THE STORY:  Sometime after he appeared in the Rocky movies, Carl Weathers made a few action movies. Action Jackson was the first, I believe, and I remember seeing it on HBO once but I don't recall any details. This was made after that movie, and I rented it once a long time ago but I didn't remember much of it. I wish I didn't remember it again having just watched it. It wasn't a really bad movie, but it wasn't anything to rush out to rent either.

Weathers is Billy Ray "Hurricane" Smith. You know, if you're going to be called Hurricane, you'd damn well better live up to it. I mean if started calling myself "Tornado" I'm sure people would expect me to go around tearing [unwrite] up all of the time. Billy Ray is a construction worker in Texas, but he goes to Australia after his mother passes away. He needs to find his sister, Sally Mae, who when last he heard from her, she was living in Australia.

It doesn't take too long to find out that Sally Mae was somehow involved with a drug lord named Charlie and his mob. What exactly was going on with her I don't know. Billy Ray hooks up with a prostitute named Julie when he saves her from Charlie's wrath. Then the whole movie gets kind of boring. Nothing really happens that's terribly exciting. Charlie wants to get Billy Ray out of his hair, but Billy Ray really doesn't know anything about what happened to his sister. There's no real proof that Charlie even knew her! Still, Charlie tries to kill Billy Ray and Julie, failing of course.

I could go on to describe the climax of the movie, but since its really the only exciting part...and its not that exciting, why should I? We all can see where this is going anyway. Billy Ray saves Julie, kills Charlie and all is right in the world. You know, I just watched this movie and the memory is already starting to fade. That's probably a good thing. Oh, and just for general knowledge, Charlie is played by Jurgen Prochnow.

Best Lines: "Your safety's on."- Billy Ray tricks Shanks when he pulls a gun on him.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?:

1.) I don't know how much it costs to fly from Texas to Australia but I'm betting it cost a lot to fly there and stay for an indeterminate amount of time. Billy Ray's gotta eat and pay for lodging too. Wouldn't it have been easier to get a lawyer to look into whatever stuff he apparently needed his sister for? If he had done that he probably would have found out that she never had an entry visa for Australia in the first place.

2.) When Charlie goes after Julie the lack of any police on the scene is astonishing. He chases her through her apartment building with a knife, then they get into a road chase that probably breaks every traffic law in the country, wrecks several vehicles and I don't for a second believe that no one got hurt. Yet, no cops show up. Right.

3.) I'll have to find someone from Australia to ask this....do they really call Americans "septics"? Probably so. But I'm sure even if the aussies do they aren't so rude about it. I'm also certain that Australians aren't so completely shocked to see a black man as they are when they see Billy Ray. This movie made it look like he was the first black man to set foot in the country! I don't really appreciate the use of the "N" word either. Oh, in a better movie it would have been overlooked, but in this one the word isn't used too much until near the end when Charlie and his cronies are trying to figure out a way to get rid of Billy Ray. Then they refer to his as the "N" word about four times in 20 seconds, as if to pound it into my head that they're bad guys.

4.) Why is Charlie even concerned about Billy Ray? There's pretty much no proof that Sally Mae (Geezuz) was in Australia, and no proof that she was killed. The only thing Billy Ray has is suspicion and the assertion of a prostitute! Charlie and his mob only attract attention to themselves by causing trouble for Billy Ray and Julie...which is just plain silly. If Charlie was so worried about it I can think of at least three times where he could have killed Billy Ray and been done with it.

5.) Is Australia surrounded by a ring of sharks? When Charlie falls into the ocean half a dozen sharks instantly appear and tear him to bits. (Well, stock footage of sharks eating something appear) I guess its safe to swim in the ocean in California 'cuz all the sharks hang out of the Gold Coast of Australia!

NUDITY AND SEX:  Billy Ray and Julie get jiggy with it. Julies boobs are seen.

HUH?:  Billy Ray should change his name from "Hurricane" to something like "Breezey Day". First, its not explained how Charlie located him. Charlie threatens Julie about Billy Ray's whereabouts but she doesn't tell him anything. The next scene we see Billy Ray being picked up by Charlie's Thugs. Then, when they have him in their little hideout Billy Ray looks calm and smug and says "So, Charlie, is this where people get their asses kicked?...This is going to be fun!" When he said that I was thinking "At last! He's going to start cracking heads and taking names!". Nope. Billy Ray proceeds to get his butt stomped in. You know, I could talk a lot of crap to some thugs and I'd get my ass kicked too, but this is a movie! I don't want to see the action hero completely unable to back up his bravado! I can do that myself in real life! They should have got Apollo Creed.

When is the cliche of the prostitute with the pure heart going to get too old to use? Julie's a hooker, but yet she could just as well be a concerned neighbor.

Charlie says near the end of the movie that they have to kill Julie because she knows too much. Knows too much about what? She doesn't know anything! If she did she'd have gone to the police by then! For pity's sake, Charlie tried to rape her, threatened to kill her, chased her out of her own home with a knife and tried to run her down in a car! Doncha think she'd have spilled the beans by now if she could?

Since Billy Ray leaves Australia with Julie as his new main squeeze I'm assuming the courts in Australia are pretty lenient. After all, Billy Ray did take the law into his own hands, shoot a few thugs and there's still the thing about Sally Mae's murder. The only thing that's resolved is that she was murdered, since Charlie admits it before his death.

THE TALLY: The only good thing about watching this movie was Julie. Its not that she's a superbabe or anything...she's pretty, but not spectacular...its just that Australian accent. I've always found it kinda sexy on women. If not for Mrs. Inferno I'd be taking my next vacation there. Hey Liz, you married?