Once again in the land of low budget marital arts flicks we have another tournament film when a fighter wants to beat the number one ass kicker. The film is starring DTV legend Lorenzo Lamas and you would expect him to be the kickboxer seeking to be world champ. However in a surprising twist he is in fact an ex kickboxing champ who trains a young rookie (Michael Worth) so he can face off with the champ played by Jeff Langton. Lamas was defeated in embarrassing style by Langton and so sees this kid as a great vehicle to seek his vengeance. Of course by the end Lamas will have a mano-a-mano with Langton, we know this, but while we would expect that Lama's would win and rule the film, he loses and dies, leaving the diminutive Worth to win against the baddie. This attempt at doing something slightly different makes the film better than a lot of others of this genre. Lamas always seems to give hints that he can be a good actor but despite having the movie star looks he has never had a movie star charisma and as such his TV popularity has never transferred to the big screen. He's not a great thesp by the evidence of these martial arts flicks but you glimpse signs of talent every now and again and he certainly acts many other kick boxers off the park, lest we not forget he is a Golden Globe and Golden Satellite nominee. The fights are adequate and in all this is marginally entertaining. **
Review of Final Impact
