West is a popular theme in action movies, often based on squabbling and culture clashes, few are as curiously inventive as this movie. Not even the frankly bizarre pairing of Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba in Immortal Combat (1994) in match the straight-faced lunacy of Shadow Fury.

Yokoyama’s movie stars Sam Bottoms (imitating Clint Eastwood rather than Chuck Norris) as a hard-drinking mercenary hired to track down a rogue Japanese assassin. Motivated not by money but by his need for a new liver! A liver that he can get from the sword-wielding assassin Takeru! Making a liver a plot device is part of what makes this film so much fun.

With a couple of mad scientists and a couple of guest appearances by none other than Fred Williamson, Shadow Fury a deliriously fun B-movie. Character actor Bottoms growls his dialogue and seems to be taking the whole thing very seriously. The plot is borderline camp but the execution is totally straight. There are pauses for drama and a sombre ending. It’s an extremely curious film.

Boasting incredible choreography and stuntwork by the much respected Alpha Stunts team, Shadow Fury casts Funaki in what is apparently a villainous role. He plays Takeru, a clone warrior ninja programmed to kill. At the command of a wild-haired scientist played by Pat Morita Takeru embarks on a mission of vengeance. But all is not straightforward. He’s a sympathetic monster, a Frankenstein-like creation that discovers his humanity when he forges an unlikely relationship with a young prostitute. Think Leon meets Danny the Dog.

It’s no surprise that another villain is introduced the duo then unite to face. In the tradition of Drive and Robocop 3, Kismet is next generation opponent. A killer engineered with none of the capacity for compassion that Takura has.

A hastily matured clone, Kismet is played by three fine fighters, the youngest is Twilight saga’s Taylor Lautner in his screen debut, the second is John Stork, whose only other imdb credit is as a contestant in the Stan Lee "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?" reality TV show (his superhero name was Hyper-Strike) and finally by UFC icon Bas Rutten. Funaki and Rutten had faced each other more than once in the ring prior, so fans would no doubt have been thrilled with this casting.

Aside from a small role in David Worth's Honor (2006), Funaki hasn’t appeared in an American action film since. He’s had plenty of supporting roles in Japanese projects, most notably Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) alongside fellow fighter Don Frye, but Shadow Fury stands as his sole leading role to date. It’s really hard to see why.

Jason Yee

If Bruce Lee had ever made a blaxploitation movie the results may not have been a lot different to Dark Assassin, the writing, producing and directing and starring debut of ambitious Chinese-American kung fu and kickboxing champion Jason “Ming” Yee. Although it would certainly have had a lot more action.

Inspired as much by Clint Eastwood and Robert Rodriquez as Lee, Yee wanted to direct his own star vehicle and made Dark Assassin independently for only $80 thousand. Over three years! According to the IMDB, 80% of the movie was shot in 2001 with the other 20% shot in 2002 and 2003, but post-production was not completed until 2005.

The results are unremarkable, the plot finds yet another tough guy released from prison and unable to stay out of trouble, and it’s difficult to stay interested.

That is until we reach the 42 minute point of this 75 minute movie, when Yee does a Bruce Lee impression and kicks serious ass in a warehouse action sequence. This scene jolts the viewer out of boredom and raises expectations. Sadly it lasts less than two minutes and the rest of the movie is more bland. When Yee faces off with MMA favourite Cung Le at the climax it’s nowhere near as exciting as you want it to be.

When Yee embraces his uncanny resemblance to Bruce Lee (and Brandon Lee) and pays homage to the master it’s great fun to watch but this brief scene is the movie’s only real redemptive feature. Sure it’s good to see indiscriminate actor Tony Todd make a few brief appearances and note some pre-24 use of the split-screen device, but the negatives far outweigh the positives.

Dark Assassin is more Game of Death 2 than Game of Death; a poor sound mix buries much of the dialogue from the inexperienced cast under a cheesy score and Yee doesn’t make much of an impression as an action hero.

Generally you never get a second chance to make a first impression, well he did, in the equally retro The Girl from the Naked Eye (David Ren, 2011).

Several years after Dark Assassin, The Girl from the Naked Eye purports to be Yee’s first movie. The credits say “Introducing Jason Yee” as though he’d never made a film before. The latter has certainly been far better received and gives Yee a better chance at breaking out as an action star.

Similarly independent but boasting much stronger production values, a better supporting cast (including Gary Stretch and Dominique Swain) and many great action sequences, The Girl from the Naked Eye is a Neo-noir revenge movie and everything Dark Assassin wasn’t. Highly stylized and slow burning, Yee was once again instrumental in the film’s production, not only as star, but co-writer, a producer, a second unit director and action choreographer.

Once again cast as an anti-hero, Yee plays Jake, an underworld heavy escorting prostitutes around the city. He's the strong silent type and cares deeply for one of these women. When he finds her dead sets he off on a quest for truth and vengeance with no concern for his own welfare.

Yee has significant skills as a screen fighter and any disappointment fight fans experienced watching his showdown with Cung Le is more than compensated for by the one he has with Capoeira fighter Lateef Crowder from Tom Yum Goong (aka Warrior King, Prachya Pinkaew, 2005).

Co-star and experienced fight coordinator Ron Yuan deserves a great deal of credit. His action scenes, which include a side-on single take corridor fight scene inspired by Old Boy (Park Chan-wook, 2003), complement the storyline making this one of the most satisfying action films of in recent years.

Time will tell whether The Girl with the Naked Eye will propel Yee on to better things. Even if it doesn’t, and it takes several more years, I’m sure Yee will be back.

Ken Wahl

Over 10 years, three filmmakers attempted to turn Anthony Calzaretta, better known as Ken Wahl, into a B-movie action hero. Though not muscular or experienced in martial arts, Wahl’s good looks got him noticed, but most action movie directors just didn’t know what to do with him. That was until he starred in The Taking of Beverly Hills in 1991 as “Boomer” Hayes, an American football player reluctantly playing hero in life and death game against Die Hard-inspired villains intent on stripping the assets of California’s wealthiest residents.

Before taking the lead in Sidney J. Furie’s action underrated movie, Wahl had amassed a good deal of experience and fame, becoming a household name in the United States. In 1987 he was cast as the lead in the TV series Wiseguy, which ran until 1990, and The Taking of Beverly Hills was an effort to capitalise on that stardom. Sadly the film flopped and after he sustained a severe neck injury in 1992 he took only a handful of acting roles before disappearing from screens forever after a return to his most famous role in 1996.

Wahl’s screen charisma evolved throughout his career, when first cast as an action hero he was inexperienced and arguably too young for his role. He was only in his late 20s when he starred in James Glickenhaus’s weak James Bond knock-off The Soldier (aka Codename: The Soldier), playing an elite “man with no name”-type operative. Wahl’s not properly introduced until 25 minutes in (after a sluggish first act) and thereafter has very little to do except move from one action scene to the next. Playing like a padded out TV episode, it’s sloppily paced, weakly scripted and quickly forgotten. All the best bits are in its trailer. Though it is notable for featuring a pointlessly cast Klaus Kinski (little more than a cameo) and rising character actors Joaquim De Almeida and Jeffery Jones.

Five years passed before Wahl would get a second chance at playing the hero. But in those intervening years he gained a wealth of experience, not to mention a few pounds and a lot more hair. He was a bulky bruiser by the time he starred in the 1986 TV movie The Gladiator (directed by Abel Ferrara). He played a bereaved mechanic who turns vigilante to track down the driver who killed his brother. Now most notable as an influence on Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007), The Gladiator offered Wahl a role that played to his strengths and limitations.

Sadly there was not much that was notable about Joseph Manduke’s Omega Syndrome (1987), in which Ken plays an ex-soldier who teams up with an old Vietnam buddy to track down the white supremacists who’ve kidnapped is daughter. At best an enjoyably routine thriller that coasts on Wahl’s bulky charisma. Thought it is, as in the case of The Soldier, notable for some moderately high calibre co-stars, including the iconic Doug McClure (you might remember him from 1974’s The Land That Time Forgot and 1984’s Cannonball Run 2), and rising character actors Xander Berkley and Colm Meaney. Also among the cast in Nicola Eggert, who would famously go on to star in Baywatch.

Great support casts are a feature of all three of Wahl's actioners and he was joined by an even more impressive cast for The Taking of Beverly Hills; Matt Frewer played his wisecracking sidekick, action movie icon Robert Davi his nemesis and Harley Jane Kozak (now an author) his love interest.

Wahl put Wiseguy behind him to focus on his film career and I doubt it’s coincidence that he chose a film directed by Sidney J. Furie as his next vehicle. The two had made a wartime drama called Purple Hearts (1984). While their second collaboration was much more tongue-in-cheek, it’s arguably one of the finer films from both star and director and deserved of the cult status it has amongst genre fans.

The Soldier, Omega Syndrome and The Taking of Beverly Hills are a trilogy that demonstrates how an action hero star persona can evolve. Many have a go heroes never get a second chance and on the evidence of The Soldier you would not have given Wahl one. But as new opportunities arose Wahl matured on screen, easing into the role of leading man. It’s a shame that fate cut short his career. Despite poor box office (it apparently grossed less than $1 million) I’m almost certain that had tragedy not struck The Taking of Beverly Hills would not have been his final adventure.

Matt Battaglia

Born in 1965, Matt Battaglia’s a typical All-American. He’s got the muscles and the square jaw, he even played with the NFL until a broken bone was discovered in his neck and he had to retire from the game. You'd think he'd make for a perfect action hero.

But while the blandly handsome Floridian has had an extensive acting career he's never made much of an impression on audiences. You need look no further than his not-quite-starring role in the B-movie Raven for proof of why this is.

According to the IMDB, Battaglia made his acting debut in two episodes of Burt Reynolds’ TV series B.L. Stryker in 1989 and also turned up in an episode of Evening Shade in 1990, the two share the screen as not-quite-equals in this action 1996 movie.

Raven is confusing for audiences because it is essentially a Burt Reynolds movie, only Burt’s playing the villain and he’s off-screen for a significant period of time. It’s left to Battaglia, playing a retired member of Raven’s mercenary special forces team, to carry the movie when he’s not around. He’s not up to it and only the sex appeal provided by Krista Allen (recently seen in The Final Destination) keeps us amused while we await Reynolds return.

The makers/marketers were obviously keen to exploit Reynolds presence in this low budget production and Battaglia doesn’t get his name or face on the poster. As far as fans are concerned, discovering the ageing icon (in the title role) is not the hero and that we are expected to root for an uncharismatic hero is a huge disappointment.






There’s a profound sense of déjà vu when you watch this film, not simply because it’s formulaic, but because it’s basic plot is so similar to that of John Woo’s Broken Arrow, released the same year. While in that film John Travolta stole a nuclear weapon, in Raven the macguffin is a decoder that gives control of a nuclear arsenal. Coincidence?

One of many B-movies from Stu Segall Productions during the 90s, Raven may have given Battaglia his only heroic role in a feature film but this is not the end of the story. Two years later he landed the lead in two only modestly high profile TV movies based on Jean Claude Van Damme’s Universal Soldier (1992). Reunited with Reynolds, he was profoundly miscast in the role of Luc Deveraux in the dreadful Universal Solider 2: Brothers in Arms and Universal Soldier 3: Unfinished Business. Like the soldiers themselves, audiences memories has since been erased. Van Damme returned for a direct theatrical sequel in 1999 and Battaglia's off-shoots long forgotten.

In the 10+ years since producers tried to turn him into an action hero, Battaglia has had a solid career as a supporting player on television and made numerous film apprearances. He even returned to action to take on Steven Seagal in the prison-set, Under Siege wannabe Half Past Dead in 2002. But his most high profile role to date is one from behind the scenes, as co-producer on the prestigious film Brothers. Starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman and directed by Jim Sheridan.

To learn more about Battaglia check out his website at www.mattbattaglia.com

Matthew Tompkins

Any action fan will look at the artwork on Maverick Entertainment’s release of Killing Down and get an immediate sense of déjà vu. It’s an unashamed rip-off of the poster for John Cena’s The Marine. But the comparison between both films ends there. Derivative though it may be, the design is exciting and makes this a must see, but actor/stuntman Matthew Tompkins’ debut as an action lead is a much more tame affair than that wrestler’s.

A paranoid conspiracy thriller set in 1993 (the screenplay was originally written in that year) with grand aspirations and a low budget, Killing Down exceeds expectations. Especially compared to the majority of films on the Maverick label. Sitting comfortably somewhere between The Bourne Identity and Way of War (if you haven’t seen it it’s a dreadful Cuba Gooding, Jr movie), director Blake Calhoun’s gently paced but absorbing film intrigues right away.

The first few minutes are disturbing and downbeat, introducing a potentially unstable hero. Haunted by memories of his torture and the death of a beloved friend in 1987, Steven Down is a broken man, obsessed with finding his torturer. Exposition is severely restricted and we are forced to have reservations about whether we really should be rooting for this tough guy. At least for the first half.

Sadly Calhoun drops the ambiguity and evolves the intriguing premise into something more predictable, with Down becoming just another conventional hero. But that criticism aside there’s a great deal to enjoy in Killing Down. Not least Tompkins’ performance. Despite being an unknown, this actor’s credits are many, including co-staring roles in 6 episodes of Chuck Norris’s Walker: Texas Ranger and the TV movie Logan’s War: Bound by Honor (1998).

Though not a standard action flick there’s plenty in here to keep fans happy. Tompkins was also the film’s fight choreographer and Down gets to prove his hardman status early after a couple of lowlifes try to steal his motorbike. Later he finds himself hunted by assassins, leading to a number of gunfights and martial arts sequences that arguably equal anything in B-movies like Art of War 2 or 3.

Unusually, Tompkins is not the top credited star in this movie. That honour instead was reserved for leading lady Sheree J. Wilson; best known for co-starring with Chuck Norris in Hellbound (1994) and Walker: Texas Ranger. Notably she had previously co-starred with Tompkins in the short film Midnight Expression in 2003.

Made in 2006, Killing Down was not released on DVD in the USA until January 2009. A future in action movies did not beckon, though he landed a key role in Dolph Lundgren’s Missionary Man (2007). But since making the film he’s continued to keep himself very busy. He reunited with Calhoun, Wilson and Natalie Raitano of TV’s VIP (who played his wife in the movie) for the web series “Pink” and co-directed the drama The Fragility of Seconds in 2008.

Francesco Quinn

A character actor, whose career has taken him from historical dramas to guest starring roles in popular television shows, Francesco Quinn’s career made a short detour into the action genre in 1989, when cast in Indio.

Quinn was 27 when he played a half-Indian U.S. Marine waging a one-man war in the South American jungle. If it sounds a touch familiar, that’s because it’s a blatant knock-off of the Rambo films.

First Blood is referenced not only in its basic plot but also in character names and casting. Quinn’s character Daniel Morrell is named after First Blood author David Morrell and Brian Dennehy plays the villain.

Director Anthony M. Dawson (real name Antonio Margheriti) imitated Hollywood with films such as 1985’s Commando Leopard starring Lewis Collins, but this is certainly one of his most proficient. This Italian production has decent production values and was shot in English.

Son of Anthony Quinn, Italian-American Francesco seems a touch miscast as a half-Indian warrior who turns his Marine training against corporate villains ruthlessly exploiting the rainforest, but more than looks the part and is a decent actor. Such cannot be said for Marvelous Marvin Hagler.

The acclaimed middleweight boxer is given top credit on the film, likely because of his high profile at the time it was made. It certainly isn’t because of his less than marvelous performance. Hagler appears fairly late in the film and in only a handful of scenes.

His role seems to be a combination of that of Richard Crenna’s Col. Samuel Trautman from the Rambo movies and Steve James’ brawny Sgt. Curtis Jackson in the American Ninja movies.

Filmed in Borneo, Argentina, Brazil and The Philippines, Indio is packed with action. Daniel Morrell rampages through the jungle laying elaborate traps and triggering huge explosions. It’s a movie with the kind of eco-sentiment we later came to associate with Steven Seagal.

Quinn was not destined for a future as an action star, apart from a co-starring role in Loren Avedon’s Deadly Ransom (1997) he’s otherwise been engaged in more challenging roles. Indio 2: the Revolt was made in 1991 but Quinn played no part. Instead Dawson turned to Hagler once again.