THE STORY: I picked this DVD up with   bunch of others on payday. There were quite a few Don "The Dragon" Wilson flicks available and they were only 7 bucks apiece, so I indulged myself. I have somewhat of a soft spot for the Dragon...his movies aren't classics, but they are entertaining in a turn the brain off kind of way. It was my intention to write two separate reviews...one for this movie, Moving Target, and one for Bloodfist IV: Die Trying. It seems I don't have to go to so much trouble. They're the same movie. Literally. Some of the characters have the same names, even though Wilson is playing two different characters in these movies. The dialogue is THE SAME for the love of Pete!

Now, as I said I have a soft spot for the Dragon. His movies are the one of the few things that Roger Corman has produced that doesn't stink like [unwrite] on toast. But Don....you must have seen the two scripts were...THE SAME! Didn't you think "Man, this is a rip-off to my fans. This is the same movie as Bloodfist IV."? Don't you have any regard for your fans? Mr. Corman on the other hand, I expect things like this from him. For all I know Corman might be one of the nicest men on earth. He might be a wonderful person to work with or for. But that doesn't change the fact that he's a hack. That's harsh, yes, but come on. Given the fact that there's a whole new cast in Moving Target, and that its set in Ireland, couldn't Corman have tried to come up with a different storyline?

In BF4, Wilson played repo man Danny Holt, in Moving Target he's Ray, a kickboxing champ visiting the emerald isle.

In BF4, it was Danny's daughter Molly that got kidnapped by the bad guys. In Moving Target, its his internet love interest Alice.

In BF4 the macguffin was a bunch of nuclear triggers hidden in a box of chocolates. In Moving Target its nuclear triggers hidden in a six pack of beer. (Oh, yes, insert "Armageddon is like a box of chocolates" jokes at your leisure.)

In BF4 there's a fat female cop that's always having a pizza carried to her on the scene. In Moving Target there's a fat female cop that's always having tea and crumpets carried to her on the scene.

Both movies have The Dragon accidentally coming into possession of nuclear triggers. Naturally, the villains threaten and kidnap those closest to him while the police think he's the culprit. Oh, do I have to go on? You only have to watch one of them to see both of them. Neither movie is a perfect flick, but I did enjoy Moving Target more than BF4. MT is better lit and the Irish landscape adds a little bit of flavor to the movie. The reason for Ray being in Ireland is simple and to the point....he's come to visit a woman, Alice, that he's had a year long internet romance with. Once the circumstances that allow him to accidentally get his hands on the beer with the secret merchandise inside, the movie completely follows the script from BF4 changing only minor things to accommodate the different setting.

BEST LINES :  "Well if you're not really here, this isn't gonna hurt." - Ray just before he hits the CIA agents. He says this in both movies.

1.)  What the [unwrite]? While the police are inspecting the murders at McMann shipping one officer comes there carrying a tray full of cups and a pot of tea. (I assume its tea, it could be coffee, or freaking cup-of-soup, but that's beside the point) The inspector touches the pot and says "Its still warm. Good job, kid.". either this guy is sucking up real hard to his superiors or the Irish police have a big [unwrite]ing allocation of resources problem. (The same "Its still warm, etc" is used in BF4....but you probably guessed that already.)

2.)  Well, it was a foregone conclusion that the police were going to think Ray was a killer. A movie like this demands that. But its the way they did it that grates my nerves. Once the cops discover the body in Ray's hotel room the extra-disgustingly fat police inspector says "Looks like we have an American mass-murderer on our hands.". Some detective. How do you leap to that conclusion? Ray's been in the country for less than 24 or so hours, there are bodies riddled with bullets from automatic weapons and there's no motive for Ray to have killed any of these people!

3.)  I like the way the Irish newscasters have American accents. Didn't anyone notice that?

4.)  Ray has a right to be pissed at the CIA at the end. This whole ordeal may have been avoided if they let Malloy have the detonators in the first place. That's what they said they wanted. I'm assuming the plan was to let Malloy try to sell the merchandise and then arrest him and his buyers. Its a stupid plan, but since its the CIA's plan they should have made FAKE detonators and tried really hard to make sure Malloy got them without incident. Think how many civilian lives would have been saved!

NUDITY AND SEX:  none

HUH? :  I'd like to go to Ireland one day. But not if a "friendly brawl" is considered great fun! Ray is introduced to Alice's co-workers and promptly invited to fight one of them in a bet. I'm all for male bonding but there's gotta be better ways than to get your teeth kicked in.

So Ray and Alice met over the internet. I'm sure many people start great romances that way, even though its inherently dangerous. (you really can't be too sure who's on the other end of that chat room.) I like the way Alice is presented as somewhat of a homely wallflower. She tells her friend that Ray tries to kiss her on the lips all of the time and she wants to get to know him better first. Um, okay, that kinda makes sense. But gee Alice, maybe you should have done your info-gathering before you invited him to fly from California to Ireland! After an expensive trip like that you'd have to expect that Ray would be expecting some lovin'.

The fight scenes weren't as exciting as I'd hoped, but they'll do. Especially when you consider that Ray should be dead ten times over as many lumps as he takes throughout this (Moving Target) movie. I guess it like that old Eddie Murphy line..."Karate me bruise on the inside.".

Speaking of fight scenes (Moving Target), when Ray has his first fight with Mickey the thug, watch closely as one of Mickey's kicks misses. He puts his foot through a car window. Even without using slow motion you can see the glass break just before his foot hits it.

THE FINAL JUDGMENT:  Its not that bad of a movie, but I am taking a devil away for ripping off Bloodfist IV. If you haven't seen Bloodfist IV  then you might just want to check this one out. They're the same movie so there's no need to see both unless you want to compare them. If you've seen them both drop me a line and tell me if you noticed any differences, subtle though they may be.