Only the Strong

Sexy and talented martial arts actor Mark Dacascos gets to show off his fine body and skills in this average plot film. The star is martial arts style known as Brazilian Caporeira and Mark's really good at it. The style developed because slaves were forbidden to be taught the martial skills so it was disguised as dance. Pretty ingenious! If you are interested in seeing this fighting style and Mark Dacascos then I highly recommend this film.

The plot line, acting and action sequences are all horrible - barely good enough for a "B" movie. This story has been used too many times and still glosses over the reality of fighting. Public fights never end like it is shown in movies - vengence and maiming and death are much more a realistic end to physical violence.
Further, although the martial art style is exotic and interesting - this is not a fighting system! Sure it may have some distant roots in a camouflaged martial routine - but was and is not a true or even practical fighting system (like Krav Maga or MMA). It takes very little understanding of physics to see that standing upside down on one hand while kicking, is not the most effecient use of balance, weight or speed - all of which are required for effective fighting. Watch something else...

Very nicely done story and it explores the beautiful movements of Capoeira style martial arts.

Mark Dacascos never really made it big as an action star for whatever reason. However he did seem to have the needed requirements: minimal acting chops, a ripped body, and the ability to do some amazing fight scenes. The last reason is what makes this movie a little known action classic. The movie is completely average, except the amazing kicks & other athletic moves preformed mostly by Dacascos. The best part of the fight scenes however is the fact that they don't look completely fake. With movies today they use so many wires & special effects that they leave whatever sense of reality the movie had previously maintained behind. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes old school action flicks. If you like this movie you will probably like "Drive" another little known classic featuring Dacascos. "Double Dragon" is another movie worth mentioning of his, but only because it was one of the first movies based on a videogame.

I like this movie alot. I remember catching this on HBO(of course) while staying home sick from school one day(knowing me, I probably wasn't actually sick, but that's beside the point). Glancing at the box cover, it's easy to mentally shelve this away alongside movies like American Ninja 4 or anything with Don "The Dragon" Wilson. Make no mistake about it though, while this may be a bit formulaic, it's does stand out. The plot is an often told tale of outsider who teaches misfit kids self respect and fair play. In this case, it's Mark Dacascos teaching Capoeira. Capoeira is a martial art from Brazil that seems to consist of a lot of spinning kicks. It almost looks like a dance of sorts(I think it is actually). I'm not an expert on martial arts by any means, but this style is fascinating to watch and the movie takes every opportunity to showcase it. That's a good thing too, coz this particular style isn't really shown in movies. Well, Dacascos teaches this style to the kids as part of a new unofficial high school program, and it becomes a hit not only with the students, but with the school and community. Now comes the Van Damme-ish part of the film. One of the most difficult(and in the end, most dedicated) students is cousin to a Brazilian drug lord who reigns over the neighborhood. He's not too happy about Dacascos' interference with his plans, or his turning his cousin against him. In a coincidence that only action films can muster, this drug lord is also a master of Capoeira. Soon the war is on between the drug lord and Dacascos, resulting in a big Capoeira showdown. No, it's not all terribly original, but something about this movie really works. What would normally comes across as corny, doesn't so much. Maybe it's the mesmerizing Capoeira scenes, maybe the performances. Well, maybe not the performances coz they're typical of this kind of film. Normally the name Mark Dacascos slapped across the front of a dvd cover box is reason to walk away considering he's never been the mark of quality for a film(though he always seems to have a good screen presence, bad movie or not). This movie could have made him a star though. It's not Shakespeare or anything, but he manages to take a tough guy martial arts character a la Van Damme/Seagal, and make him more human and likable. Yes, Dacascos does a fine job here, and he has some terrific moves. I very much recommend this one to anyone who likes to discover those good ones that slip through the cracks. One thing's for sure, after watching this, you're gonna have a helluva tough time getting that Brazilian chant out of your head.