Ground Zero

BLOODFIST VI: GROUND ZERO is DIE HARD in a missile silo.  Bearing no resemblance to any of the first five BLOODFIST movies, numero seis stars Don "The Dragon" Wilson as an Army courier who stumbles upon terrorist Jonathan Fuller's plan to hijack a nuclear missile base and hold the world's largest cities for ransom. 

Sgt. Nick Corrigan (Wilson) doesn't appear to be a highly respected soldier—his dispatcher calls him an idiot over the radio—but he reveals a few hidden talents when he is trapped inside the base with only Fuller's motley band of machine-gun-toting sycophants for company.  Since we already know Wilson is a real-life world kickboxing champion, no points for guessing that Corrigan is an ex-Secret Forces commando who was demoted for disobeying a direct order to abandon his men in a combat zone.

GROUND ZERO might be the cheapest BLOODFIST film yet.  Executive producer Roger Corman's excuse for a base is a guard booth set up next to what looks like a radio station transmitter, and the massive underground facility is really a couple of corridors and some rooms lined with chintzy electronics.  The fight scenes aren't up to Wilson's usual standards; not that he's Jackie Chan or anything, but the action isn't as fast or as brutal as it should be. 

Rick Jacobson demonstrates few directing chops, but he could have used a better cast—Fuller is over-the-top awful, but at least he shows some energy.  Robin Curtis (Kirstie Alley's replacement in STAR TREK III) is dead wood as Wilson's outside contact, and Cat Sassoon's best scene (playing a different character than in BLOODFIST IV) is a topless one.  Former L.A. Dodger Steve Garvey oddly appears as a brave Army major who gets to make out with a nearly nude Sassoon.  Nice gig if you can get it.

Wilson and Jacobson must have gotten on well, because they made four films together in three years, including BLOODFIST VIII.