Fighting Mad

Director - Cirio H. Santiago (The Muthers, TNT Jackson)
Starring - James Iglehart (Black Kung Fu, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls), Carmen Argenziano (Sudden Impact, Crazy Mama), and Leon Isaac Kennedy (Deadly Nightmares, Penitentiary)
Release Date - 1978
Genre - Action/Crime
Tagline - "Beaten, betrayed, and bustin' loose!"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Here we are.  I've now sit and watched six Blaxploitation films back to back.  It was a fun marathon but I somewhat miss horror movies.  Regardless, it was a fun marathon and I'm glad I was able to check these films out.  The last film is the set is the one I wanted to see the most.  The film, Fighting Mad aka Death Force, was one I had seen printed on shirts and posters at almost every horror or cult movie con I have visited over the years but I never came across a copy of the film until now.
          The film follows American Vietnam veteran Doug Russell (Iglehart) who is left for dead on an island where he is found by two Japanese soldiers that have lived there since World War II.  He is trained in the ways of the samurai and is very deadly with a samurai sword.  When he is able to escape the island he finds himself back with his wife and child but his troubles are far from over.  Those that left him for dead has been terrorizes his wife and child and now he must put his new deadly skills to use.

    I couldn't wait to check out the blaxploitation with the main protagonist carried a samurai sword.  It looked like a movie that I would rewatch over and over again until I became sick of it.  However, this film was not as fun as I was hoping for and it left me struggling to finish it.  It did pick up in the third act but that couldn't save it or make it as great as I had hoped.  The acting in this one is surprisingly well done.  I was expecting a mid-grade performance from the cast but this cast really went into this one with their all and it shows.  The cast and the characters are more grounded than other blaxploitation flicks but it works for the more serious tone the film establishes.  The story for this one is my biggest hang up.  The first half of the film is painfully slow to watch.  It makes use of the slow build up with character development but that doesn't improve the quality of the film.  Once we find Doug off the island the film picks up drastically. The movie becomes way more enjoyable.  Finally, this film is not as bloody as one would expect a film using a samurai sword to be.  The kills are extremely lackluster and the blood is pretty minimal.  Overall, Fighting Mad is the biggest disappointment in this set.  Sure, the film is still enjoyable but it could have been so much more.