Ulterior Motives (1993)

Erica (Keller) is a reporter trying to get to the truth about an American selling secret aerospace/military aircraft schematics to Japanese rivals. For help, she goes to private investigator Jack Blaylock (Griffith), a man who speaks fluent Japanese, has an array of SpyTech-type devices, and knows martial arts. What are the true motivations of Malcolm Carter (Howard)? We won't say what politician he looks like, but let's just say he "shot someone in the face". When it turns out the Yakuza is involved, all hell breaks loose in the form of restrained fight sequences and plot twists and turns. Will Erica and Jack find the truth? The tagline on the British VHS goes as follows: "You've Seen Seagal and Van Damme. Now...Meet the New Contender". And, yes, in the heat of the early-to-mid 90's action boom, various "new contenders" were trotted out: Jeff Speakman, Richard Norton, Gary Daniels, and now Thomas Ian Griffith. Some from that list are more successful than others. But the problem with Griffith, besides his odd hair, is that he has no personality (outside of his winning smile, of course). With such stiff competition back in the day, it must have proved impossible for Griffith to compete with the action names of the time with no hooks of his own. Nothing sets him apart. It seems Ulterior Motives is an attempt to tone down the action elements and highlight the drama/thriller/romance/espionage themes. Reasonable people can argue whether this was successful, but usually muting the violence, action and stunts is NOT a good idea for the fans.The movie has an odd, snoozy pace, and the characters could have used a bit more depth. The length and pacing issues should have been remedied by some snappy editing and better music. Or ANY music. Strangely, there is a lack of music in most scenes, and the music there is happens to be subtle and incidental. Some more driving themes would have, and should have been there to quicken the pace. And there's another problem. There is no big, main, evil baddie. Yes, there is an antagonist, but he's a "secret", so there's no real tension regarding the hero, Blaylock, wanting to kill him. As we saw in China O'Brien (1990), lack of a sinister bad guy is hugely detrimental to the action movie formula.We appreciate the attempt to be "different", but it's pointless to be different for different's sake, especially if the outcome doesn't deliver the goods. Ulterior Motives should have been a Showdown In Little Tokyo (1991), but instead it's a Liberty and Bash (1989). We're sorry if that analogy made no sense. Just see Showdown in Little Tokyo.Ulterior Motives (a very telling title, really) needed more action and less jibber-jabber. For a much more satisfying T.I.G. (as we call him) vehicle, check out Excessive Force (1993).for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Thomas Ian Griffith stars as Jack Blayclock, a private detective who is hired by reporter Erica (Mary Page Keller) to do some snooping on a Japanese businessman, however when said businessman is found dead, Erica and Jack realize that there is far more that meets the eye and the people involved hit close to home for our duo. Thomas Ian Griffith is an actor who on the basis of this movie clearly had more potential than what he amounted to as an action star. I remember saying that Griffith resembled a used car salesman in Excessive Force, but here that sleazy look (Also put to good use in the entertaining Karate Kid Part III) is well suited and let it be said that the biggest surprise with this movie, isn't the action sequences or even what the material goes over.(It's nothing different then what you would find in Rising Sun) Rather the big surprise is just how much this works as a suspense thriller. Indeed the characters are believable, the Japan bashing and the politics depicting such are all credibly handled and when the fight sequences finally do happen they feel more exciting because we actually care about the characters and there are surprises that even this jaded viewer couldn't guess. Sure the main villain is an obvious answer, but the twisty narrative offers a good deal of suspense and the ending doesn't cop out on a downbeat ending. In other words this is a low budget movie with ambition, something often lacking in theatrical pictures of the day. (Even more so now.)Ulterior Motives is one obscurity that is well worth discovering.* * *1/2 out of 4-(Very good)

The performances are the selling point here, overshadowing the low budget and routine script. Thomas Ian Griffith handles his role as a private investigator just fine and is well matched with Mary Page Keller as the Lois Lane-like truth-seeking reporter. Connecting the bad guys to the Japanese Mafia is, at least, an attempt to come up with unusual villains. What's unfortunate about this film is that so little screen time is given to Ellen Crawford, who plays the most interesting character -- the "mystery woman." Her fascinating face and persona appears quite prominently in the early scenes but, sadly, only intermittently after that. It's too bad that more of the movie does not feature her. Although the ending is a bit of a letdown, overall I'd say "Ulterior Motives" is worth a look.

Thomas Ian Griffith, the cut price Steven Seagal, stars in this above average action thriller. The story centers around a New York journalist (Mary Page Keller) who suspects a Japanese businessman of selling American military secrets to Japan. To help her get to the truth she employs the services of a private investigator (Griffith) and before long the body count starts to rise. The action scenes are typical for this type of movie but the plot, storyline and characters are well above average. If your a fan of action movies, there is plenty here for you and Thomas Ian Griffith does it just as well as Seagal or Van Damme.