Bloodfist V: Human Target (1994)

Jim Stanton (The Dragon) is a thug working for a crime syndicate...or is he? After a gunshot wound to the head, Stanton loses his memory. While trying to put back the pieces of his life, he runs into Candy (Duff), a streetwise young woman who seems to share Stanton's concerns about what his past life may have been. Soon they go on the run, trying to figure out why people like Marcus (James) and Agent Blake (Stark) are inserting themselves in, and disrupting, their lives. After many twists and turns, Stanton gets to the truth...but will it be too late? We love Don "The Dragon" Wilson and Steve James, so naturally we were excited to see this movie. Unfortunately, in our opinion, it's one of the weakest in the Bloodfist series. The plot is so disjointed, it's impossible to have any investment in the characters and their plight. It just adds layer upon layer of dumb, unwarranted plot twists, like some nonsense about plutonium once we're already deep into the movie. It falls into the same traps many movies fall into, with an annoying kid/woman, this time the Denice Duff character. From a visual perspective, it's way too dark and pseudo-stylish. We're glad you were trying to dazzle us with your style, but we can't SEE anything, so what's the point? The low budget is plainly obvious in threadbare set design of just blank walls with no decoration.We're truly sorry to be so harsh, that's not normally "us", but we're disappointed. There are some positives, however: Joe Son yelling and shooting a machine gun, the Steve James/Don The Dragon fight which was nice to see, the musical theme which sounds exactly like the MASH theme song "Suicide is Painless", and the fact that this is an ideal role for Don - because of his amnesiac status, he can look as confused, stunned and out-of-it as he wants, and it actually works towards the plot. But sadly, there's no escaping the fact that this movie is a waste of Steve James' talent (and heartbreakingly, his last movie role before his untimely death) - and even Don's awesome long hair doesn't last and he gets a haircut.Although Don forgets everything, thankfully he doesn't forget how to do Martial Arts. That part of his brain remained intact. And while Joe Son is credited as "Beefy", no one ever calls him that on screen. So many wasted opportunities. Well, except for the time-honored opportunity Don takes to get unnecessarily shirtless, an opportunity he seems to take as often as he can. But either because this movie has a conscience, or because it was Corman policy, the movie doesn't go on too long, it's around 80 minutes. So there's some mercy there.Bloodfist V: Human Target sadly goes in the "disappointment" column. We recommend spending your time elsewhere.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

Out of the first four Bloodfist movies, Part V is my favorite of them all. This one has plenty of twists and turns and the storyline gets very intense all the time. Don "The Dragon" Wilson plays an amnesiac fighter who seems to have a hard time trusting people. Someone he can trust, or someone to avoid. It hard to decide when your brain is like dice. He meets a young woman(Denice Duff) who helps him find out who not to trust and who he can trust. She has dual names, Candy and Michelle. And her character does get her into trouble when she was caught and tortured with some acupuncture needles. One to the cheek is minor, but the one under the left eye was too far! Jim(Wilson) rushes her to the hospital very frantic, and I liked the part where the doctor applied the pain-killer drops, and I know she'll be all right. Also this was one of the last films to actor Steve James(American Ninja 1,2,& 3). It was a shame that he played a heavy. Oh well, he did his part well. This movie has lots of action, twists and turns, and nothing was lost in the movie. Rating 4 out of 5 stars.

Don Wilson and Steve James join forces to deliver one of the stupider entries of the series, this time Don has amnesia and so he has to find out who is trying to kill him and who is on his side, however being that he has mobsters and agents dogging him, he just beats them all up in the process. Bloodfist V is so amazingly awful it defies mere words. Literly this movie is so utterly brainless that you can actually feel your brain evaporate into a cloud of smoke. Well let's address the plot. Don Wilson is amnesiac in the first place due to being shot in the head, now i'm no expert on being shot in the head (Because i've never been shot in the head) but i'm guessing that memory loss from a gunshot would also include losing your coordination, ability to speak or walk and so on. Wilson is basically inhuman and for me it was dull to watch. Also for some reason the movie tries to provide twists that any viewer will see miles away, it is almost as if we too are one of the henchmen who know everything that Wilson doesn't but yet the movie goes on, as if we are clueless to the ridiculous approach. Worst of all is that it is never made clear whether Wilson was an undercover agent or if he was a bad guy. I for one didn't care after the 15 minute mark.* out of 4-(Bad)

Given the nature of the Bloodfist series, it's easy to write them off before even reading the blurb on the back of the box, however, doing so with the fifth entry into this 'series' would be a big mistake for fans of action flicks.Now, apart from the first two, all of the Bloodfist movies have nothing to do with one another, asides the presence of C-Grade action star Don 'The Dragon' Wilson. While this makes you wonder why they even bother calling the movies Bloodfist, it also means, on the plus side, that this has nothing to do with the 4, rather lame, movies that preceded it.Here Wilson stars as a man who wakes up from a near fatal shooting, suffering from amnesia, when a hooker named Candy pretends to be his wife and checks him out of hospital. It then becomes clear that whoever he is, he is a wanted man, as Chinese black market goons and NSA agents are all pursuing him, in a plot involving some 'lost' plutonium missile cores.Giving away much of the plot would be a damn shame, because this is easily one of the best written Direct-to-video action movies I've ever seen, and it's finally a flick Wilson can be proud of. He gets several chances to display his kick-boxing prowess, and the late Steve James shows up in a different, but well performed role.If you like low budget action movies, I would greatly recommend giving this a chance, it may well be Wilson's best movie, and it's got a more exciting plot than most recent Hollywood attempts at an action flick.