User Reviews

Another Z-grade straight-to-video travesty from prolific Filipino filmmaker Cirio H. Santiago, who here somehow managed to get a distribution deal with Roger Corman, meaning that this film is a lot easier to find in the shops than many of the other films in his long, long career. Basically this is a kickboxing flick with a non-existent plot and terrible production values that somehow manages to be entertaining despite the overwhelming majority of flaws. The main thrust of the plot concerns the activities of former world champion Jerry Trimble (THE MASTER) who attempts to save a woman getting raped and finds himself sent to an island prison for his troubles. The inmates are either bloated, racist, or Nazis and the evil warden and his guards aren't much better.

Much of the plot consists of Trimble fighting off multiple attacks from the various prison factions who attempt to get him killed. Basically, everybody hates him in this movie, which means that there is a wealth of action to be enjoyed. Trimble may be an awful actor - who makes Van Damme look like Orson Welles in comparison - but his high-kicking skills (he once had the fastest kick in the world, according to the box) are certainly impressive and make for some visually impressive fighting. Unfortunately the majority of his opponents are unskilled, aside from head guard Roland Dantes who also proves himself a force to be reckoned with come the finale.

Without a doubt, the story is weak in this movie and the scripting even weaker. Every twist in the plot can be seen coming a mile off and there is a definite short supply of surprises - instead we just get cliché after cliché. Santiago fails to fill his movie with any sex or nudity - despite including actress Laura Albert in his cast, a lady who had no qualms about stripping off in previous films - and the gore is kept to a minimum with only the odd geyser or blood or two to laugh at. The most surprising aspect of the film is a down-on-his-luck George Takei (STAR TREK) playing an inmate who seeks help from the human rights activists. It goes without saying that Takei gives the best performance but he still feels like a fish out of water here. B-film fans may spot Vic Diaz playing the warden, a Filipino actor of many many years who has appeared in the likes of RAW FORCE and many other cult classics. Despite the mind-numbing banality of the story and the poor efforts from the crew, LIVE BY THE FIST is a pacy and action-packed film that never gets boring. Instead, often it becomes so bad it's entertaining.

John Merill (Trimble) is a former Navy SEAL who winds up in the Philippines while looking for work. Impeding his job search is the fact that he is framed for the murder of a young girl by a gang of thugs. Sent to Bolera Island, sort of the Alcatraz of the Philippines, things take a downturn for the mighty Merill. The prison is ruled under the iron fist of corrupt warden Acosta (Diaz), but did you think it would be any other way? But Acosta's days may be numbered, because a pushy human rights crusader, Helen Ferris (Albert) is investigating the place. But while Acosta cares not for human rights, Uncle (Takei), does, and he happens to be Merill's cell mate. So Merill gets into various fights with various factions during his prison stay, and he must survive long enough to alert the world of his innocence. Will he die in prison, or LIVE BY THE FIST? The presence of fan favorite Jerry Trimble is really the only noteworthy thing about the otherwise-mediocre Live By the Fist. It's a typical Cirio movie, shot in the Philippines of course, and features every prison movie cliché there is. You'd think the fact that the movie is only 79 minutes would be enticing, but because it all feels like stuff you've seen a million times before, time actually goes by pretty slow here. And because it's a Corman production, it's all just a rehash of Bloodfist II (1990) and Bloodfist III (1992). Instead of Richard Roundtree, they got George Takei for the same part. Seems like a natural conclusion.

George "oh MY!" Takei (he doesn't actually say his trademark line in this movie, but he does have some Oh My-Esque moments) and Jerry Trimble truly are the ultimate cinematic team-up, Trimble of course resembling a more ripped cross between Sean Penn and Emilio Estevez. Vic Diaz, who has been in every Filipino movie ever made, is particularly hard to understand this time around, but Trimble makes up for it because he yells most of his lines. The "human rights chick" is basically a token character and does almost nothing.

Because it's a prison slog with all the expected things that would entail, it's hard to really get invested. It's all very simplistic, and even a completely gratuitous exploding helicopter can't save the day from the lackluster overall feel. But, as we said, Trimble is good, it's not his fault. And the setups for the fight scenes are hilariously flimsy, which is a plus. There's the sax on the soundtrack, when there's not a squealing electric guitar riff (we were hoping for an end credit that read "Guitar riff played by Jerry Trimble". Sadly it did not come. We're assuming it's out of modesty, not a more logical reason.) Lest we forget Philippine-shot movie regular Nick Nicholson (as "Greasemonkey"), Live By the Fist is the weakest Jerry Trimble movie we've seen to date. Featuring the song (which was also uncredited but we're assuming it's called) "You've Got To Fight" (which we're also hoping was sung by Trimble), the movie is typical Corman Crud, saved from utter worthlessness by Jerry's Trimblings.

The only reason to get Live by the Fist if is if you really love watching fight scenes in movies. If that is not the case, don't bother at all. You'll be wasting your time. As for the fights, they are awesome, and hardcore martial arts or action fans will definitely want to check this out. There is a ton of fighting, and it's nicely choreographed. Jerry Trimble shows some amazing skills. It's a nice mixture of footwork and grappling.

However, after the fight scenes, there is nothing worth seeing at all. The storyline is pretty dull, and not played out well at all. Jerry Trimble is framed for murder and placed in prison full of racists where he must fight to survive. It only serves as an excuse for fighting. I would say the acting is horrible, but many of the actors are dubbed. Yeah, an English film dubbed into English. Makes no sense. Yet Jerry Trimble and George Takei are not dubbed. Hardcore action fans, get this and skip straight to the amazing fights. After that, There's nothing else to see.