Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995)

You know how Tommy was raised by Native Americans? Well, his sister lives in the deep south, married to the local sheriff. Now, this area is in major trouble because we've got the old white supremacists out on the warpath, led by none other than R L Emery. There's this other guy who doesn't think Emery is white enough who, at the start of the film, bludgeons to death a black reverend while all his skinhead mates look on. And one of the skinheads is the teenage son of Dee Wallace Stone.Now that's a lot of story with no Tommy involved, right? It does take some time for him to show up but doesn't take much time for the old Nazis to get right on his case and also start hassling his sister. Didn't they watch Best of the Best 2? No one messes with Tommy's family! Eric Roberts isn't in this one by the way, and I think it was probably because his character took the rap for killing the bad guy in the last film. Otherwise I can't think of a reason how Tommy got away with breaking a guy's neck in front of a screaming crowd.Anyway, while a schoolteachers goes up against R Lee Emery (who doesn't get a credit here for some reason), Tommy goes up against the far more dangerous henchman, played by Drake from Aliens! Drake is all up for a bit of ethnic cleansing and gets his army of skinheads some hardware while Tommy breaks all their noses while dressed as a clown.Just when I thought this film was never going to get going Drake kidnaps Tommy's nephew and the fight is on! Tommy and the guy from Happy Gilmore head off to the Nazi compound and start wasting their way through a skinhead army in a whirlwind of machine gun fire, explosions, and even an M80 machine gun. Thank God for that.Tommy also directs this one (under the pseudonym Phillip Rhee) so you'll have to ask him how Tommy manages to kick three guys off three separate bikes using just two legs, or how we see the schoolteacher getting attacked in her home, then cut to Tommy on his bike, then cut back to the schoolteacher's house where Tommy suddenly appears.It's okay this one once it gets going. The big battle at the end kind of makes up for all the drama and such like so there's not much to worry about there.

White supremacists taking over the town. An Aryan brotherhood preacher shocked to find out that his message of hate has been translated into extreme violence. Lots of use of racial epithets, including the "N" word.But into town rides a saviour. An Asian martial arts expert that is hurting because he killed a man. He won't let these skinheads terrorize the local people of color.They didn't need a scriptwriter for this one. It has been done many times. The clichés pour out and the martial arts exhibitions are just so-so. The only real violence (the death of the Black preacher) was done off-camera. The rest was standard knife and gun action with a few explosions.They had a chance to make something interesting in this film starring Gina Gershon. More action between her and the Asian lead would have spiced it up to a watchable story.I am not inclined to see Best of the Best 1, 2 or 4.

I picked this up 2nd hand and really enjoyed it, in a campy way. Tommy turns up in some rural town and steps right into a race war. Tommy is basically given reason after reason to take on guys of 4 or more and throw them through various fruit stalls, ticket offices, coffee tables, and french windows. The gorgeous Gina Gershon does her best as a choir teacher helping Tommy out, but whenever she needs to be "helpless" it kinda doesn't work because she now plays such strong, female roles.The acting and direction are seriously questionable but this film is obviously about fight scenes and they are entertaining enough, from the moment we see Gershon's house is full of glass tables, flimsy bookcases and china filled cabinets we know we are in for a treat.Terrible, patronising attitude toward racial issues but, hey, its got a rocket launcher and plenty of flying kicks.

Looking for a martial arts movie with realistic villains? A made-for-TV-movie with a 'theatrical' budget? An ethnic hero whipping some redneck racist butt? Well, you'll find it here, albeit with sub-par results.While the actual fighting in the film is all right (though I've seen better), some of the dialogue and characterizations need re-editing. The acting ranges from passable to 'William Shatner' (especially from the Klan leader - the guy with the goatee). The plot for BOTB3 is shaky - you can easily predict what the racists are going to do next and what the hero is going to do about it. The climax can be described as similar to the average horror/chop-sockey movie: not quite believeable (how can one guy take on 50 (or so) villains - with guns no less?) and devoid of thrills. Oh yeah, that Owen kid (the troubled teen who joins the racist gang) is heavily involved in the climax, and EVERYONE who watches this movie will be able to guess what he does at the end, even if they turn it off half-way.This film is kind of like an episode of 'Walker, Texas Ranger' - tame, predictable, and really not worth bothering with, since there are so many better choices available in your video store.