Review: Blind Rage

Manilla bank owner Charlie Davao (A Filipino actor who looks like a cross between Yul Brynner and Henry Silva) gets involved in a bank robbery where a $15 million CIA secret slush fund has just been transferred. The kicker? The robbery will be carried out by a group of blind martial artists! (Leo Fong, D’Urville Martin, and Filipino star Tony Ferrer among them). Fred Williamson turns up (very) late as lawman Jesse Crowder.

 

A movie about blind martial artists robbing a bank was either going to be hilariously awful or good, schlocky fun. I couldn’t see any other option. Well, surprise, this 1978 cheapie from Filipino director Efren C. Pinon (“Last Target” with Ferrer and Davao) is somehow completely forgettable. Scripted by Jerry O. Tirazona (“Last Target”) and co-star Leo Fong (a veteran low-budget writer/director/producer/actor), I took an instant dislike to the way the whole thing was set up. If these blind guys need instructors to help/train them so much, is the heist really a good idea then? It would’ve been better if the blind guys came up with the idea of the heist themselves instead of being recruited and somehow hoping that their blindness gives them other heightened senses handy for criminal purposes. Or better yet, just hire people who can see and have them pretend to be blind. Surely that wouldn’t be hard.

 

However, the real problem here is that the premise is truly gloriously stupid and no one involved in the film seems to embrace it. The closest we get is one absolutely hilariously bad line of dialogue: ‘Let’s begin by synchronising your braille watches’. If that’s not a line worthy of Edward D. Wood Jr., I don’t know what is. Sadly, the rest of the film doesn’t play on that marvellously stupid level. What we have instead is a cheap, mediocre drive-in pic with some OK martial arts, lots of different locations, and a wacky premise. I really think tongue-in-cheek was the way to go here, playing to the martial arts crowd just wasn’t the best idea, despite the action being the best thing here.

 

Although I felt the blind people were being guided a bit too much, the planning/practice stage of the heist was rather interesting to watch. In fact, when in action/heist mode it’s diverting stuff mostly because the blindness of the characters is something a little different. The film moves rather quickly and is mercifully short, those are the real plusses I think. Credit where it’s due, the makers found a pretty unique way to wipe out a whole bunch of the characters in one go, too. Pretty important characters at that, which is quite an unexpected shock (even if it leaves the finale lacking a bit of excitement). Less enjoyable was taking the normally ebullient and funny D’Urville Martin and casting him as the resident sleazy sex pest of the blind men. His one attempted rape scene is completely jarring and unnecessary. It’s a shame because he’s the closest thing the film has to a legit actor on show here. The bit players are especially bad, acting like it’s their first film and they’re being blackmailed into doing it. Meanwhile, 69 minutes into a less than 90 minute film and Fred Williamson finally walks off one film set and onto this one. Literally, it’s a glorified walk-on playing his Jessie Crowder character that he used in several cheapo action films. It’s a ludicrously late arrival and the frequent on-screen sleepwalker gives his laziest-ever performance. Also ludicrous, dude doesn’t even stop chomping his cigar while he’s chasing someone on foot!

 

I suppose for its aims and its target audience it’s not a bad film per se, but it’d be a much more fun film if it actually were bad. Instead the filmmakers take things too seriously and simply don’t have the ability (it’s shoddy-looking stuff) nor funds to pull that off. The result is surprisingly nondescript despite the wacky premise, and absolutely useless to anyone who doesn’t enjoy second-rate martial arts/action pics. Some of the action/heist stuff is fun, but there’s not enough of it to help lift the film above mediocrity.

 

Rating: C