Under the Gun (1995)

UNDER THE GUN is an extremely low budget martial arts thriller from Australia and a vehicle for acclaimed (at least by me) martial artist Richard Norton, who gets a ton of screen time here. The limited budget is revealed in the way that the entire film takes place in a dark nightclub over the course of one night. Norton plays the desperate owner who has to contend with mafia members, Triads, pimps, and various gangster-style goons and rivals who are determined to rob him and see him dead. What follows is a forgettable story packed with solid fight scenes that show off Norton at his athletic and creative best. Even better, there's plenty of humour here too, allowing Norton to turn on his trademark charm. It's a nice little film overall, and a lot of fun.

'Under the Gun' is one of those movies which can be hit or miss. It's not really martial arts movie, It's actually much more than that. Norton's character is running the night club which he wants to sell and get away with his wife but obviously one last night in the club turns out to be the worst night of his life. I have to say that I was impressed with Richard Norton's performance. This is the first time I have seen him doing real and I mean REAL acting. Usually his movies are packed with top notch martial arts but not acting. Aside from Norton, we have Kathy Long who's top billed but appears on screen for a few minutes only but she does have a two very nice fights. All other actors are pretty much unknown and rather weak(especially one eyed policeman) but it doesn't affect the movie. There are not many fights but those we have look very good, especially Kathy Long ones( 'cause they are very dynamic). Besides the fact It's much more of a thriller than an action film, It's very fast paced. Definitely worth to see, just to realize that Richard Norton is pretty good actor.

I must admit, though I saw a small number of Norton's films, but I heard that most of them are the same, but this one... well It's something different. First of all, Norton is a great martial artist, but here he does some good acting as well. The story is very interesting. Norton is a former football player that holds a nightclub (and, of course he happens to know martial arts), the key story of the plot that Norton's character Frank Torrence must endure through one night against the mobsters, the police, a few hit mans, street thugs and the most dangerous thing on the end - his wife. The fights and the action is quite solid, acting is funny, though OK, and everything is shown through a fine comedy and fun. It's a mixture of action and comedy. Watch it.

I rented this movie mostly for Richard Norton, and several other of the better-known Australian martial artists with whom I am familiar appear alongside him in the movie.It's shockingly acted - let's face it, Richard Norton may be a good martial artist, but a great actor he is not. The plot was secondary to the fight scenes, as it really should be in a movie that's really just a vehicle for some spectacular action sequences. Kathy Long redeems what would otherwise just be another film packed with guys beating the crap out of each other for 90 minutes.The fight scene with Norton vs Sam Greco is worth a look, but this film will probably only appeal to die hard MA fans and even then, will really only appeal to Australians for novelty value.