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| SUPERHUMAN |
The year is 1982. While the world
was dancing to “Pac-Man Fever”, they were also mourning the loss
of funny man John Belushi. Legendary rock guitarist Randy Rhodes also passed
away, people were better off NOT taking Tylenol for their headache and Chuck
Norris continued to roundhouse kick for justice.
THE SKINNY
“Silent Rage” begins with John Kirby, Brian Libby, who is having
trouble dealing with the day to day stresses of life. He is renting a room from
a single mother who's adolescent boys constantly run through the house
screaming, followed by their mother who exacerbates the situation by yelling at
them.
All the noise and the summer heat
starts to get the best of John, he starts to experience a psychological
episode. John doesn't think he's going to be able to control of himself, so he
calls his long time shrink, Dr. Halman, for advice which, doesn't help.
John then does what any sensible,
able-bodied grown man would do when their woman and kids start to drive 'em
nuts. He goes out to the shed, picks up his axe and starts to work over the
family. A nearby mailman hears her screams and calls the police, and soon after
Sheriff Dan Stevens, Chuck Norris, arrives with his trusty partner
Charlie, Steven Furst.
Everything that happens for the next
thirty minutes or so, is completely questionable.
In response to the domestic
disturbance involving a woman screaming, Sheriff Stevens begins by slowly
walking through the house looking for signs of murder...I guess. Before long
the two men cross paths and a fight breaks out that leads from the killer's
home to a near by field. This is where Stevens takes Kirby into custody with
the use of Kung-Fu.
Simultaneously, Dr. Halman, Ron
Silver, arrives to talk down his patient while Kirby breaks free from his
handcuffs. A few other police gun Kirby down and he's loaded into the meat
wagon.
Once at the hospital, doctors try to
revive Kirby but are unsuccessful. One of the doctors being Halman. So wait a
minute, you mean to tell me that the psychologist is ALSO a surgeon? Who is
this guy, House? When all seems lost, Halman's fellow doctors illegally
administer an experimental serum that saves Kirby's life.
This serum was designed to
accelerate a humans ability to heal itself. And there it is. We all know what's
going to happen now. Once the serum is pumping through Kirby's blood, he
becomes nearly indestructible. Every wound his body endures heals in seconds.
Kirby is transformed into an unstoppable killing machine with a Wolverine like
“Healing Factor”, all in the name of science.
Before Kirby breaks loose and starts
to run amok, Stevens and Charlie have a run-in with a gang of hippie-bikers at
a local bar. Charlie runs out to call for backup while Stevens contends with
the dirty hippies. One by one he chops, punches and kicks the law into them, in
one of the more entertaining Chuck Norris fights I've seen in resent memory.
Nothing over the top for a martial arts action flick, but it's satisfying.
Meanwhile, from his hospital bead,
Kirby overhears Halman telling his partners in science that what they have done
to Kirby is unethical and he must be terminated. Kirby, in an act of self-preservation, later pays the kind doctor a visit at his home. Dressed in a gray
jumpsuit, with his hair slicked back and brandishing a kitchen knife, Kirby
takes on the look and mannerisms of Michael Myers. – Silently stalking his prey
with a slashing weapon and is seemingly unable to be killed, “Silent Rage” now
becomes a horror movie.
The bodies of Hallman and his wife
are found by Halman's sister, Nancy, who just so happens to be Steven's
girlfriend. An otherwise unimportant fact, until now.
Kirby returns to the hospital and with
him comes new that he murdered Hallman. The doctors talk it over and decide
that Kirby is too dangerous to keep alive, but when they try to terminate him,
he heals and then heads out on a rampage. Kirby kills the doctors, Deputy
Charles and a handful of nameless hospital goers before he sets his sights on
Nancy for no other reason than she happens to be there. The disturbance
attracts the attention of the police and Stevens, who is now out for blood.
Stevens first unloads on Kirby –
knocking him through a window – causing him to fall to what should be his
death. Then Stevens and Nancy try to make a getaway but Kirby grabs onto the
bumper of his truck. He climbs inside and runs it off a cliff, not before
Stevens and Nancy escape. Much like falling through a window onto asphalt, the
burning wreckage does nothing to slow Kirby down. “How on Earth can this man
be stopped” you ask? Kung Fu! Stevens lets loose a barrage of punches and
kicks, allowing him to get the upper hand. Stevens throws Kirby over his shoulder
and from there into a well.
So Stevens never ends up killing
Kirby, he just relocates him to a watery prison in the middle of nowhere. The
End.
THE VERDICT
“Silent Rage” was very much inspired
by the newly popular trend in cinema lovingly referred to as the “slasher”
film. Yeah, this movie is an odd idea. But inside that idea is a pretty good
movie. During the horror scenes there is some descent suspense and during the
action scenes I felt myself rooting for Norris to kick some ass. While horror and
action should often be pared, the two are balanced well enough here that the
final product is one that left me surprised.
“Silent Rage” has it's moments where
the film gets goofy, but over all is a better film than say... “Hero and the Terror“. The script and direction helps
draw a better performance out of Chuck Norris while still giving him an
opportunity to put his martial arts background to good use. Also Ron Silver is
a pretty strong actor and he really adds weight to the film.
Speaking of Ron Silver, he played
nearly the same character in this as he did in “The Entity“, released the same year. Instead of an unstoppable killer
created by science, “The Entity” had Silver trying to disprove a rapist ghost.
Yep, the ghost was raping the protagonist. Believe me, it's a better movie than
it sounds and it's supposedly based on a true story.
In the end, “Silent Rage” isn’t the
best but it’s worth a watch for Norris fans. It was much better than I
expected. If you survive the goofiness that is the first thirty or so minutes
you’ll be treated to a suspenseful slasher with a roundhouse kicking Chuck
Norris. That alone would have sold this movie back in the ‘80s. They should
have just put that on the poster…maybe they did…
I’m Cory Carr and this concludes
another trip on the “Action Movie Time Machine”. Until next time, Semper Fi
Punk!
For more from Cory, check out his
website slaughterfilm.com, where he and his good friend
Forest Taylor record weekly podcasts, reviewing the films that are legendary,
even in Hell!
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