A FORCE OF ONE (1979)

Two cops illegally break into a sporting goods store, where they are ruthlessly murdered by a “karate weirdo”. The police respond by enlisting the help of local karate champion Chuck Norris to train them in the fine art of kicking and punching things. He’s reluctant to help them though, since he’s busy training for an upcoming championship bout against the only other martial artist in the area capable of giving Chuck a run for his money. Hum, that’s interesting…people keep getting beat to death in karate ways and there’s only two people in town capable of that level of karate violence. Wonder who the killer could be?

As far as Chuck Norris’ early period films go, A FORCE OF ONE is about as lame and anti-exciting as the others. (Although I am somewhat fond of SILENT RAGE since it’s kinda like a slasher movies.) Slow pace, zero awesome fight scenes, weird editing, lots of overacting extras in the background, mid-level acting. Then add onto that: zero nudity, zero blood, zero gore, zero cussing and A FORCE OF ONE might as well had been a made-for-TV movie! The only thing that might be interesting for modern day movie nerds is the few, random vintage street scenes (I would love to know the name of that movie theater playing LASERBLAST, MESSAGE FROM SPACE and HIGH VELOCITY!) and the supporting cast, which features various familiar faces like Clu Gulager, James Whitmore Jr., Ron O’Neal, Jennifer O’Neill and G.W. Bailey.

Also, I don't understand the movie tagline that's featured on the poster and newspaper ads: "He hears the silence. He sees the darkness. He's the only one who can stop the killing." He must also be the only one who knows what the fuck that even means. Cuz there's nothing supernatural or overly special about Chuck's character, he's just a dude who runs a karate school. So why, on the poster, is he all naked in a glowing outer space triangle while giving double, below the waist "circle game" gang signs?

Worth a watch if you're curious and bored to death.

Oh yeah, what was the story with the woman who worked at Chuck's mojo dojo karate dojo? I didn't understand their relationship at all.

[This has nothing to do with the review, just a bonus SILENT RAGE newspaper ad featuring the art for A FORCE OF ONE.]

THE OUTER SPACE CONNECTION (1975)

Distributed by the same company that brought us the awesome IN SEARCH OF NOAH’S ARK, I had high hopes that THE OUTER SPACE CONNECTION was gonna be more of the same kinda goofy fun. The opening narration, by The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling, even promises that “This may be the most startling and controversial film you will ever see.” Hell yeah, that sounds good to me! Nope.

Who knows, maybe THE OUTER SPACE CONNECTION was shocking to audiences back in 1975, but now in good old 39,955 (sorry, I mean 2025…sometimes I forget that I time-blog back to 21st Century, Old Earth) this kind of stuff is just weak. Plants have auras, The Dead Sea Scrolls, mummies, ancient lines dug into the earth, the Bermuda Triangle, ancient sculptures and so on. We’ve all heard about this stuff a thousand times before. The only truly interesting thing in THE OUTER SPACE CONNECTION is the announcement that aliens are going to return to Earth on December 24th, 2011. So, make sure to mark your calendars for that, I guess.

It's my own fault, but I honestly thought this movie was going to be about the history of unidentified flying objects and alien abductions. Instead, I got a depressing video of a monkey that’s trained to ask a computer for a slice of apple. Humans suck. That segment just broke my heart.

Watch it if you want, but I found the entire thing to be disappointing and depressing.