This thing was some sort of a tax write off, right? And the filmmakers all ran afoul of the authorities in Guam and were dragooned into the production as part of some state-sanctioned community service? I can't think of another explanation for the lackluster, don't-give-a-crap quality of this inaction flick. I mean, the genre of taking a martial artist, sticking him in front of a camera and having him fake fight guys until you've got enough footage for a feature film is notoriously terrible. Maybe not quite a bad as the zombie genre, but within spitting distance. But most genre trash like this is either made by people who don't know it's trash or for people who don't know it's trash, resulting in movies that at least have a sort of adolescent striving for coolness and badassery. Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon has its star spend most of the flick in a floral shirt, shorts and a pair of "mandels". An action hero in "mandels"? Yeah, they really weren't even trying with this thing.Max Havoc (Mickey Hardt) is a former kickboxer-turned sports photographer who gets sent to Guam for a cushy assignment snapping pics for a hotel ad campaign. While there, he gets caught between deadly assassins seeking an ancient jade sculpture and the beautiful woman (Joanna Krupa) who doesn't want to give it back. Richard Roundtree and David Carradine also show up in small roles and do nothing but make you wish somebody had done a Shaft/Kung Fu mash-up back in the day.Now, there are so many negative comments to make about this plot, this dialog, the somnambulant direction of Albert Pyun, the half-a-note acting of Mickey Hardt and the fact that this thing looks more like a video from the Guam Tourism Bureau than it does an action movie. I would imagine that most anybody who'll ever be interested in watching Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon won't care about that stuff, so why bother. Instead, let me focus on what the likely viewer of this joke will care about and tell you how much that stuff sucks.First, none of the women in the cast get naked. Not Joanna Krupa. Not Carmen Electra. Not Tawney Sablan. None of them. There are no sex scenes at all. Scenes with them in bikinis is as racy as it gets.Second, the fight scenes here are both rather short and fairly lame. A lot of it looks like bad pro wrestling, the kind where guys get "hit" and then they jump in the air and flip around. Hardt may be a legitimate ass-kicker in real life. In this film, it barely looks like he can break an egg. I've seen better fight scenes on Walker: Texas Ranger. Heck, I've seen better fight scenes on Fraiser and How I Met Your Mother.Third, there's a lot of talking in this movie. A lot. Hardt and his too pink, too-big-for-his-face lips talk a lot. Krupa talks a lot while remaining frustratingly clothed. Tawney Sablan talks a lot. Even Carmen Electra in a cameo talks a lot. I won't say there's as much yakking here as your average Woody Allen movie or an old episode of thirtysomething, but there's an enormous mass of conversatin' going of for a low-budget action flick. I guess all that dialog does give Krupa and Sablan a chance to show they're adequate actresses, but that's balanced out by exposing Hardt as having all the acting talent of a roast beef sandwich.If you're going to make something like Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon and you can't be bothered to proved naked chicks to leer at or people getting the snot beat out of them in entertaining ways, why are you bothering?And you know what the worst part is? There's a sequel to this thing. A sequel! Gah. I strongly recommend you avoid this movie and think the people who thought there should be another should be shot out of a cannon.
... View MoreMax Havoc is not a cinematic masterpiece. In fact it's a poorly produced movie. the attempt of trying to make a Hollywood action movie on a beer budget is clearly evident and does not work. What saves this train wreck of a movie is Joanna Krupa. She might be one of the hottest women in Hollywood. My GF said she can't act. I disagree and wish my GF would move out. She's a failed actress and comedian who hates on other people that actually appear in movies. Where Max Havoc took a bad turn was not more Joanna Krupa. The director or producer or studio should have included nudity parts with Joanna Krupa. When you cast eye candy you have to show eye candy. I do hate when movies feature a star like Carmen Electra on a DVD cover when they have a minor part in the movie. It's like bait and switch. I hope that Joanna Krupa is more movies.
... View MoreThe Movie is p*ss-poor and stupid. I fell asleep about 45 minutes into it cause it was so dull.The story is about some kick boxer turned photographer (badly acted by some dumb German chump)who goes to Guam and takes some photos of the beach. He meets up with two girls in swimsuits (they don't take em off, sad to say, cause the chicks weren't hired for their acting ability) who are being chased by the Japanese Mafia. It's suppose to be an action movie, but the action is dull and is amateurishly done. I fell asleep during some supposed action sequence where everybody's fighting in slow motion, or something like that. When I woke up the film was over and I took it back to the video store and said it didn't work in my DVD player and they gave me credit for a free movie. The guy working behind the counter said that a couple of people have rented the title and they all have come back and said how sh***y the movie is. I told the guy he should just throw the thing in the trash and he did.
... View MoreMax Havoc (Mickey Hardt) is an ex-kickboxer turned photographer who protects two attractive sisters from the Yakuza led by David Carradine. Seems that one of the sisters bought a jade dragon from dealer Richard Roundtree and after numerous awkward moments, Max Havoc saves the day but doesn't save the film. As far as narrative flow goes, Max Havoc:Curse Of The Dragon is possibly Pyun's most chaotic movie ever made. (And I saw Nemesis 1-3, Bloodmatch and Deceit) The problem with Max Havoc is that it only provides occasional laughter. From laughably overblown suspense sequences that involve hostage taking, getting run over by a row-boat, getting cut up in a limo and much much more. However Pyun actually makes the biggest mistake by hardly giving us any dumb moments and basically the movie is mostly dulls-ville. There is some controversy over how this movie was made, but I for one am indifferent to such matters. Sure it's not right but i'm not here to discuss politics and my neutral observations are simple; Max Havoc is a terrible movie with only a few (unintentionally) hilarious moments to keep you from shutting it off. Among the unintentionally hilarious moments is how Pyun pays direct "homage" to Cyborg (itself a masterpiece compared to this) in that Pyun shows pointless flashbacks for no other reason but to stretch out the running time. In this case we watch Max Havoc deliver a jumping punch which is then followed by David Carradine looking mean into the camera and smoking his cigarette and showing his rings. Also the ending makes no sense and the impression here is given that the movie wasn't even indeed finished. Max Havoc:Curse Of The Dragon is so incompetently edited that fight sequences are literally scrapped before the confrontation ends! Also the story is so over the map it's impossible to follow it coherently and finally the movie features acting so terrible that it sometimes borders on surreality. David Carradine and Richard Roundtree look (rightfully) embarrassed, Carmen Electra is not in it much and newcomer Mickey Hardt is so bad that he makes other Pyun leads (a list that includes Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sasha Mitchell, Michael Dudikoff,Gary Daniels, Steven Seagal and (shudder) Olivier Gruner) seem like master thespians. Seriously where did they find this guy? Still the main question is whether Max Havoc:Curse Of The Dragon works as a guilty pleasure style movie, and sadly the answer is no. There are a few laughs to be had but mainly we watch Mickey Hardt snap photos for like forty minutes before anything happens and this in itself is a tragedy because without dumb action, Max Havoc:Curse Of The Dragon is just painful to watch.Note:On the DVD there is a biography of David Carradine and Richard Roundtree however both sections neglect to mention Bound For Glory,Kill Bill Vol.1 and Shaft on the filmography for the two distinguished actors. Which only shows the ineptitude of all involved.* out of 4-(Bad)
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