AllMovie

A screen credit that identifies a low-budget, independent film as being written, directed, produced and co-edited by the same person -- in this case Kevin Rapp -- might make you reach for the remote control quicker than you can say "fast-forward." But in this case, give it a chance: Rapp may be an unknown, but he seems to know what he's doing. There's a certain beginner's charm to this by-the-numbers action piece that makes it kind of fun. You have to overlook things like the weight-lifter villains all wearing black suits and white shirts out in the desert -- where'd he cast this, Gold's Gym? -- and Richard Lynch's albino drug baron petting a white cat in his lap in a desert tent after getting off a helicopter (the cat rides in the chopper?). But what the heck, it's just a B-movie; there should be some camp in it, intentional or not. The enthusiasm for the martial arts fights by the young and athletically nubile lead actors is somewhat contagious. The movie sputters when the action slows down, but when the chop socky happens -- most of it in what look like real stone tunnels (and if that's the case, then kudos to the lighting designer) -- you find yourself rooting not just for the good guys, but also for the filmmaker who has invested so much.