Bloodfist V: Human Target

Martial arts buffs may relish this opportunity to see exploitation stars Don "The Dragon" Wilson and Steve James, the co-star of Cannon's AVENGING FORCE and AMERICAN NINJA movies, fighting each other. The fine actor and stuntman James died of pancreatic cancer the year this was released, and while it isn't among his best credits, BLOODFIST V: HUMAN TARGET isn't the worst way to go out either.

Wilson is drabber than ever as an amnesiac who wakes up in the hospital and discovers a lot of people want to kill him. He's rescued from the hospital by a prostitute named Candy (Denice Duff) claiming to be his wife, who takes him to see her pimp (James). From there, he encounters a friendly jewelry store clerk who places a $5000 bracelet on his tab, Chinese terrorists, renegade National Security Agency operatives, stolen plutonium, and plenty of arm-breaking, face-kicking martial-arts battles.

To say much more about director Jeff Yonis' twisty script would reveal too much, but suffice to say that many of the story elements I just listed turn out to be something else entirely, leaving us about as confused as Wilson. Really, there are too many plot twists that don't hold water, and by the time the good guys have become the bad guys—again—you begin to feel that Yonis has gone too far. Still, the pace is fast enough, Duff is attractive and holds her own in a fight, and there's more action—mild as it is—than in the last couple of BLOODFIST films. Look for NYPD BLUE's Sharon Lawrence in her first film.