To The Death

Action films are always driven by the logic of revenge, but the more resourceful films manage to play the conventions with a few variations. In TO THE DEATH, the only audience tease lies in guessing how long it will take the battered hero to figure out he's blaming the wrong man. It's a sort of negative suspense which makes our identification-figure seem peculiarly thick-witted.

Despite constant challenges by brutish kickboxer Denard (Michel Qissi), and the financial cajoling of promoter Dominique (Robert Whitehead) and his brother Roger (Greg Latter), martial artist Rick Quinn (John Barrett) is resolved to retire. When his wife is blown to bits in a car explo...