An Eye for an Eye
An Eye for an Eye
R | 14 August 1981 (USA)
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Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.

Reviews
Stephen Abell

Now, this film really takes me back to my youth, where you were a member of a video shop... or fifteen (I counted the cards I used to have)... and you would troll around them all to find a movie worth watching - at least it kept us fit.This is pretty much your basic '80's action flick. Where the good guy is out for revenge for the death of a lover, a family member, friend, or in this case a partner on the force. The plot, like this one, would usually revolve around drugs trafficking. Throw in a love interest and loads of exciting fights and you have the perfect mix. This was the start of the "Leave your brain at the door" movies. To be fair, it's nice to let enjoyment and excitement take you out of your daily routine. I know I need it at the moment.So in this story, you have Kane (Norris) and his partner, Dave (Kiser), heading to an undercover meet. However, it's a trap and Dave is killed, in quite a nasty way. From here on in Kane is out to solve the murder and get revenge for his dead partner. This leads him and Dave's girlfriend reporter, Linda (Chao) into a world of drug trafficking...So what makes this a film worth watching?Well there is Chuck Norris, who to be honest, isn't too bad in this film. He was just coming into being an actor in his own right at this time. These types of characters, like the films, were ten-a-penny and you were lucky if they made it to two-dimensional, let alone three. I have to believe that it's the likes of Christopher Lee (Canfield), Richard Roundtree (Captain Stevens), Matt Clark (McCoy), and even Mako (Chan) that elevated his acting up a notch or two for this movie. The rest of the cast are solid actors and carry the film and the much-used scenario easily.Next, there's the direction. Steve Carver does a really good job with the camera work. There are some really well-framed sections. I loved the part where Kane goes to visit his sensei and master Chan. He parks his beautiful red Mustang and gets out. This is all superbly framed in a long shot by an ornamental oriental fence. Even on the drive up to his masters home, he is followed by a helicopter. This is filmed smoothly; you have a side portrait of Norris driving and outside the passenger window you see the copter flying at his side. There's also a nice sequence where Kane runs from his house, down his pier to his private jetty, opens his speedboats enclosure, jumps in and speeds away. There is a lot in this film that Carver should be proud about. Even the slow motion sections of the fight scene's work. When a lot of martial arts opted to speed up the action, slowing it down works really well - especially when you have a master of the arts like Norris.Carver also sets a nice rollercoaster pace for the movie. He knows when to slow down to drive the plot and quicken it up to boost excitement and tension. A Lot of filmmakers could take a few notes from this film.The only thing in the film that irked me was the love interest, Maggie Cooper. This was mainly for Sullivan's wooden performance. In some scenes, she appears so laid back that she may have been sampling the product the bad guys were moving.If you like your martial arts flicks and are not too worried about plot, then I would recommend this one to you. It may not be intellectually brilliant but it is kick ass entertaining.

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SnoopyStyle

Undercover San Francisco narcotics cops Sean Kane (Chuck Norris) is forced to resign by Captain Stevens (Richard Roundtree) after his partner Dave is killed and his actions cause problems. Dave's TV reporter girlfriend Linda is also executed. She had reveal to her father James Chan (Mako Iwamatsu) that she has incriminating evidence. James and Sean go to investigate as the Triad target them. He's also assisted by TV news editor Heather Sullivan as the owner Morgan Canfield (Christopher Lee) looks on.It's tough to connect with this movie early on. At one point, Chuck Norris asks "What the hell is going on?" and I felt the same way. Chuck continues to be a weak stiff actor. The addition of Mako Iwamatsu helps a little. The movie never really takes off. The action is rather lackluster. Chuck isn't even doing much fighting until the last act and it's not shot well when he is fighting. This has no chance to be good but it could have been fun. Other than some fights later on, there isn't much for anyone other than hardcore Norris fans.

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disdressed12

i enjoyed this Chuck Norris revenge vehicle a lot.there's plenty of action,of course,but there also some funny one liners thanks to Mako,who teams up with Chuck to help take out the trash and provides some much needed comic relief along the way,which is good,because the overall tone of the movie is a fairly dark otherwise.the acting is good enough for the genre,although Christopher Lee is actually better than the material warrants,and elevates the proceedings.the movie is pretty fast paced,with no real slow or draggy spots,so there's no real risk of being bored.at least i wasn't.but that's just my opinion.for me An Eye for an Eye is a 7/10

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Jaroslav Penaz

I have seen this movie many times and I think it's a very good 80's cop movie. I don't know why, but the atmosphere reminded me of some old Bruce Lee movies. The acting isn't the best- especially Mako's performance is really awful, but it has some decent action. Of course Norris is not Bruce Lee, his karate moves are slow and he looks quite clumsy. But I know he is considered to be a very good martial artist, so maybe it's just because of bad choreography. Apart from the Norris's fumble, some of the fight scenes are very good, especially those fights near the end. The story is very simple, but it has good atmosphere, so it never bores. It's a pity, that this movie didn't get higher budget, 'cause it could have been much better. 6,5 out of 10

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